December 12th, 2007
9. Wilco, Sky Blue Sky (36 points]
"Impossible Germany" by Wilco
The gripes leveled at Wilco's Sky Blue Sky mostly center around Jeff Tweedy's apparent backslide into the classic-rock gospel. No argument there—but his sedate, loose-limbed jamming (aided by the godlike Nels Cline] is what makes Sky Blue Sky such an effortlessly warm, inviting listen. And the disc isn't nearly as conventional as some folks claim: While "Hate It Here" sounds like Glenn Tilbrook crying in Robbie Robertson's beer, there's still plenty of unraveled weirdness, and the disc's closer, "Let's Not Get Carried Away," rides on spine-scraping riffs, delicious tension, and one of Tweedy's greatest vocal disintegrations.
8. Tegan And Sara, The Con (37 points]
"The Con" by Tegan And Sara
On album number five, Canadian pop-rock sisters Tegan And Sara defied conventional notions of rock rhythm by featuring songs that seem to go through at least three melodic changes before recycling. Throughout The Con, the music ticks along like a room full of malfunctioning clocks, while Tegan And Sara keep their own swaggering pace, maintaining an almost painful sense of intimacy and personal exposure in their lyrics.
7. Amy Winehouse, Back To Black (42 points]
"Rehab" by Amy Winehouse
Big-haired, big-voiced retro-soul chanteuse Amy Winehouse waged a one-woman British invasion this year, winning over the American public with pretty pop songs that Trojan-horsed evil thoughts, pitch-black humor, and poisonous intentions. Breakout tracks "You Know I'm No Good" and "Rehab" swaggered with bad-girl bluster and cinematic atmosphere, but Winehouse proved equally adept at dialing down the nihilism and embracing swooning sentimentality on lush, unapologetically romantic songs like "Tears Dry On Their Own," "Some Unholy War," and "Back To Black." Winehouse's substance-abuse woes, habitual public breakdowns, and famously masochistic taste made her a ubiquitous tabloid fixture, but her timeless music seems destined to outlast her cultural moment as pop culture's reigning bad girl. In the end, it's better neither to burn out nor fade away.
6. M.I.A., Kala (54 points]
"Bamboo Banga" by M.I.A.
M.I.A.'s Kala joined the ranks of that special brand of album that evokes not just an inimitable musical world, but, better and more resounding, a whole other planet. Song after song proves hot and colorful, and M.I.A. exhibits the kind of presence as a rapper-singer that shows no sign of flagging. No song this year did a better job than "Bamboo Banga" of summoning both the homey rock drone of The Modern Lovers and the spirit of Bollywood, and the party never dims from the opening track on. Extra credit, too, to an album that counts its one Timbaland-produced track as its weakest.
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