The Best of 2007 (The BRAG)

In case you missed it, the year 2007 recently passed over the course of 365 days, ending on December 31st according to our Roman calendar. This means - on top of the annual sacrificing of goats we are all currently enjoying - it's time for another Best Of list, which will more likely than not be consigned to the dustbin of critical history. However! We are paid to be big mouthed, opinionated know-nothing, know-it-alls! So here it is, everyone's favourite game of "I loved/hated, bought/didn't buy that record/film/gig ticket: 2007 Edition." May the roasting begin!

Record of the Year

Internationale:

Cold War Kids – Robbers and Cowards
Ryan Adams – Easy Tiger
Of Montreal – Hissing Fauna Are You The Destroyer?
LCD Soundsystem – The Sound Of Silver
The National – Boxer

This embarrassment of riches and nary a U2 release in sight! Until that is, the 20th Anniversary Reissue of the Joshua Tree came late in the game and just in time for Christmas! (thanks Santa. I mean, Bono.) Topping this list with a 20 year old record would have me swinging from the nearest lamp post, but I can't let the year pass without at least one gratuitous mention of Bono. Bono. Bono Bono Bono Bono Bono. Bono. They've got a future, this "U2" band. And Cold War Kids are really good too.

Local releases:

Operator Please – Yes Yes Vindictive
Bluejuice – Problems
Kid Confucius – Stripes
Cloud Control – Cloud Control
Beasts of Bourbon – Little Animals

I love cool teenagers: they're everything I never was in highschool. These kids may come across as brattish with the Ping Pong song, but scratch their scarily colourful surface and you'll find the unearthing of a rare talent in singer/songwriter and future solo artist, Amandah Wilkinson, whose knack for a freakishly accurate observation wrapped in a stupidly punchy arrangement makes her the envy of musicians twice her age. In the meantime, Operator Please play a live show that makes everyone else on the scene look like they're running on fumes. Which at this time of year, they are.

Single of the Year:

LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great
Bluejuice – Vitriol
Cold War Kids – We Used to Vacation
FINK – This is the Thing
Kings of Leon – On Call

So tempting to give this to local lads come good and two times the bride's maid, bluejuice for their wildly popular crossover hit built on a truly exceptional keyboard riff. But LCD Soundsystem managed to make everyone think this unbearably catchy slice of disco punk pop was about breaking up, when it's about something much more heartbreaking: You're smaller than my wife imagined/ Surprised you were human / There shouldn't be this radio silence/ But what are the options when someone great is gone?

Film of the Year:

Control
I'm Not There
Joe Strummer – the Future is Unwritten
Michael Clayton
Zodiac

2007 was a boon year for the rock biopic. Three completely different renderings of the lives of three iconic rock frontmen makes it somewhat difficult to choose, but Anton Corbijn's intensely personal and visually stunning portrait of Ian Curtis managed to be both moving and even handed. Not to mention that the actors learned their instruments from scratch for the live performance footage which was all shot for real - and they sounded better than Joy Division doing it, according to Peter Hook.

Most Hyped Near (and Wide) Misses:

Foo Fighters – Echoes, Patience, Silence and Grace
Silverchair – Young Modern
Smashing Pumpkins – Zeitgeist
Expatriate – In The Midst of This
Interpol – Our Love To Admire

Foo Fighters are still putting records out? As interchangeable as they are with the latest Nickleback release, apparently yes. When did Dave Grohl turn into a parody of everything Nirvana stood against? Some time and several stadium tours ago. You can only trade off a legacy for so many horrible, cock rock albums.

Gig of the Year:

The Cure – Sydney Entertainment Centre
Ryan Adams – Enmore Theatre (Night Two)
Wilco – Enmore Theatre
The Pixies – The Big Top, Luna Park
Operator Please – The Annandale

One could gripe that not having a keyboardist on this tour meant that hearing Close To Me was not exactly as it should have been. And one could be a total fucking moron, because three plus glorious hours of nothing but pure gold and perfect sound is a once in a lifetime experience.

Most Awful Gig of the Year:

Robyn – Oxford Art Factory
The Killers – Sydney Entertainment Centre
Elton John – Acer Arena
Bloc Party – Hordern Pavillion
Cold War Kids – The Forum

Could easily have been the Killers' soulless rock pantomime, or Sir Reg's god awful mauling of Rocket Man, or even the Forum's unchallenged ability to ruin a great gig by leaving the house lights on. While Bloc Party failed to bring a stage show big enough to liven the dead space of the Hordern, it was Robyn who played the most nonsensically hyped "show" of the year. Since when was house music either coolly ironic or in need of a revival? Certainly not when it was lip-synced by a midget with an asymmetrical peroxide fringe.

Hype of the Year:

Silverchair. If I read one more men's magazine (which are my favourite kind) cover feature about how this record full of overblown orchestral arrangements and schizophrenic song structures is the best thing to come out of the country this decade, I'll vomit all over Daniel John's perfectly manicured facial hair. Working with Van Dyke Parks does not the genius make.