The Cold Cut

The final 5. How emotional *wipes tear from eye*. These are the five albums that I really connected with this year, and the only advice I can give is to buy them now if you haven't already. As usual, comment, and click the album title to buy it, or the artist name to find out a bit more about them.

Come back tomorrow for a round-up, as well as some more end of year lists.

5. Arcade Fire- Neon Bible
Neon Bible seems to be the epitome of 'bigger is better'. They bought a church, converted it into a recorded studio, learned some new instruments (hurdy-gurdy and organ, for starters) and had loads of fun whilst recording a more rocking second album. Its a slight departure from Funeral, and I wouldn't go so far to say its equal in quality, but Neon Bible is still one of the most complete rock albums this year.

Favourite Track: No Cars Go

Its been around for a long time, but this song has really benefited from being re-recorded. A rollicking tune with some grandiose production.

4. Arctic Monkeys- Favourite Worst Nightmare
How do you build on such a brilliant introduction as Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (WPSIATWIN!)? Take a cue from this band- get better at your instruments, improve production and up the tempo- then the world's your oyster. Okay, Favourite Worst Nightmare isn't as instant as WPSIATWIN, but the quality of songs on this album absolutely trounces their debut in my opinion. Its bigger, faster and more brutal- a high octane beast of an album. Where next? Only time will tell.

Favourite Track: Teddy Picker

Teddy Picker- the bass driven third single- concerns modern society's chase for fame. In the wake of rubbish like Big Brother and X-Factor, you can see how true this is. They also made the brave move of recording using a live audio track in their video. Watch it here

3. M.I.A.- Kala
Kala was definitely the most diverse album of 2007, and M.I.A. continued her party trick of splicing styles and cultures together into an epic musical concoction. First off, the beats are ridiculous; some of the samples on this album would put most rap/hip-hop albums to shame. Lyrics have always been a key part of M.I.A.'s appeal, and thankfully, her style wasn't hugely altered between Arular and Kala, with political verses still featuring strongly:
"Do you know that cost of AK's
Up in Africa
20 dollars ain't shit to you
But thats how much they are"
All in all, its comforting to see Kala high up on many end of year lists, and once you've heard it, its easy to see why.

Favourite Track: World Town

Who would of thought that the sound of a gun cocking was so cool? M.I.A., ever the pioneer.

2. Patrick Wolf- The Magic Position
With the Magic Position, Patrick Wolf was no longer only for those with 'eclectic' musical tastes. Some critics have accused him of taking the easy 'pop' route, but when the results are so encouraging, it really doesn't make a difference. Patrick recieves very little recognition, which may have been the reason he moved in a 'poppier' direction, but even on unfamiliar ground he excels. The title track is the definition of happiness, but halfway in, things turn dark with Bluebells. Other than the confusing Secret Garden, this is a flawless, undervalued album.

Favourite Track: (Let's Go) Get Lost

No explanation required- listen, and you will be swept up by this song. Happiness, wrapped into a 3 minute package.

1. Lupe Fiasco- The Cool
This album was the latest, and best, addition to this list (full review here). Quite simply, Lupe Fiasco is a legendary rapper, and its a massive shame that he will be retiring after LupEND, his next album. Both Food And Liquor and The Cool are both serious contributions to the musical archives, and illustrate that Lupe is not your generic rapper. He really has something to say in every instance, and a lot of his rhymes contain content that is 'now'. He will also go down in history as the only rapper to ever record a succesful concept album, and a rare lyrical talent. Truly revolutionary...

Favourite Track: Little Weapon (I've bought the album, and its now out, so I feel okay about posting one track)

Fallout Boy singer Patrick Stump produces, and in the process creates the best backing track of the year. Lupe pulls a trick, opening with the line:
"I killed another man today
shot him in his back as he ran away"
All is revealed at the end, when we realise that this is, in fact, occuring in a video game.

I was recently given a copy of the new Arcade Fire album, Neon Bible. They weren't particularly big before, despite having an excellent first album (Funeral), and after giving the best performance last year at Glastonbury. Anyway, they couldn't have followed it up in a better fashion: Neon Bible is different from the first album, in the fact that it is bigger, louder and better.

The album begins with "Black Mirror", a song which reminds us of their roots in Quebec: "un, deux, trois, le miroir noir", and builds up to "Keep The Car Running" which in my opinion, is the best song on this album... this band is unique; in their live performances, there is said to be no less than 11 people on stage at a time, and by the sounds of things, this carries through to their recorded stuff too. "Intervention", another key track, begins with an epic organ riff: sources said the band have learnt instruments such as the organ and lyre to create the sound they wanted to achieve, and it really works. Another key element of this album is the vastly improved voice of the frontman, Win Butler, which is heard in the quiter songs such as "Neon Bible". On the next song, "Black Wave/Bad Vibrations", his wife Regine Chassagne takes the lead; it is a credit to the band that there is not a member who falters in their contribution to this album.

Personally, one of my favourite tracks on this album is "No Cars Go"... this was a previous B-side which has been re-tooled for Neon Bible at the last minute. The fact that the band was going to discard such a track gives and idea of the quality of the music they create. In conclusion, I give this album 9 out of 10.