I’m going to play the blogger’s best of the year game differently this year, but I need to keep the rules roughly the same so that I am (for once) on the same planet. I’m going to choose ten best albums, but they’re what I discovered in 2007, not just those released in 2007.
So these are my contenders:
- A Hawk And A Hacksaw And The Hun Hangár Ensemble — A Hawk And A Hacksaw And The Hun Hangár Ensemble
- Air — Pocket Symphony
- Akron/Family — Love Is Simple
- Akron/Family — Meek Warrior (2006)
- Animal Collective — Strawberry Jam
- Architecture In Helsinki — Places Like This
- Avey Tare & KrÃa Brekkan — Pullhair Rubeye
- Bees — Octopus
- Beirut — The Flying Club Cup
- Black Lips — Good Bad Not Evil
- Bonnie Russell and the Russell Family — Mountain Dulcimer Galax Style (1995)
- Bright Eyes — Cassadaga
- Caribou — Andorra
- Cathy Fink — Banjo Talkin’
- Colleen — The Golden Morning Breaks (2005)
- Dan Jones and The Squids — Totally Human
- Devendra Banhart — Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon
- Dock Boggs — His Folkways Years (1963-1968) (1998)
- Donovan — Barabajagal (1969)
- Donovan — Hurdy Gurdy Man (1968)
- Donovan — Mellow Yellow (1967)
- Donovan — Sunshine Superman (1966)
- Enoch Kent — I’m a Rover (2006)
- Erynn Marshall & Chris Coole — Meet Me In The Music
- Feist — The Reminder
- Fountains of Wayne — Traffic and Weather
- Fred Spek’s Camp Combo — Rock Paper Scissors (2006)
- Grinderman — Grinderman
- Hamish Imlach — Cod Liver Oil & Orange Juice (2006)
- Howe Gelb — ‘Sno Angel Like You (2006)
- Ideal Free Distribution — Ideal Free Distribution
- Jeffrey Frederick & the Clamtones — The Resurrection of Spiders in the Moonlight
- Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter — Like Love, Lust, & The Open Halls of the Soul
- Joanna Newsom — Joanna Newsom and the Ys Street Band EP
- John Fahey — The Best Of John Fahey Vol. 2 1964-1983 (2004)
- Johnny Cash — American I & II
- Judee Sill — Judee Sill (2006)
- Ken Reaume — Four Horses
- Kevin Drew — Spirit If…
- Kilby Snow — Kilby Snow: Country Songs and Tunes with Autoharp
- Kimberley Rew — Ridgeway (2006)
- Marissa Nadler — Songs III: Bird On The Water
- Michael Hurley — First Songs (1964)
- Mimi & Richard Fariña — Vanguard Visionaries – Mimi & Richard Fariña
- Monica Grabin — Continental Village
- Neil Young — Harvest (1972)
- Of Montreal — Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
- Okkervil River — The Stage Names
- Old Man Luedecke — Hinterland (2006)
- Otha Turner — Everybody Hollerin’ Goat (1998)
- Panda Bear — Person Pitch
- Po’ Girl — Home to You
- Porter Wagoner — Wagonmaster
- Radiohead — In Rainbows
- Ragged But Right — Down Harmony Road
- Robert Force & Albert d’Ossché — Tiger Dreams
- Sons of the Never Wrong — Nuthatch Suite (2005)
- Stew — Guest Host (2000)
- The Aliens — Astronomy For Dogs
- The Apples in Stereo — New Magnetic Wonder
- The Arcade Fire — Neon Bible
- The Besnard Lakes — The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse
- The Carter Family — The Carter Family 1927-1934 (2001)
- The Foggy Hogtown Boys — Pigtown Fling
- The Harvey Girls — The Wild Farewell (2005)
- The High Water Marks — Polar
- The Houseplants — Livingroom
- The Hylozoists — La Fin du Monde (2006)
- The Icicles — Arrivals & Departures
- The Ladybug Transistor — Can’t Wait Another Day
- The Negro Problem — Post Minstrel Syndrome (2002)
- The Polyphonic Spree — The Fragile Army
- The Soft Machine — The Soft Machine (1968)
- The Unicorns — Who Will Cut Our Hair When We’re Gone? (2003)
- They Might Be Giants — The Else
- Tiger Lillies (with Kronos Quartet) — The Gorey End (2003)
- Uncle Dave Macon — Classic Sides
- Various Artists — Skiffle – The Best Of (2006)
- Various Artists — The Old Time Banjo Festival
- Vashti Bunyan — Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind
- Wendy Arrowsmith — Now Then…?
- Wilco — Sky Blue Sky
- Willie Nelson — Red Headed Stranger (1975)
(Before you freak out at the number of CDs I bought, I do subscribe to emusic, so a bunch of these were MP3 only.)