Sam's Best of 2007

Our next year-end list comes from Ghostly International founder Sam Valenti IV:


SV4 at Les Infants Terribles, summer 2005 [photo by Jeffrey Paul]

Favorite 10 new albums I heard this year.

1. Interpol - Our Love To Admire (Capitol)
Love it or hate it, I came back to this more than any other album and it only got better.

2. Various Artist - After Dark (Italians Do It Better)
This may be the equivalent of being 7 and dressing up with your girl friend (not girlfriend), and pretending to be in a band in front of the mirror, but when its this stylish and moody, how could you hate it?

3. Various Artists - Cocoon Compilation 6 (Cocoon Recordings)
Audion, Dettman, Onur Ozer and MyMy's "Flash Freeze". This is the perfect cross-section to show why Techno is the most exciting it's been in years.

4. Yeasayer - All Hour Cymbals (We Are Free)
Upon first listen, gave me the feeling of hearing Broken Social Scene for the first time, a feeling of fun, new and exciting times.

5. Pantha du prince - This Bliss (Dial)
Haunting, mesmerizing and all those "sublime" words people like to use.

6. Peter and the Wolf - The Ivori Palms (Whiskey And Apples Records)
Thanks Will Calcutt!

7. Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedaa (Secretly Canadian)
If only for "The Opposite of Hallelujah".

8.Uuitsitalo - Karhunainen (Huume)
The marriage of dance and abstraction like only Vladislav Delay can do, the type of record that goes unheralded, but proof of consistent genius.

9. New Young Pony Club - Fantastic Playroom (Modular)
This album as a whole doesn't get many plays, but since my lady put them put "Ice Cream" on a mix cd for me, I've been hooked on them.

10. Ghostly and Spectral releases
Someone's gotta do it. I'm extremely proud of our releases from Audion, Cepia, Daso, Kiln, Lusine, Matthew Dear, Mobius Band, Osborne, Par Grindvik and Skeletons and The Kings Of All-Cities.


related: all entries tagged Best of 2007