I’m a bit late with this year’s list, but here goes:
- Amon Tobin - Foley Room
- Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?: Darker and better than their previous work.
- M.I.A. - Kala: Despite a few outright bad tracks, an excellent, diverse hip-hop album.
- El-P - I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead: Dense, dystopian hip-hop.
- Saul Williams - The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!: I was surprised how well this mix of hip-hop and industrial music works. Trent Reznor had a great year.
- The National - Boxer: A great, straightforward rock album. Fans of Interpol should definitely check it out.
- !!! - Myth Takes: Better than LCD SoundSystem’s album.
- Justice - Cross
- Klaxons - Myths of Near Future
- Kings of Leon - Because of the Times
Honorable mentions:
- The Besnard Lakes - Are the Dark Horse
- The Field - From Here We Go Sublime: Low-key electronic music.
- Radiohead - In Rainbows: Hyped, but still good.
- Arctic Monkeys - Favorite Worst Nightmare: Loud and fast, exhausting to listen to the entire album though.
- Burial - Untrue
- Dizzee Rascal - Maths + English
Overall, this was a 2007 wasn’t as good for music as 2006. Lots of artists I like released mediocre albums (Kanye West, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Beastie Boys, LCD SoundSystem, etc).
Previous years: 2006, 2005, and 2004.
Addendum 1/25: Some more notable albums that I only got to listen to after I posted this: