Austinist's Dark Horses of 2007

Akron/Family's self-titled album, their first, is a tender, frail and only occasionally abrasive glimpse into the minds of four freak folk enthusiasts from "rural America." Since that introduction in 2005, I've come to understand a little more about the nature loving, sensitive and universe pondering group thanks to their live show, which is more evenly distributed (though well-executed) chaos than softly uttered, more traditional folk music. Thankfully, the band has caught up to that version of themselves on record, first with "Moment," which appeared on their split with label mates Angels of Light, and now with Love is Simple.

Make no mistake, all the granola-crunching emotionalism is still present (the title track in particular evokes memories of Akron/Family), but it's mixed with moments of unabashed rock'n'roll in a manner that is bound to confuse the average listener. "I've Got Some Friends" features a vocal horns section eventually replaced by real horns, a spiraling multi-measure crescendo stomp bridge, and a thundering percussion section that plateaus with raw shouts, "Like a white cloud floating free / That's how it should be / that's how it is!" All in all the record is at times sickeningly natural, lyrics fluctuating between sweet and corny, but always littered with productive use of a cavalcade of instruments that know their place, harmony that doesn't choke on its own perfection and decisive progressions that make you feel as though you're listening to guys that actually enjoy playing music, not just the simple exercise of songwriting for the sake of songwriting. Favorite moment? The unmistakable shout out to George Harrison in "Phenomena"'s electric guitar licks. -Paige Maguire

This two hour ambient odyssey quietly sidled onto the scene in April to the unanimous monastic murmur of critical approval generally reserved for the output of holy cows exponentially more popular that this once-Austin-based duo. That being said, when it came time to send in our picks for the Austinist Top 15 records of the year, some staffers obdurately stood by this as the hands-down best album. It is an acquired taste of the highest order. Not only does SOTL's music lack percussion or vocals, it also casually dilates the basic elements of composition, creating serene pockets of compelling, meticulously fussed over timbres for listeners to completely lose themselves inside of. Two hours is quite a commitment, but for those willing to explore and reflect upon the stunning, unmitigated genius of this offering you are guaranteed to look at music differently afterwards. -Joshua Huck

Propelled by striking percussion and haunting vocal samples, Untrue wraps its listener in mystery and the feeling that something very wrong is going on nearby, something very passionate and very disturbing. Repetitive but diverse, this slow-working incantation almost wants to be dance hall-ready dubstep, but escapes that label by featuring enough interlocking rhythms and ambient moments to make dancing difficult. But, more than anything, the album is just too damn emotionally-intense for the club.

Drowning absolutely everything in reverb, Untrue feels like music from the afterlife, transported directly to you for the purpose of promoting unease. But the mystery of Burial extends far beyond its lost-in-the-abandoned-factory eeriness—no one knows who Burial is. And this anonymity and distance is perfect for this album, one that never ceases to be both pleading and forlorn, lovely and despairing. -Nick Courtright

The most pleasingly propulsive album of the year, From Here We Go Sublime is unapologetically minimal techno that really, really works. Coasting along effortlessly on magnetic rails, you'll have to shake off the creeping delusion that you're a champagne-tipsy jetsetter in the year 2058 on the bullet train to someplace gorgeous. Axel Willner, the Swedish brains behind the operation is a fresh face on the scene, yet you'd be hard-pressed to find anything green on this album. While you can hear echoes of ambient techno past - Orbital, B12, and Aphex Twin to name a few - Wilner never lets his respect for his influences overtake his art and the disc remains entirely its own, a clarion call to rally the scattered army of electronic composers that has grown so unwieldy in recent years. -Joshua Huck

Born from the utterly complex universe that is Madlib's mind, Yesterday's Universe is a compilation album featuring a collection of songs composed by the various versions of Yesterday's New Quintet. It's just sugar on top when you realize that each member of the quintet is none other than Madlib himself. Over the years, Madlib's personas have generated confusion and chaos, but the result on Universe is a collection that actually acts like a compilation spanning the time and multiple personalities of a group that, in some alternate universe, improvised together with elements of free jazz, hip hop, R&B and soul.

Playing alone in his studio, then taking each performance on drums, saxophone, trumpet, piano, etc. as a sample and integrating it with others, Madlib impersonates the late great jazz improvisation as art form with subtle ease. Horns flutter in and out of churning backdrops and piano and trumpet struggle before giving way to drum solos as grooves are found, ridden and abandoned. The entire performance is completely inspiring (and would be even if it wasn't a solo project orchestrated in a studio), and pays homage to those old school inspirations throughout. The cover is undeniably influenced by Ornette Coleman's Ornette!, and shout outs to Sun Ra pervade. The hip hop spin on old tunes by the likes of Jahari Massamba Unit, Jackson Conti and Miles Davis might make some jazz purists balk, but those folks don't know what they're missing. -Paige Maguire

At times almost unconscionably beautiful, the piano-driven All the Birds Were Anarchists is what happens when laptops go right—using naturally constructed sonics and an air of the haphazard, the humanness behind the album is never lost. This first release by September Collective—a side project of the more well-known Barbara Morgenstern—serves as a soothing backdrop to everything else's endless racket, and is a piece of work that upon close inspection exceeds its delicate initial impression. And although this may be an album that won't immediately lift you from your seat in a fit of applause, its complicated tapestry of subtleties is sure to grow on you. -Nick Courtright

French electronica artist Cécile Schott breaks the rules every time she writes an album. Her compositions on Les Ondes are performed live, Colleen herself taking charge of each individual instrument, avoiding the necessity for loops and samples in the production process. Beyond taking this long way around the art of making subtle instrumental music, her affection for obsolete instruments makes her a trailblazer in a genre that she masters time and time again with each new release. On Les Ondes, we find Schott performing solos with the viola de gamba (rarely used since the baroque period) and the spinet, alongside more traditionally Colleen instruments like the clarinet and classical guitar. Her compositions are sparse and almost hauntingly open: breaks in between tone resonate and the silence functions as an additional instrument throughout. The range of each instrument, the devotion to every quiet reverberation and natural tone makes all the songs epic and transcendent, defying easy categorization. Though subtly meditative, the instances of layer and crescendo stand out as particularly monumental, and indescribably beautiful. -Paige Maguire

Do Make Say Think have carved themselves a fine little niche in the post-rock world, gathering fans over the years with jazz-and-rock-influenced instrumental opuses. And You, You're a History in Rust maintains this momentum and develops it with a not-to-be-underestimated sense of balance and consistency. Pretty much, if you want some instrumental music you can rock out to—and something a little more varied than Explosions in the Sky— this is your place to go.

Built around the relentlessly intense "The Universe!"—a song which blends cascading guitars with a two-drummer setup to fill a room with noise, and offer a thrashing counterpoint to the slow-burners of the rest of the album—You, You're a History in Rust is the work of very skilled musicians doing what they do. And while they cheat on one song by using vocals (how dare they!), this is still an album you should reach for when you want to get the blood pumping, but not the mind tripping over words. -Nick Courtright

Dusseldorf–based pianist / composer Volker Bertelmann loves to fuck with things. His unique approach to piano and electronic music has awakened me to the beauty of tone, sample and approach, his focus on every twinkle, thump and hiss produced by his prepared piano absolutely astounding. On Room to Expand, the composer is found clamping wedges of leather, felt or rubber between the strings; preparing the hammers with aluminium paper or rough films; placing crown corks on the strings, weaving guitar strings around the piano's guts, or pasting them down with gaffa tape. The result is a collection of pieces that rejects a purist's notion of virtuoso-ready piano compositions emanating unaltered tone, and a playful reflection on the relationship between the creative process and the execution of sound. -Paige Maguire

Other Things We Recommend That Don't Have Much to Do With 2007 Other Than the Fact That We Listened to Them a Lot in 2007

• Skip James The Complete Early Recordings of Skip James (1994)
• Dire Straits Making Movies (1980)
• Bark Psychosis Hex (1994)
• Discordance Axis The Inalienable Dreamless (2000)
• Bill Evans Sunday at the Village Vanguard (1961)
• Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway (1972)
• Radio Citizen Berlin Serengeti (2006)
• Harry Nilsson Nilsson Schmilsson (1971)
• Ill Lit I Need You (2004)
• Wire Pink Flag (1977)
• Thimble Circus Lullaby for Worriers (2003)
• Dennis Wilson Pacific Ocean Blue (1977)
• Ennio Morricone A Fistful of Music
• The Zombies Odessey and Oracle (1968)
• Travis The Man Who (1999)
• The Roots Game Theory (2006)
• Can Future Days (1973)
• Wolf Parade Apologies to the Queen Mary (2005)
• Afghan Whigs Gentlemen (1993)
• Meshuggah Catch Thirty Three (2005)
• Jay Reatard Blood Visions (2006)
• Outkast Aquemini (1998)

Savath & Savalas: Olhas
Ramses III: Theme 2
XXL: So Easy, So Cheap
James Blackshaw: The Mirror Speaks
Aniima: Sogg
Aaron Martin: Piece 6
Studio: Origin (Shake You Down By the River)
Hebden & Reid: People Be Happy
Motoro Faam: And Surface Runoff
pg lost: ...
Jens Lekman: A Little Lost
Battles: Leyendecker
Goldmund: Leading
Yeasayer: 2080
Loren M Connors: Part 6
(r): The Unforgivable Rake
Colleen: Sun Against My Eyes
David Thomas Broughton: Interlude 1
Swod: Sekunden
Stars of the Lid: Hiberner Toujours
Bad Plus: Tom Sawyer