Journal

Wow, its only march and already I’m exploding with anticipation for some of the announced releases. With Fiona Apple, Paul Simon (So Beautiful or So What), Stevie Nicks (In Your Dreams), k.d. lang (Sing it Loud), Sinéad O'Connor (Home), Vanessa Carlton (Rabbits On The Run), and of course, Kate Bush (Director’s Cut) releasing stuff this year, I’ve hardly ever been more excited at the prospect of new music (even though I still have my massive CD backlog).
Adding to my excitement is some stuff that is out already like Let England Shake, 21, Horses And High Heels, Dancing on Needles and
Who You Are, which are all sounding great; as well as some less-but-still-anticipated albums from Lady Gaga (Born This Way), Joan As Police Woman (The Deep Field), Nelly Furtado (Lifestyle), Alice Cooper (Welcome 2 My Nightmare) and Patrick Wolf (Lupercalia).
Also, Björk is doing something (Biophilia) of which I’m not yet sure whether to categorize it as a new release in a sense fitting this journal entry or not but it sure does sound exciting!

I thought I’d re-immerse myself into the time-consuming process that is end-of-year album reviews. I can’t promise to be very exhaustive. Also, please keep in mind that these are just the albums I bought because I expected to like them and I’m in no position to claim knowledge of everything released this past year.

CocoRosie – Grey Oceans
I’m not sure what the bad cover artwork (complete with cheap effects and Microsoft fonts) is indicative of but it’s definitely not musical incompetence. CocoRosie can use this album to add to their long list of dreamy, wonderful, lusty songs that are a joy to listen to.

Best tracks

• The Moon Asked the Crow
• Lemonade
• Fairy Paradise

Evelyn Evelyn – Evelyn Evelyn
Amanda Palmer’s works are always enjoyable and this adventurous tale of conjoined twin sisters is no exception, though the thought of those fictional characters playing those songs might take some getting used to.

Best tracks

• Chicken Man
• Elephant Elephant

Morcheeba – Blood Like Lemonade
I have so far put up with all the changes in Morcheeba’s lineup and never found it absolutely necessary for Skye to return: I happen to like The Antidote as well as Dive Deep and the two Morcheeba records I can’t stand are Fragments of Freedom and Who Can You Trust?, both of which feature Skye. But still I was fairly excited when I heard the news of her return. The result is a fairly decent record with only a few top-notch songs but no low points whatsoever.

Best tracks

• Beat of the Drum
• Recipe for Disaster
• Crimson

Rachael Sage – Delancey Street
The problem with Rachael Sage’s releases has always been, that they had to compare to the great debut, Morbid Romantic and the stellar sophomore recording, Smashing The Serene and always faltered. Every next record she put out was more of the same tracks as the previous, just with a little less spice. This time around, she turns this around completely and awaits with quite a lot of songs I didn’t think we’d ever hear from her. Special gimmick: A remix of Too Many Women was featured in the recent remake of “Fame”, where it was ridiculed in the dialogue. So she decided to in return cover the theme song of the original movie, which turned out great.

Best tracks

• Fame
• Big Star
• Delancey Street

Marina & the Diamonds – The Family Jewels
After attending concerts of two artists that I had not much prior knowledge of, Imogen Heap and Florence And The Machine, I thought I’d give it a rest and skip on Marina & The Diamonds. What a mistake that was! Quite possible one of the most wonderful albums I own. Will be listening to this for a long time to come. This is what Katy Perry would sound like if I was her target audience.

Best tracks

• Girls
• Are You Satisfied?
• Rootless
• Oh No!
• Hermit the Frog

Kelis – Flesh Tone
I liked Kelis Was Here but i love this. Most likely, it’s the danceablility that turns me on.

Best tracks

• Intro
• Brave
• 22nd Century

David Byrne & Fatboy Slim – Here Lies Love
Apart from Weapon of Choice, I have no knowledge of anything Fatboy Slim has done and apart from his TED talk, I’d never heard of David Byrne until this album was released. I took notice because Tori Amos was listed as a collaborator and after seeing the other list of collaborators, many of which are favourites of mine (the likes of Santigold, Cyndi Lauper, Róisín Murphy, Natalie Merchant, Steve Earle, Nellie McKay, Florence Welch), I was hooked.

Best tracks

• Order 1081 (featuring Natalie Merchant)
• Eleven Days (featuring Cyndi Lauper)
• Don’t You Agree? (Featuring Róisín Murphy)

Nellie McKay – Home Sweet Mobile Home
Just a year after her Doris Day tribute, Normal as Blueberry Pie, she’s back with material of her own. And what material it is! Ranging from sad–melancholy (The Portal) through ukulele–sentimental (Adios) and reggae–après-ski-party (¡Bodega!) to trip-hop–political (No Equality), nothing’s missing.

Best tracks

• The Portal
• No Equality
• Beneath The Underdog
• Caribbean Time
• Bruise On The Sky

KT Tunstall – Tiger Suit
I’m still not sure what to think of KT Tunstall. But at least after this album, I’m sure what to think of her music: versatile, intelligent and fun.

Best tracks

• Uummannaq Song
• Madame Trudeaux
• (Still A) Weirdo

Amy Macdonald – A Curious Thing
I’m a sucker for all things british accent. And Amy Macdonald really has me hooked onto her accent. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that her voice is great as well. A Curious Thing is a worthy successor to This Is The Life, even though it doesn’t bring much new to the table, musically.

Best tracks

• Next Big Thing
• Don’t Tell Me That It’s Over
• Give It All Up

Christina Aguilera – Bionic
Apart from some songs you thought you’d already heard in the ’90s, Bionic really is a strong collection showcasing Christina’s versatility, even if not under any kind of coherent umbrella. It’s no Stripped but I’ve long come to the conclusion that that was the blind hen’s corn.

Best tracks

• Glam
• Birds of Prey
• Elastic Love
• All I Need

Christina Aguilera & Cher – Burlesque OST
OK, I admit I fancy Cher. In every way possible. And her two songs on the Burlesque soundtrack really stand out. None of Christina’s songs do. But I guess they sell better so they packed the album with her songs. Or Cher doesn’t get to sing more in the movie, which would be a crying shame.

Best tracks

• Welcome To Burlesque
• You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me
• Bound to You

Daft Punk – Tron: Legacy OST
Not your momma’s Daft Punk. Rather this sounds like the natural extension of what Vangelis did with the Blade Runner soundtrack. Brilliant and to be enjoyed as a whole.

Best tracks
Can’t say. They’re all too alike. It really is just one long song. One long symphony.


Sting – Live In Berlin
This is much like Symphonicities, but actually contains songs that I like to hear symphonic versions of.

Best tracks

• Moon Over Bourbon Street
• Shape Of My Heart
• Mad About You (With Branford Marsalis)

Leonard Cohen – Songs From The Road
This is similar to the Live in London recording released last year (albeit it contains less songs) but this features recordings from the whole tour as opposed to just the London tour stop. Also contains some songs not present there. You can skip this if you already have the London recording but if you haven’t got either, get this one.

Best tracks

• Waiting For The Miracle
• Famous Blue Raincoat
• Closing Time
• Lover, Lover, Lover

Natalie Merchant – Leave Your Sleep & Leave Your Supper
I was very excited when I first heard about this project of poetry by and for children made into songs. I was certain that Natalie Merchant would understand the fact the good children’s music (like good children’s films and books) are not a special kind of music but in fact just good music, marketed to parents (for another example affirming this theory see Jewel’s Lullaby as opposed to, for example, Meredith Brooks’ If I Could Be…). And sure as hell, she does.

Best tracks

• Topsyturvey-World
• nursery rhyme of innocence and experience
• Equestrienne
• The Dancing Bear
• Adventures Of Isabel

Laurie Anderson – Homeland
Mesmerizing as always. Bringing up important issues, presenting them in wonderful soundscapes. Just undescribably Laurie.

Best tracks

• Only An Expert
• Another Day in America
• Transitory Life

Antony and the Johnsons – Thank You For Your Love – EP
If this is what Swanlights was going to be, I would have loved it. Unfortunately, I still haven’t warmed to Swanlights. But all the more do I love this EP.

Best tracks

• Pressing On
• Thank You For Your Love
• Imagine

Joanna Newsom – Have One on Me
The process of acquiring these songs is a tedious, tiresome but very rewarding one. And while I still haven’t worked thoroughly through the whole album, previous attempts have left a trail of five-star ratings.

Best tracks

• Go Long
• On a Good Day
• Good Intentions Paving Company

Cyndi Lauper – Memphis Blues
Cyndi did not completely manage to change my mind about the blues but she turned it around at least a little bit: I don’t write it off completely anymore. That is a HUGE achievement and takes a genius like her!

Best tracks

• Rollin’ And Tumblin’
• Mother Earth

Shakira – Sale El Sol
The best thing I can say about this album is that it’s in Spanish. Which makes it a lot better than all her English records. When its Shakira we’re talking about, this is enough. But I’d say it’s the weakest of her Spanish records. And by this, I mean all her Spanish records, even including The Remixes, Peligro and Magia.

Best tracks

• Addicted to You
• Lo Que Más
• Devoción

Elton John & Leon Russell – The Union
Elton John did his new album with some guy named Leon Russell, whom I’d never heard of but whose voice I won’t forget. They did great together. Not quite as good as The Captain and The Kid but close.

Best tracks

• I Should Have Sent Roses
• Gone To ShilohGone To Shiloh
• If It Wasn’t for Bad

Midlake – The Courage Of Others
I’d never even heard of Midlake before receiving one of their songs as a gift from iTunes for liking the iTunes page on Facebook (which is a strange kind of promotion, but who cares) and I immediately went to Amazon MP3 and bought the whole album. What I like about these songs is the same thing I always liked about The Alan Parsons Project’s songs: a deeply melancholic voice with music that is irritatingly slightly optimistic in tone and even the musical quality is quite similar.

Best tracks

• Acts Of Man
• Children Of The Grounds
• Core Of Nature

First Aid Kit – The Big Black and The Blue
Some blog alerted me to this release and I was immediately convinced that I needed to have it. Which is not quite true. But almost. It’s a good album and I loved listening to it. But I’m not sure it will stand the test of time. First Aid Kit will end up like Blue Roses and A Fine Frenzy before; with a lot of four star rated songs that I never listen to due to declining interest.

Best tracks

• Winter Is All Over You
• Waltz For Richard
• Heavy Storm

Wir Sind Helden – Bring mich nach Hause
Die Helden sind wieder da! Soundso hat mir nicht besonders gefallen, doch bei „Bring Mich Nach Hause“ konnte ich mich gleich wieder zuhause fühlen. Und das obwohl verschiedene Songs drauf sind, die man so von den Helden nicht erwartet hätte. Und eine Unplugged-Versions-CD ist auch noch dabei. Was will man mehr?

Beste Tracks

• Was uns beiden gehört
• Dramatiker
• Die Ballade von Wolfgang und Brigitte
• Bring Mich Nach Hause

Sophie Hunger – 1983
Auch wenn ich aus dem Coverfoto nicht schlau werde, und wenn es Wochen als meine Zubettgehmusik brauchte, so kann ich doch nicht anders, als 1983 zu lieben. Im iTunes hat es Songs mit bloss einem Stern bis hin zu solchen mit deren fünf. Hier gilt was sonst eher selten Erfolg verspricht: die Mischung machts.

Beste Tracks

• Invisible
• Le Vent Nous Portera
• 1983

Dota und die Stadtpiraten – Bis auf den Grund
Dota ist immer schön zu hören. Sehr feinfühlig und feinhörig zu sein wird vom Hörer erwartet. Der Fokus auf das Leise, das Feine ist sehr wohltuend!

Beste Tracks

• Im Glashaus
• Inflationär
• Erschlossenes Land

Looking through my ever-growing pile of unlistened CDs (unlistened does not mean that I never put it on, it just means that I haven’t yet had the opportunity to really listen to it all the way through a few times), I asked myself whether it would be possible to pinpoint exactly what makes me want to buy a CD. The point being here that most of the time I only get to love CDs after having bought them already and most of those CDs I eventually end up liking. Of course the fact that I obsessively collect all available records of the artists I like helps. This means that the question is reduced to the following: how do I discover new artists? And which means have provided me reliably with the artists I’d surely love? Decisive for what category to put an artist in is not how I first heard their song but what got me hooked (I’m only including artists I’m still hooked on as of today but since I can’t remember ever having gotten tired of an artist, this is a given).

For ever and for always

There are some artists whose music came to me as a child and will always stay with me no matter what. My mom used to have quite a few LPs, yet I only ever listened to two of them: Janis Joplin’s Antology and a recording of Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story. I must have been about five or six years old at the time. Shortly thereafter, my mother was given a mixtape of Kate Bush songs for her listening pleasure. I must have overheard it, was hooked immediately, and annexed the tape (I even still listen to it from time to time; the dust and noises let me relive memories long thought forgotten). Kate Bush has remained my favourite artist since. I absolutely love her music which has been guiding me for so many years of my life. A fourth artist I remember from my (later) childhood is Sinéad O'Connor: her album “Universal Mother” came out when I was nine and my mother’s boyfriend at the time got it and it, too, became one of my most cherished music artifacts.

Most favourite of the bunch: Kate Bush, of course
My rating of this channel: The music’s great but the variety is limited: ★★★★☆

Radio & MTV

I remember countless nights of listening to the charts as a tween. This was at a time when my music taste was the most mainstream. Later, this line of music discovery shifted to MTV and still persists today in the form of some TV shows I still watch and some music-related radio podcasts I still listen to. Artists discovered this way include the Spice Girls, Christina Aguilera, Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Jan Delay, Céline Dion, Anastacia, Sugababes, The Cranberries, Shania Twain, Tracy Chapman, Sophie Ellis-Bextor.

Most favourite of the bunch: Undecided because the reach is so far
My rating of this channel: Great variety of artists, little variety of sound: ★★★☆☆

Artists that are common knowledge and I happen to like them

• The Beatles
  
• ABBA (this is actually another one for the first category but I never really, really liked them until I got to some of the lesser-known songs)
  
• Bob Dylan
  

Seen live

I don’t usually go to concerts where I don’t know what to expect. But there are still three possible circumstances that could cause this to occur:

1. A friend drags me with them
   
2. The concert is an open-air with a mixed line-up
   
3. The artist is the supporting act
   

I happen to have an example for each of those cases:

• Nellie McKay (Case 3)
  
• Alanis Morissette (Case 2)
  
• Sohodolls (Case 1, where the friend was actually my father)
  

Best live discovery: Alanis Morissette
Rating: ★★★★☆

Artists suggested to me by the local record store

Unfortunately, Rock On closed its doors for good last October but I will always remember how they got to know my music taste in a matter of weeks… Artists discovered there include:

• Róisín Murphy
  
• Vanessa Paradis
  
• A Fine Frenzy
  
• Evelinn Trouble
  
• Goldfrapp
  

Where Róisín is of course my most cherished discovery of all
Overall rating: ★★★★☆

iTunes

Sometimes I browse the iTunes store and discover great stuff that way. Only downside is that once I started a music collection by an artist digitally, I can’t continue it physically because that would (by some psychological condition) violate my principle of the order of things… case in point: I don’t have any of these artists physically in my record collection.

• Corinne Bailey Rae
  
• M83
  
• Amy Macdonald
  

Best of iTunes: Amy Macdonald
Rating: some crummy boundaries prevent me from getting all I want but the quality of service is excellent: ★★★☆☆

Last.fm

Discoveries on last.fm are not what you think they’d be: iamstevienicks3 gave me a shout asking “AND you also like Celine and ABBA!!! Have u tried any Stevie Nicks? I am sure you would love her :-)”. And he was right, I did love her! Once I posted a journal entry named “Great albums of 2007” where hdsander posted a comment reading: “Nice list! I found albums to agree to, some to look at and some I would not mention, but I could not find Brandi Carlile - The Story ;)”… And whoops now, there she is now in my library, never again to be forgotten. Lastly: Lene Lovich. I took a more active approach there and asked my last.fm neighbours who listened to her to recommend her to me and they did.

Best on last.fm: Stevie Nicks, with Brandi Carlile being a close second
Rating: not many but all top shots: ★★★★☆

Ectoguide

A web site with the complete title “the ectophile’s guide to good music” is a collection of artist that could be of interest to anyone who likes Happy Rhodes’ music. The most effective source of new discoveries:

• Veda Hille
  
• Emily Bezar
  
• Jane Siberry
  
• Lou Rhodes
  
• Jewel
  
• Charlotte Martin
  
• Laurie Anderson
  
• Ani Difranco
  
• Terami Hirsch
  
• Vienna Teng
  
• Joanna Newsom
  

Ectobest: Laurie Anderson, Ani DiFranco, Joanna Newsom, Jewel (sorry, can’t decide)
Rating: fabulous: ★★★★★

Artists who draw comparisons to Kate Bush

Most of them I discovered on Kate-Bush web sites, through web searches or by accident in other media articles.

• Happy Rhodes
  
• Regina Spektor
  
• Laura Marling
  

Most Kate-like: Happy Rhodes
Rating: limited, but great: ★★★★☆

Specifically: the Kate Bush Google Alert

• Florence and The Machine
  
• Blue Roses
  
• Bat for Lashes
  

Best here: Bat For Lashes
Rating: many journalist seem to connect all sorts of music to Kate… so there are lots of false positives here: ★★★☆☆

Artists who draw comparisons to Tori Amos

• Rachael Sage
  
• Charlotte Martin
  

Sometimes sounds exactly like Tori: Charlotte Martin

Suggested by family members

• Joan Baez
  
• beethoven
  
• Eurythmics
  
• Björk
  
• Shakira
  
• Алла Пугачева
  
• Tom Waits
  

Best: Björk
Rating: sometimes wonky, mostly cool, often quite good: ★★★☆☆

Suggested by friends

• Radiohead
  
• Sally Oldfield
  
• Tanya Donelly
  
• The Cardigans
  
• k.d. lang
  
• Diana Krall
  
• CocoRosie
  
• Maria Taylor
  
• Imogen Heap
  

Best: Sally Oldfield
Rating: sometimes wonky, mostly cool, often quite good: ★★★★☆

Got to know in school

(Suggested by a teacher, not a classmate)

• Cyndi Lauper
  
• Mariah Carey
  
• EAV
  
• Chaka Khan
  

Best: Cyndi Lauper
Rating: ★★★★☆

Off compilations

• Marianne Faithfull (Paul Simon Songbook)
  
• Sting (Two Rooms)
  
• Joe Cocker (Two Rooms)
  
• George Michael (Two Rooms)
  
• Joni Mitchell (Love… Actually OST)
  

Best: Sting, followed by Joni Mitchell
Rating: does not often yield good results: ★★☆☆☆

Because some artist I liked did a cover of their song

• Leonard Cohen (Joan Baez covered “Famous Blue Raincoat”)
  
• Ismaël Lô (Marianne Faithfull covered “La Femme Sans Haine (Toutes Les Femmes)”)
  
• Cher (Sophie Ellis-Bextor covered “Take Me Home”)
  
• Peter Gabriel (Happy Rhodes covered “Here Comes The Flood”)
  
• David Bowie (Happy Rhodes covered “Ashes To Ashes”)
  
• Joe Jackson (Tori Amos covered “Real Men”)
  

Best: Leonard Cohens
Rating: funny way but most are lucky guesses: ★★★☆☆

Because they did a cover of a song I liked

• Tori Amos (covered Leonard Cohens “Famous Blue Raincoat”; yes, really, that’s how I first got in touch with her music, not the obvious Kate-Bush-like connection)
  
• Julie Felix (covered Simon & Garfunkel’s version of “El Cóndor Pasa”)
  
• Julie Covington (covered Kate Bush’s “The Kick Inside”)
  
• Roberta Flack (covered Joan Baez’s Jesse)
  

Best: Tori Amos
Rating: apart from Tori not a big yield: ★★☆☆☆

Because one of their song’s titles contained the name of an artist I liked

• Tabitha Monet
  

Solo stuff by bands I liked

• Siobhan Donaghy
  
• Dolores O'Riordan
  

Best: Siobhan Donaghy
Rating: strangely few…: ★★☆☆☆

Bands of people whose solo stuff I liked

• The Sugarcubes (via Björk)
  
• Azure Ray (via Maria Taylor)
  
• Moloko (via Róisín Murphy)
  
• Fleetwood Mac (via Stevie Nicks)
  

Best: The Sugarcubes, closely followed by Moloko
Rating: mostly great: ★★★★☆

Delicious Library comes with two great web export templates. I took the one which allowed me show off my CD collection all at once and – thus – searchable.
sabberworm’s Library.
One odd thing I noticed, however, was that barely readable text at the bottom, “Springfield, State zipflap congrotus delicious library Schweikert, Raphael”. The middle part, “zipflap congrotus”, seems to be present on every DL2 export. A quick Google search for "zipflap congrotus" (including the quotes) yields only delicious web libraries. Maybe the developers built them in to be able to quickly google how often the export feature is used… I would never without reason accuse Wil Shipley of spying on his users but I just can’t imagine what other purpose those words would serve.

Tue 24 Jun – Céline Dion World Tour 2008

Why did everyone seem to like the concert so much? It was fuckin’ awful. I paid an insane amount of money for the worst concert I’ve ever been to. Everyone knows that every single French Céline Dion song is better than all of her English songs combined. Then why on earth would she consider singing only one of them, “Pour Que Tu M'Aimes Encore” (which she even introduced with the exact same phrase she used on the “Live at Las Vegas” DVD) a track which will always be remembered as her single biggest French hit. Ending the show yet again with My Heart Will Go On (her biggest english hit) just proves that she is nothing but a sucker for fame and is willing to do anything (including singing the same song every night for thousands of times) to please the masses.
Why the hell does she neglect the fans of her French songs so much, expects them to visit her concerts in Paris or Montréal? Even in a country like Switzerland where a big part of the population is actually French-speaking and everyone else has had French lessons in elementary school, even if she’s released a French record (D'elles just last year, she would only do that one (old) French song and not speak French at all during the introductions.
God I love Céline Dion but I hate her dividing the world into French and Non-French (thus – English), as if everyone who’s not speaking French would prefer English.
The concert was not entirely bad, though, there was one incredible highlight: She sung my favourite Queen song “The Show Must Go On” in same way as most of her great cover songs are done: as close to the original as possible.
The Show Must Go On

Inmitten tosender fussballbegeisterter Massen und bald auch inmtten strömenden Regens ein Konzert in der Barfussbar das schöner und schlechtbesuchter nicht hätte sein können. Brazil-Pop haben sie es genannt. Nicht wirklich meine Musikrichtung. Aber wie auch bei der John Lyons Band: die meisten Konzerte die ich besuche obwohl ich nicht weiss, dass sie mir zusagen werden, gefallen mir im Endeffekt sehr gut.

Tue 10 Jun – Bê

After the list of great albums, here the list of this year's albums that didn't impress me that much. These are not all plain bad albums, some just did not live up to my expectations, others failed to distinguish themselves enough from the masses (or their predecessors).

First of all I'm gonna mention all the albums I already reviewed: La Radiolina, Sky and Drastic Fantastic.

As I Am
It's a sad transitioning that's been happening: instead of showcasing Alicia Keys' beautiful voice, this latest album focuses much more on dirty beats and rough edges.

The Best Damn Thing
This has been the first album in a long time that I listened straight through immediately after purchasing. I was greeted by a big soup of same-sounding bullshit, mixed with some tunes pretending to be something they aren't. There are about two tracks worth listening to: Innocence and When You're Gone.

Blackout
OK, I don't know why I bought this in the first place. Maybe I wanted to subconsciously impress all of my twelve year old friends (or the ones who had been twelve when the last Britney Spears album came out). Whatever the reason: I assure I never before bought any of her records. It's not entirely clear how on earth I could have expected this not to suck…

Change
The Sugababes had two wonderful records put out before they started making the same album every time… Anything experimental that One Touch and Angels With Dirty Faces might have had is completely missing. What remains is their most pop-ish album to date.

Como ama una mujer
I love spanish songs. That language is just beautiful and learning it is still in my agenda. But J.Lo's voice more than ruins it.

Dylanesque
OK, my main gripe with this album is not really a warranted one: he picked mostly Dylan songs that I don't know which makes the album not as fun to as it could have been.

Introducing… Joss Stone
Joss Stone's voice is really beautiful and I like listening to her songs. But instead of being a really original record, Introducing… Joss Stone just seems like a failed attempt at imitating Amy Winehouse. I much rather have her sing more Janis Joplin songs instead of writing more of those "truly me" songs.

Not Too Late
Norah Jones' latest effort feels exactly like Feels Like Home, her previous record. It's full of beautiful songs that are easy to listen to. And that's actually my main gripe with it: it's too smooth. It does not have the rough edges and sometimes unfinished feel that her debut, Come Away With Me, had.

Pictures
I must admit I listen to Katie Melua mainly for her mellow, smooth voice, for the sheer kitsch of her songs. There's actually plenty of that on her new record so what am I complaining about? So while I actually have no problem listening to this record, I cannot seriously recommend it to anyone without exposing my perverted side that just wants to listen to the most beautiful voices, disregarding any notion of taste.

Real Girl
Unlike Siobhan Donaghy, Mutya Buena really has not tried to create something distinctly her own after leaving the Sugababes. I'd strongly recommend listening to the duet with George Michael, This Is Not Real Love (Featuring George Michael). Other than that I cannot really recommend anything.

Reproductions
I love Charlotte Martin. A lot. Too much to let her do covers. Her style is just to original and the original versions of these songs are just too tightened for me to ever really shine in combination.

The Signal
Guano Apes was a great band, mostly because they were original and funny, sometimes even silly. Sandra Nasic's solo record lacks this loose handling of wit in the lyrics. The greatest shortcoming of this album is trying to be too serious.

Songs of Mass Destruction
Annie Lennox's records just lack something when compared to Eurythmics'. I expected this and it didn't surprise me. No, my main problem with this record is the song Sing. Featuring a lot (and I mean a LOT) of artists, many of which I count as being of my favourites, I expected the track to be at least ten minutes long and to feature all of those great voices in their own solo part. The only voices I was able to distinguish were Madonna’s (who unfairly gets to sing the complete second verse), Joss Stone's and Céline Dion. I couldn't even make out Shakira's quite distinct voice.

Taking Chances
I don't know what I have against this album. Whenever I listen to a random song off it, I think to myself "Wow, that's actually quite good." I've been accustomed to hearing Céline Dion's great voice do always the same thing (apart from some exceptions like when she tried to go Hip-Hop in Treat Her Like a Lady). Well, on this album, she's trying some new stuff with it which certainly sets the album apart from any of her previous english records (I won't go into trying to figure out why her French records are always so much better than her english ones). Unfortunately this also means this album is more mainstream than any of her previous ones.

X
I bough this, listened to it once and never touched it again. I don't think it's a particularly bad album, it just doesn't contain any more-than-average tracks like her previous three records did. But maybe I need to listen to it a bit more.

I really did buy a lot of music this year and – for the first time ever – most of it was actually new (at least when ignoring the twenty or so CDs I picked up at the sale of a giant CD store whose owner had died).
Here are some of the 2007 new albums I really liked. The list is nowhere near complete since I did not pick up every new album I could possibly like.

American Doll Posse
There's really not a lot to be said that my review doesn't cover. Even though the album didn't manage to stay in my top listens for the second part of the year, I still love to listen to it occasionally.

Arbitrary Act
I think my previous review says it all: Evelinn Trouble is the new genius.

Are You Listening?
That voice, I just love the voice of Dolores O'Riordan (I know I have a lot ahead of me since I have all records of The Cranberries ahead of me).

Canon
Though not an album of new material, it was the first of Ani Difranco's that I bought and it simply made me fall in her love with her music.

D'elles
Like Jennifer Lopez, Céline Dion has released an english and a non-english album this year. But unlike J.Lo, at least one of Céline's albums were actually good. It's definitely not my favourite of all her french records but it's a nice enough mix of melodies, stories and up-tempo beats.

Find Me
I have not waited for this as long as some people have but even I have found myself starving for new material from this hugely gifted artist whose music I've been enjoying for three years now.

Ghosts
I'm saddened to see how much this truly amazing album has been overlooked. I've liked Revolution in Me but this is so unlike anything you usually hear from girlbandmates gone solo.

Have Yourself a Very KT Christmas EP
KT Tunstall's main album this year – Drastic Fantastic – left me quite unfulfilled while her Xmas EP is full of welcome surprises and interesting melodies to be discovered. A perfect album for background listening.

Joanna Newsom and the Ys Street Band EP
I got to see Joanna Newsom perform live and it's been one of this year's top concerts, it was just great. The reason this album is so great is called Colleen and it's a sensitive, sweet and incredibly sticky track.

Little Eve
How can one listen to tracks like Words and not fall in love? It's like Natasha Bedingfield minus her annoying voice and plus some more interesting musical tidbits.

Made of Bricks
I love the rawness of this album, the utter disregard of respect of the listener's sense of music, the light-heartedness and bluntness of it. But all this pales in comparison to the most important reason why I love this album so much: Kate Nash's London accent. It's just plain beautiful to listen to.

Obligatory Villagers
I got this quite late, no-one told me this had come out. It's not as comprehensive as what I'm used to from Nellie McKay, the tracks are shorter and there are much less of them. So I found it by accident when I decided to check out her site again after some two years. The tracks are much more light-hearted in style than the ones from her two previous records and the lyrics range from funny to downright silly.

One Cell In The Sea
I have not really had time to listen to this album but what I heard so far sounds quite beautiful. It's not too distinct from other efforts of young women with beautiful voices and nice, shy songs but it's definitely worth checking out.

Overpowered
I got hooked on Róisín Murphy much faster than any artist ever before. This music just spins with me, everything matches, right down to the smallest of beats. Nothing for the introverted, though.

The Reminder
This is one of the few albums I ever bought without knowing the artist beforehand or having read a review or recommendation; the record just jumped at me in the music store and it stuck with me ever since. Having listened to more of Feist's music, I've grown to like Let It Die even a bit more.

Ribbed Music For The Numb Generation
Almost exactly a year after seeing them perform live in Glasgow, I held in my hands the first full-length album of the enchanting Sohodolls. This music is smooth and snuggles itself against it's listener in a way that feels almost warm (some pop songs do this too but they mostly feel cold).

River — The Joni Letters
Speaking of cold: Jazz most of the time leaves me cold. But hearing so many great Joni Mitchell songs played with so much passion on a piano by Herbie Hancock just makes me feel good. Plus you get to hear all those great voices sing them.

Shine
This record takes some getting used to, which takes time. Time I've not really had so far. But for the bits and pieces I've had time I can honestly say I've heard some wonderful tunes.

Soundso
Die Helden entwickeln sich langsam aber sicher zu Superhelden, jedes ihrer Alben ist ein Stück besser als sein Vorgänger. Wer einigermassen vernünftige Erwartungen hat, wird nicht enttäuscht.

Theology
I already reviewed this. My conclusion still stands: it's a good album. Considering that I never again expected Sinéad O'Connor's music to really enchant me it's even a great album.

This Fool Can Die Now
Again something I've not had the chance to really listen through but so far like what I'm listening to.

This Time
After Melanie C made most of her money from selling songs to german TV stations, I expected most of her future work to be as melancholic as First Day Of My Life. Fortunately, this album has proven me wrong. Though it's no Reason, This Time contains some great tracks like Carolyna, Understand and I Want Candy.

[album artist=Sophie Ellis-Bextor]Trip The Light Fantastic
Sophie Ellis-Bextor keeps making similar records and they, in turn, keep making me happy. Every album has sounded a bit more electronic than the previous one. Let's hope she knows when to stop.

Twelve
Patti Smith has been making some incredible music in her life. Now she's taken the music of others and turned it into her own in a style that is sometimes very conservative and sometimes very much her own. But always quite amicably.

Volta
Björk's Homogenic has always been my favourite album of hers and one of all-time favourite albums of any artist but Volta manages to challenge this position. I never had such a flair for rawness.

White Chalk
PJ Harvey is an artist that I have first heard of a long time ago but that I'd held off listening to up until early this year. I still struggle to categorize all that I'm hearing of her but one thing is very clear: unlike the songs on other of her albums, the tracks on White Chalk have immediately found their way into my heart.

36grad
Listening to 2raumwohnung is like drifting away on a cloud. 36Grad only adds colour to this image: the cloud is now located over the sea with view onto sunny beaches and mellow yellow. It's also the first of their records where there is not a single song I dislike.