This is the time of year it seems just about every credible publication is doing a “best of 2007″ albums, so I thought I’d join them and do a quick top 10 of my favourite albums this past year. I’ve chosen the top 10 from the 74 albums I’ve “acquired” (either downloaded / bought the CD of / been given the CD of). Disagree? Just say in the comments below.

• Memorable-ness - Does it have you humming it for days after? Can you remember snippets of lyrics?
• “Car factor” - Can you put it on play and leave it going without skipping any tracks / few tracks?
• Irritability - Can you have tracks on repeat without wanting to throw the CD out of the window?
• Musical quality - Is it likely to be a classic / seen as a highlight of the artist’s career?
• Enjoy-ability - Is it fun? Get you going?
• Innovation - How innovative is it?

10. Jack Peñate - Matinee
He may just be one man with a funny swirl over his name, but his album turned out to be one of the most consistent of the year. Many of the tracks are single-worthy, fun, danceable and just the sort of thing that goes down a storm at many end-of term parties.

Tales of bitterness, nights out, missed opportunities, and images of guys in smart suits akin to West Side Story make this album the first in my 2007 top ten.

Buy the CD on Amazon

9. Mika - Life in Cartoon Motion
Who couldn’t have heard Mika’s first single, Grace Kelly, which bothered the top 10 for a few months at the start of the year. Fun, simple pop tunes that live are just quality party tunes.

Many people claimed Mika was trying to capture Freddie Mercury, and yes, he does sound a tiny bit like him, but is completely different: the tunes are quite possibly more girly than anything Freddie did, and his shows are far more like an acid trip than Queen could ever pull off.

His come down tunes, “Relax, Take it Easy,” “Any Other World” and “Happy Ending” are quality tunes in their own right, comedowns for the end of the party. All in all a quality mixture of pop, rock, and pure fun.

My Live Review | Buy the CD on Amazon

8.The Wombats - A Guide To Love, Loss and Desperation
I only really got into this a couple of weeks ago after the release of “Let’s Dance To Joy Division”, but it was on repeat all the way home from the US, with their amusing tales of urban English life. Songs like “Let’s Dance to Joy Division” celebrate English irony brilliantly, tunes that just have everyone dancing for the hills.

They’re knowledgeable, and the whole album is very tongue-in-cheek, which is just what modern indie-pop should be.

Buy the CD on Amazon

7. I’m From Barcelona - Let me Introduce My Friends
I’ll admit it, I didn’t think I’d like this album. 29 people on a record sounds like a recipe for destruction if you ask me, but somehow they pull it off without sounding as chaotic as the Polyphonic Spree do at times.

Songs like “We’re From Barcelona” are fun, simple tunes which has all the vibe of a secondary-school band gone pro. EP song “Britney” unfortunately doesn’t make an appearance on this album, but if it did, the album would be even higher up my list.

Buy the CD on Amazon

6. Band of Horses - Cease To Begin
Opening song, “Is there a Ghost” is enough for Band of Horses to deserve their 6th place position on this list. A quality, haunting tune that just captures the whole vibe of the album - musically capable, listener - accessible.

The entire collection sounds far more polished and consistent than their debut, “Everything, All the Time”, which whilst had moments of brilliance, failed to capture the consistency of this collection.

Buy the CD on Amazon

5. Radiohead - In Rainbows
A suprise release, Radiohead seemed to garner more headlines for their “Music Industry ruining” way of release and letting people choose the price they wanted to pay for the download of the tracks as an MP3 file.

However, the album wa, in my opinion, one of their strongest yet. A distinctly electronic feel, they combined their solo efforts into a collection that was strong, consistent, and interesting. I wouldn’t be suprised if it turns out to be one of their strongest of their career.

My Review of In Rainbows | Buy the CD on Amazon

4. Stars - In our Bedroom After the War
I bought this one on a whim - I didn’t know much about Stars, but quickly grew to love them. Songs like the haunting “Barricade”, the danceable “The Night Starts Here” and the yearning “Bitches in Tokyo” make for a collection that builds on their previous albums (which I’ve since acquired), and makes a strong and consistent collection that I’ll be listening to for months to come no doubt.

Buy the CD on Amazon

3. Tegan and Sara - The Con

They may be two lesbian identical twin sisters, but don’t let you think they’re a novelty act - far from it. They’re a quality duo, who make amazing short stories for the 00’s generation.

Produced by Death Cab For Cutie’s Chris Walla, The Con is their most accomplished yet, full of drama like their previous records, but a bit more believable, and a bit more stable now that they’re settled down with partners. They seem happier, if that’s possible, which is always good.

Buy the CD on Amazon

2. The National - Boxer
The National’s fourth album, Boxer is a very consistent record, though unfortunately not quite as good as their break-through “Alligator”.

They seem to be more at home with themselves, not quite as angry as standout songs on Alligator “Mr. November” or “Lit Up”. Instead, all of the songs are accomplished, but not as much emotion, which is a shame

The National @ The Astoria Live Review | The National - Boxer - My Review | Buy the CD on Amazon

1. Bloc Party - A Weekend in The City
I’ll admit it here. I wasn’t a big fan of their debut, Silent Alarm. I thought it was crap. However, once I listened to A Weekend in the City I “got” Bloc Party, and fell in love with both albums at once.

Songs such as “I Still Remember” and “Sunday” are the standouts for me, both quality songs that deserve the huge audience Bloc Party have garnered. I’ve possibly listened to this album more times than any other album, and will continue to do so for 2008 no doubt.
My Album Review | Buy the CD on Amazon

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Those lovely people at iTunes have set up their own “festival” in the centre of London to take place at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) throughout July, with a raft of the best in current bands playing each night.

iTunes will be recording each of the shows and are planning to make songs from the shows available via their music shop. The ICA holds about 350 people, making the shows exceptionally intimate.

The bands include, in date order:

Mika supported by Leon Jean-Marie (1)
Crowded House supported by Justin Nozuka (2)
Travis supported by The Hoosiers (3)
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club supported by Nine Black Alps (4)
Groove Armada supported by Mutya Buena and Beardyman (7)
Ash supported by Ben’s Brother (8)
The View (9)
Imogen Heap supported by James Wolff (10)
Editors supported by GoodBooks (11)
Scott Matthews (12)
Athlete supported by Tiny Dancers (13)
Paolo Nutini (14)
Gianna Nannini (15)
Ludovico Einaudi supported by Dhafer Youssef (16)
The Bad Plus supported by Rebekka Bakken (17)
The Pigeon Detectives supported by The Rakes (18)
Beverley Knight supported by Raul Midón (19)
Stereophonics supported by Little Man Tate (20)
Jamie Scott & The Town (21)
Wir Sind Helden (23)
Amy Winehouse supported by The Rumble Strips and Remi Nicole (25)
Just Jack supported by Mr Hudson & The Library (26)
Jack Penate (27)
The Maccabees supported by Goldspot (28)
Duke Special supported by Tom McRae (29)
The Coral supported by Candie Payne (30)

Tickets will be given away free via radio, TV stations and band and fan websites. The specific details of which will be announced soon. Some tickets are already available from the itunes festival website.

Photo taken from Mteson’s flickr stream.

So, todays Music Slut (quite possibly one of the better music blogs out there) has reported on two “talking points” shall we say that look set to divide opinions across our fair land.

First up, and its news that Bloc Party’s Kele Okereke said in an interview with Total Spec magazine that:

“I think in the 21st Century drug-taking is something that is synonymous with life, really. All I intended to do with the songs is to capture what modern life feels like.”

Naturally, this has divided opinions as, in typical Okereke style, he hasn’t really admitted to taking drugs. Nor has he said that he thinks that they’re bad. Only that lots of people do take drugs, and that he wanted to reflect that fact in his songs. There’s a quick discussion going on over at Music Slut about this quote, though most of it appears to be going on personal opinions about Kele. Personally, I love Bloc Party. Granted, they’re not the most media-friendly of bands. But then they’re musicians. Not Paris bloody Hilton.

Secondly, Out Magazine has got Mika on the front, with the article and cover questioning his sexuality:

“Anyone can label me, but I’m not willing to label myself…Anybody who says that I don’t talk about sexuality or that I don’t politically sexualize my music because of taboos, because of being afraid of [not] selling records, is completely wrong. I’ve made a record that doesn’t compromise in any way what I’m allowed or not allowed to say in my lyrics.”

Music slut also has a quote from Mika’s people “who wanted to do a cover but only if it came out a few months down the road, because they were concerned about breaking into the mainstream market were Mika pigeonholed as a “gay artist” right out of the gate.”.

Why does it matter if he’s straight, gay, whatever? He makes bloody good pop music, and anything else is up to him to bring to the table. Plenty of artists have made it big by using their sexuality (Scissor Sisters anyone?) and plenty of artists have made it big by hiding their sexuality (Elton John’s first marriage anyone?)

All of it just seems to me that it ultimately just turns into some good publicity for all the artists, and gets people talking about them.

As I mentioned yesterday, the rest of the Somerset house gigs have been announced, with an impressive lineup. I’d quite like to see most of these bands… but obviously I probably won’t get a chance.

Thursday 12 July Mogwai in surround sound
Friday 13 July Kasabian
Saturday 14 July Bert Jansch featuring Beth Orton and Bernard Butler
Sunday 15 July Guillemots
Monday 16 July Lily Allen
Tuesday 17 July Mika
Wednesday 18 July Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Thursday 19 July The Roots
Friday 20 July Amy Winehouse
Saturday 21 July Hot Chip

Presale is now available here

Tomorrow the Summer Series gigs at Somerset house in London are announced, and this year one of the bands playing is Mika, supported by Patrick Wolf, which looks like its going to be one big cheesy camp-fest for everyone to enjoy. Both bands have sold out 2,000 capacity venues quickly, so expect tickets for this Somerset House gig to go quickly. On sale on Thursday, but presale is available at the link below from tomorrow morning at 10am.

Tuesday 17th July 2007 - 8pm - Somerset House, London.

Tickets are on sale now from here.

When tipped for the top, many artists can’t live up to the hype that has been created for them by the press. Mika, on the other hand is different. Revelling in the limelight, the 23 year old jumped on stage at London’s Koko last night to start the first date of his six date UK tour, fully recovered from a bout of flu that cancelled the first date in Brighton on Tuesday.

Support came in the interesting form of Kitty, Daisy and Lewis who are something of a hillbilly Von Trapp family, with Mum and Dad providing backing on double bass and acoustic guitar respectively, and the kids at the front of the band, appearing younger than most of the audience. They muddled their way through their set, clearly nervous at playing to such a large crowd compared to what they’re used to, playing just about every instrument possible. In the circumstances they were good, but need to work on getting that much tighter in the future – they seem a bit all over the place, and don’t appear to know their way around their instruments particularly well.

Pretty soon 9pm rolled round and sure enough Mika jumped on, launching straight into “Relax”, showing that his voice was fully recovered from his flu, and that he was back to full strength. Moving nicely into a jumpy “Love today”, he soon removed his ornate hoody, going down to braces and a dress shirt, joking how he always starts off with so many more clothes than is comfortable.

“Big Girls” came around and he was indeed joined by two, erm, larger, girls for the song, dancing around, popping out of their corsets several times, and generally causing mischief, dancing on his piano stool, and getting in the way of his guitarist. “Ring Ring” is the closest to a ballad Mika has, joined by a superb backing singer and a cellist. Sure enough closer to the set was “Grace Kelly”, his current number 1 hit single, sung almost perfectly from the crowd, with Mika clearly touched by the response.

After a short break, Mika comes back to do his bubble-gum hit “Lollipop”, a song that Aqua would have been proud of. He’s joined by his dancers, the Lollipop girls, who dance, jump, and play with four huge letters that spell out “LOVE”. Glitter cannons go off; giant balloons are thrown into the crowd, giving an experience akin to the Flaming Lips at Hammersmith Apollo last summer. With that, Mika walks off, finishing 50 minutes of camp classics that in one album have put him up there with the Scissor Sisters and a modern day Freddie Mercury.

His May tour has almost totally sold out, and he looks likely to be a hit at the festivals this summer, with Glastonbury already confirmed. Watch out for him – he’s going to be very infectious over the coming months.