BEST OF 2007 - The Best of the Rest A-F

by New Noise

All those 2007 albums that didn't make the final 20, from A to F

"One of the first heavy albums in ages to DEMAND your attention, this is a perfect example of everything a band should be: original, intelligent, hilarious and searingly fucking good"

When we invited our writers to nominate their albums of the year, they came back with more than 140 names. Undeterred, we asked them to vote for their top five. Even then, more than 80 albums received at least one vote. Here, in alphabetical order and complete with both positive and negative comments from the writers themselves, are all of those that didn't make the top 20. On this page: artists from A-F.

1990s | Cookies (New Noise review)



The yin to Franz Ferdinand's yang. These boys party harder, wear scruffier clothes and take nastier, cheaper drugs [possibly. Let's avoid a Christmas cheap drugs law suit, eh? ed.]. Virtually every song, however, is glam pop stompalong gold dust. Chiefly the opening triumvirate of 'You Made Me Like It', 'See You At The Lights' and 'Cult Status', 'You're Supposed To Be My Friend' and epic closer and live favourite 'Situation'. You'll be dipping back into this cookie jar time and time again.
David Evans

This album single handedly made me more cross than anything else this year. Utterly diabolical.
Jon Fletcher

Let’s stick up for the 1990's, it's all about the previous decade at the moment so let’s think of them as ahead of their time - a band that peddle good quality indie in an unashamedly buck toothed manner.
Lisa Holmes
65daysofstatic | The Destruction Of Small Ideas

Sheffield musicians you don't want to hit in the face. Awesome musical scope not spoiling things with words.
Jon Drake
Amiina | Kurr (New Noise review)

Two words: Musical. Saws. It’s all in the wobbles, the echoes and the silence between the notes. Wonderful!
Charlotte Otter
Arctic Monkeys | Favourite Worst Nightmare (New Noise review)

The record that simultaneously proved that 'Whatever People Say I Am...' wasn't just a bit of a fluke, but was also going to be impossible to top.
Daniel Whelan
Art Brut | It's A Bit Complicated (New Noise review)

Eddie Argos doesn't lose sleep thinking about the depths of rivers or the heights of mountains. Judging from this album his z's are stolen by thoughts of long lost love and writing the perfect pop song. "People in love sit around and get fat. I didn't want us to end up like that," opens 'People In Love' - and that's just one of the many genius lyrics on show here. The music wouldn't disgrace any quality indie disco and the tune to 'Post Soothing Out' stays in your head like a festive hangover.
David Evans
Battles | Mirrored (New Noise review)



This is exactly what happens when people value musicianship over feeling - a po-faced mess of jazz-infused metalprog, and it hurts.
Tom Mendelsohn

Muso wet dream of fully-functioning genre annihilation. Literally anything goes. Over-rated but has its moments.
Jim Merrett

Impossible not to dance to, there is so much energy, life and electricity darting around this record that I find it difficult not to get totally absorbed in it.
Charlotte Otter
Between The Buried And Me | Colors (New Noise review)

‘Colors’, Between The Buried And Me’s fourth opus proper, takes all the qualities that made the band so special in the first place and magnifies them tenfold. The hardcore is heavier, the metal takes on new mad shapes with every passing minute and the silences in between are far more terrifyingly golden. But ‘Colors’ doesn’t just cleverly cover the whole spectrum of their sound, it takes a claw hammer to the face of every genre and doesn’t stop bashing until it uncovers some genuinely next-level shit. A masterpiece.
Simon Diplock
Bjork | Volta (New Noise review)

Yet another pie for Timbaland to stick his finger in.
Jim Merrett

It’s rather grand and almost pompous in places (think, ‘The Dull Flame Of Desire’) but still quirky and interesting, always keeping you on its toes with what is about to happen next.
Charlotte Otter
Black Helicopter | Invisible Jet (New Noise review)
Bloc Party | A Weekend In The City (New Noise review)



Bloc Party could have stayed in one place and didn't. They earned a lot of criticism for self-indulgent social flaggelation, but underneath it all lay plenty of musical ambition. And when you listen to the lyrics of 'Uniform', the sentiment isn't so far off the mark either.
Jon Fletcher

This album scared a lot of people when it came out. Something about its soul searching and more electronic direction didn't gel in the cold February light. Recent single ‘Flux’ has sent a lot of people back for a second well deserved listen. They may be on the verge of breaking up but this is an icy gem.
Lisa Holmes

Feels a bit weak after the debut, or maybe I’m missing the point. A slight return.
Jim Merrett

The world's most dismal band, finally realising their potential; possibly the blandest, most humourless, po-faced record ever made. If there's any justice, it'll be their last.
Daniel Whelan
Blonde Redhead | 23 (New Noise review)

Excellent album, full of subtle melodies. The sort of record you forget you have, put on on impulse and find yourself lost in all over again.
Jon Fletcher
Chiodos | Bone Palace Ballet (New Noise review)

Two albums in and Michigan six-piece Chiodos are turning into one hell of a band. Stepping things up a notch, this is an ambitious and poetic album that verges on prog, with more being revealed with each listen. There’s a dark, sinister claustrophobia to Lexington (Joey Pea-Pot With A Monkey Face) and its lyrics dance with the macabre, whilst Letter To Janelle is much more delicate and the raw words that accompany the expansive instrumentation are given room to breath. In penning powerful songs that aim for something way beyond the mundane but are still full of melodramatic heart, Chiodos have undoubtedly struck gold.
Laila Hassani
Circa Survive | On Letting Go (New Noise review)
Crime In Stereo | ...Is Dead (New Noise review)
Dizzee Rascal | Maths + English (New Noise review)



Flatters to deceive a tad, though Mr Mills' 3rd LP isn't wholly as disappointing as you first fear. 'Sirens' packs an ugly weight reminiscent in some strange way (at least to these ears) of Faith No More & Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E.'s 'Another Body Murdered', while 'Pussyole' marries the exuberance of a righteous Dizzee in full flow against a classic Lyn Collins hip-house sample and the build-up of some choice rave synth smears. Where he diverts from his usual musical script though, things lose their way badly, though the collaboration with yer man from the 'Monkeys is subtly done. The highlights are still far and away the full-on grime productions though, and he'd do well not to forget that. Focus, m'boy, focus...
Pete Flynn
Dogs | Tall Stories From Under The Table (New Noise review)

We know they're not going to win any points for originality but seriously, who cares? In a year in which the British indie rock/pop scene has stagnated, festered and spat out some truly despicable Libertines/Arctic Monkey spin offs, here is a band who have produced an album that puts all their contemporaries to shame. Stuttering, spluttering, furious rock and roll at its best. 2007 should've been the year of the Dogs.
Jeremy Hodges

Is this list even serious?
Tom Mendelsohn
Efterklang | Parades (New Noise review)
Electrelane | No Shouts, No Calls (New Noise review)

Never a better title for an album - if you want this to work for you, you have to do the leg work, but the results are beautiful.
Jon Fletcher

Soft and gentle harmonies one minute, prickly and jagged guitars the next – it’s the perfect combination of ‘Axes’ and ‘The Power Out’, made even more special by their announcement of their indefinite hiatus. They will be sorely missed.
Charlotte Otter
El-P | I'll Sleep When You're Dead (New Noise review)
Explosions In The Sky | All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone (New Noise review)
Fields | Everything Last Winter (New Noise review)
Black Francis (Frank Black) | Bluefinger (New Noise review)
Fridge | The Sun

Begins by giving the impression that the songs are about to fall apart at any moment, kept together only through perseverance rather than any sense of musical direction, but ends with you thinking the exact opposite. A truly awesome record.
Charlotte Otter
Future Of The Left | Curses (New Noise review)



One of the first heavy albums in ages to DEMAND your attention, this is a perfect example of everything a band should be: original, intelligent, hilarious and searingly fucking good. The dynamic between the aggressiveness of singer/guitarist/ keyboardist/genius Andy Falkous and the jauntiness of bassist Kelson Mathias is spot on - resulting in music that is beefy but never meatheaded. Drummer Jack Egglestone is equally essential, highlights 'Kept By Bees' and 'Fuck the Countryside Alliance' are largely his songs and 'Adeadenemyalwayssmellsgood' sees him give one of the most satisfyingly cheesy performances of the likes we haven't seen since the days of hair metal. Essential, and the undisputed album of the year in my book.
Jenny Perkin
Sondu said on January 22nd 2008 [report abuse]

Is it just me or is the layout of this a bit haphazard?

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