Ready for some lists? I know I am...

So! I have an affinity for playlists and compilations. Some will argue that albums should always be listened to in their entirety, as they are one complete idea. I heartily agree. But one of my favorite hobbies is taking my favorite tiny bits of those complete ideas, removing them forcibly from their little habitats and using messy adhesives to slap them in the midst of some other arguably complete idea. I don't personally create mixes with themes like the admirable folks over at Tiny Mix Tapes. While these often make me laugh, I like to simply string songs I've been recently obsessed with together in a logical or aesthetically pleasing order.

Like so many others, I also like to make countdowns and top 10 lists. I'm ignoring your collective sigh. I know there are thousands of other lists (pop over to Largehearted Boy and see a master list of lists), but none are so relevant to me as my own.

Anyway. I present the first installment in the collection of lists I will put forth: FOA's Best of 2007. (Predictable, I know.)
This one's just a simple top ten (with addendum...), but in the very near future I'll be posting Project Playlist compilations of my mixes from the past year, something on which I do spend a lot of time and thought...probably to the detriment of other more productive things I could be doing...

FOA's Best Albums of 2007

(Disclaimer: By "best" I mean that it influenced my musical universe, not necessarily that I think it's objectively the cleanest or most masterful...but really, most of these are the cleanest or most masterful..)


1. Band of Horses - Cease To Begin
2. The Avett Brothers - Emotionalism
3. Radiohead - In Rainbows
4. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
5. The National - Boxer
6. Beirut - The Flying Club Cup
7. Radical Face - Ghost
8. Fishboy - Albatross: How We Failed To Save The Lonestar State With The Power of Rock and Roll
9. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
10. The Shins - Wincing The Night Away

Honorable Mention:

Tegan and Sara - The Con (very very good)

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Some Loud Thunder (because even though it's not their best album, it introduced me to the band, whose 2005 self-titled debut is one of the best things to happen to indie rock EVER)

Maria Taylor - Lynn Teeter Flower (ethereal and hypnotic)

VHS or Beta - Bring On The Comets (It was my first CD review. I'm partial.)

The New Whole Usuals - Martin Moeh (weird enough to be noteworthy. Period.)

Biirdie - Catharine Avenue


I'll probably edit this list later. Please comment and agree or argue with me. I want to hear what I've left out. The order is up for discussion to some degree as well. I feel like I've left something out...

Stay tuned for compilations.