Mappy Holidays!

It's time for the obligatory Best Of 2007 list. Here are my top ten favorite albums of the past year. Order is determined by how much I liked the album, and also how much I have listened to it.


1. Maps - We Can Create

2. Matthew Dear - Asa Breed

3. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?

4. Mabuses - Mabused!

5. Caribou - Andorra

6. Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity

7. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver

8. Blonde Redhead - 23

9. Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position

10. Ulrich Schnauss - Goodbye


A special holiday message from Maps:

Hello friends

It's been a very strange and wonderful year here in Maps Central (Earls Barton). I started 2007 recording my debut album without any idea of the year ahead that awaited. As well as fantastic reviews, 'We Can Create' was nominated for the Nationwide Mercury Music Prize, which made me very proud. Since then the band and I have toured the UK played great festivals like Latitude, Reading and Leeds, I've toured across Europe and the US playing to fantastic audiences everywhere. Emotional sell out shows like Stockholm, New York and Kings College in London will live long in my mind.

Before I embark on the quest that is writing my second album I wanted to send a special gift to those of you who've supported me through this amazing year. This song is my special Xmas gift to you inspired by taking 12 E's and running myself over in my own car. Only an enormous puffer jacket prevented me from certain death.

Happy Xmas

James

The Monstrous Surplus

Picking up where 2003’s “Dreams Top Rock” left off, THE MONSTROUS SURPLUS is resplendent with reverby, dreamy guitars and the ethereal vocals of Julee Cruise and Julia Hummer.
Shoegaze to your heart's content with your very own copy.

Gorillaz D-Sides

Damon Albarn’s Gorillaz are back with a new double-CD collection. Just as 2002’s “G-Sides” compiled unreleased tracks and remixes from the “Gorillaz” album, “D-Sides” does the same for the smashingly successful “Demon Days.” Disc one features previously unreleased tracks and b-sides, while disc two contains remixes by the likes of DFA, Stanton Warriors, Soulwax, Hot Chip and more.
Get the regular edition, or the deluxe (boxed edition with sew-on patch, buttons, and booklet).

The Brit Box: U.K. Indie, Shoegaze & Brit-Pop Gems

Just in time to make it onto my holiday wishlist, Rhino Records has done what they do best again. They’ve made an indispensable, amazing compilation box set. Spanning four discs, the set features 78 U.K. performers and covers British indie pop from the mid-80’s (The Smiths, Cocteau Twins) to the early 90’s Shoegazing Years (My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Lush, Moose) to the Brit-Pop invasion of the later 90’s (Suede, James, Pulp, Supergrass, Cornershop). The Brit Box is shaped like a British phone booth, and also includes an 80-page book with interviews, essays and memories from Stephen Street, Alan Moulder and more.
Make someone buy this for you!

Moog Acid

Now here's a meeting of minds: electronic music pioneer Jean Jacques Perrey teams up with one of the very finest producers in British electronica, Luke Vibert, for a brilliant meeting of styles. Instruments used include:
Moog Mini
Moog Poly
Moog Modular
Moog Voyager
Moog MG-1
Ondioline
Prophet T8
EMS Vocoder 1000

You want one, don't you?

45:33

Originally composed for Nike as a digital-only release, LCD Soundsystem's "45:33" is meant to be used for working out or running. Although I probably will never ever use it for that, I still find it enjoyable as a long, meandering disco/electronic piece. The CD edition comes with a few bonus tracks, too, including this week's featured track, "Freak Out/Starry Eyes," originally a b-side to "All My Friends."
You should totally get one for $14.99.