If this has been done somewhere else already, I apologize.

Please reply with your top 5's, I'm interested to hear some stuff I missed out on:

5. CunninLynguists - Dirty Acres

The fourth album from Atlanta hip hop group CunninLynguists is once again very, very impressive (despite their name turning most people off, no pun intended). The range on the album is stunning - from more traditional rap tracks like 'Dirty Acres' to the ambient soundscape of 'Yellow Lines', to the quasi-psychotic string driven 'Things I Dream' to the hopeful pads and guitars of the brilliant outro 'Mexico' with band Club Dub, the album remains strong throughout. If I had to point out flaws it'd be that they haven't evolved from their earlier efforts - merely refined the formula.

Mexico ft Club Dub - http://www.zshare.net/audio/810532740d9755/

4. Elliot Smith - New Moon

A collection of unreleased songs usually isn't something to get excited about, but when we're talking about Elliot Smith the collection is very endearing. The opener 'Angel In The Snow' sets the tone for the album - bittersweet acoustic ballads with Smith's wiry, thin voice gliding over the top of them. Other highlights on this two disc, twenty-four song collection include the harmonized story track 'Going Nowhere', the foreboding 'New Disaster', the poppy and upbeat 'Almost Over' and an early (and personally preferred) version of his seminal 'Miss Misery'. If you're an acoustic or Smith fan you can't go wrong picking this up.

Miss Misery (Early Version) - http://www.gamingw.net/pubaccess/54767/111-elliott_smith-miss_misery_%28early_version%29.mp3/

3. Lupe Fiasco - The Cool

Wow. From his shaky debut 'Food and Liquor' Lupe showed quite a bit of promise, but I thought it'd take him quite a bit longer to mature into a truly worthwhile artist. But here he is with his second album - one that shocked me on first listen to it's lyrical quality and production. The whole album plays out as a semi-parody of hip hop music in general (implied by the name 'The Cool') and this is explored in songs like 'The Coolest', 'Dumb It Down' and the albums lead single 'Superstar'. There's a lot to like about this album bar the general theme though - not one of the 18 songs (not including the intro) are worth skipping. 'Go Go Gadget Flow' has a clever lyrical style and shows Lupe with an unusually agile flow, 'Hello/Goodbye' is an intense rock/rap collaboration with British band UNKLE and features vocals taking a backdrop to the pounding drums and rolling strings. Then there's the love song 'Paris, Tokyo' which is almost rare in hip hop nowadays. I could go on, but I'll say that if you heard 'Kick, Push' on the Hottest 100 and were at all interested then you'll thank yourself for giving this one a listen.

Hello/Goodbye (Uncool) ft UNKLE - http://www.zshare.net/download/810577113e9db8/

2. Wedge - Heavensville

It hurts not to put this as number one, it really does. The debut album from Indiana native Wedge, noted as an 'artist to watch' in Rolling Stone has burst out with an incredible debut that'll no doubt sadly go overlooked by the general populace, but deserves as many accolades as possible. It's not a long debut, but it definitely recognises the value of quality over quantity - every song on here is a winner. The entirely instrumental intro 'Systems' follows into 'Jupiter', which is where the album really kicks off. It shifts rapidly from flawless electronic pop to ambient instrumentals to haunting electro/acoustic ballads without at all jarring or alienating the listener. Every song paints a soundscape and image which you'll follow til it's completion - there really aren't many albums around with as much atmosphere or cohesiveness in a project as this one. I could list every song and their qualities, but instead I'll just talk about the incredible 'Architect' which embodies everything I feel about the album. It starts with a dark acoustic melody layered with haunting vocals which flow like another instrument into the song, winding upwards with introductions of strings, electric guitar and backing vocals til a climax shortly before the end of it's 8 minute running time. It's haunting, uplifting, mysterious and genius all at the same time. Combining songs like these with an Imogen Heap-esque bedroom music aesthetic (which I find makes it even more endearing - knowing only one person is behind every second of music) and you have an amazing overall project. The only bad part is it's length (not because it doesn't feel like enough, but because you crave more upon it's completion) and the fact it'll be a sleeper hit rather than gaining success levels of his contempories, which he could easily go toe to toe with.

The Architect - http://www.zshare.net/download/81061614586f65/

1. Kanye West - Graduation

Kanye, Kanye, Kanye. An arrogant bastard, a rapper with questionable rhyming skills and the 'go to' man for the black man's Seth Cohen clothing style, yet somehow still also an artist that for the third time in a row has created a record that is so enjoyable it defies it's genre and begs everyone to hearing it. Perhaps it's the incredible production and structure, or the content painted both by words and the music. I don't know what it is, but Kanye's third album is possibly his best yet. Kanye has gone from the shaky Chicago rapper who rushed his flow on 'Jesus Walks' to an accomplished song maker and project manager. He eschews the album problems prevelant in the genre and instead makes pieces of music that flow together so well you'll find yourself listening to the whole album more times than single songs. From the echoing kick/snare pattern of 'Good Morning' to the last synth of 'Big Brother' the album constantly impresses and demands to be listened to. Even when he's being arrogant he's endearing him - you feel less like he's bragging about non-existent skills and more just using the energy to fuel memorable and plain enjoyable music. The singles 'Good Life' and 'Stronger' are catchy but focused at the same time - I can't listen to 'Good Life' without smiling, or 'Stronger' with at least humming the Daft Punk sample (I enjoy the original DP song, very much, but Kanye used it in a way, with such a combination of backing music that it became so much more). From the lazy, off kilter but oddly relevant 'Drunk and Hot Girls' to the inspiring and clever ode to his city 'Homecoming' with Coldplay's Chris Martin, to songs like 'Everything I Am' - relaxed and laid back with scratches by DJ Premier, or the heavy, introspective 'Flashing Lights' the album has to be considered a modern hip hop classic. With the way the genre is going Kanye is one of it's few guiding lights, and with albums like this he proves that he really can back up all the claims, even if he'll still bumrush the Grammy's every now and then.

Homecoming ft Chris Martin - http://www.zshare.net/audio/8106177edaab8b/


Honourable Mentions:

Atmosphere - Strictly Leakage: A free download album that somehow beats out most other rap albums to come out last year. Go figure.
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver: If the Rogue Traders weren't terrible and had the heart to make inspired and inventive music this is what it'd sound like.
Urthboy - The Signal: The best Australian hip-hop album of last year, for my money. 'Nuthin I'd Rather Do' is destined for at least a few barbeques.
Vents - Hard To Kill: The second best Australian hip-hop album of last year. Imagine if an outspoken rebel made an album during a civil uprising and you've got the general idea.
Wiley - Playtime Is Over: I didn't get to hear much UK hip-hop last year, but this was thoroughly enjoyable. Songs like 'My Mistakes' are miles ahead of most American stuff.
Jay-Z - American Gangster: A worthy throw back to the mid-90's golden age.
Timbaland - Shock Value: Finally, Timbo reaches his potential. Great pop music.
UGK - Underground Kingz: Another solid album which doesn't over-reach on it's double disc length, and sadly their last due to the death of Pimp C.

Instead of a top 5, I'll give you a top 10...



01. CMX - Talvikuningas



A magnificient concept album by the finnish band CMX. Now, CMX is a very old band but this was the first album of theirs I ever bought. It's a concept album (scifi-opera ​) with magnificient finnish lyrics such as "and his tomb is guarded by one hundred thousand killer satellites". The story is well presented and pretty complex. The songs seague seamlessly into each other. "Talvikuningas" (Winter King) is an outstanding album and it was not a hard choice for my #1 spot.

Song highlights: Kaikkivaltias, Tähtilaivan Kapteeni, Punainen Komentaja, Kaikkivaltiaan Peili



02. Phideaux - Doomsday Afternoon



Doomsday Afternoon is an album that my friend Lux from #fin familiarized me with. It's the second part of a three album series by Phideaux. Genrewise it's symphonic prog without a lot of the instrumental noodling the genre is known for. The songs are mostly acoustic, melodic, relaxing and very beautiful. Doomsday Afternoon could be described as easy-listening prog, but I don't really agree. It's way too complex and layered for that.

Song highlights: Candybrain, Crumble, The Doctrine Of Eternal Ice (Part Two), Formaldehyde, Microdeath Softstar



03. Turisas - The Varangian Way



Simply - the greatest viking metal album ever. The only thing Varangian Way lacks is bad songs. The whole album is an epic ride with the ancient varangians on their journey from north to Constantinople. If bands such as Moonsorrow, Finntroll or Falkenbach are to your liking, you'll simply love The Varangian Way. I don't think it'll ever be topped in this genre.

Song highlights: To Holmgard And Beyond, Five Hundred And One, The Dnieper Rapids, Miklagard Overture



04. Sonata Arctica - Unia



Unia was an album that pretty much divided Sonata Arctica's fans into two camps. Others loved it and the rest hated it. Me? Well, obviously, I think it's the 4th best album of 2007. I never liked the double-bass drum, super high bpm of the earlier Sonata. Unia slows things down and takes in a lot of progressive influences. Tony Kakko uses his voice in a much more varied way when compared to before. I really hope Sonata Arctica continues in this direction because their earlier albums simply can't complete with Unia.

Song highlights: In Black And White, Paid In Full, It Won't Fade, My Dream's But A Drop Of Fuel For A Nightmare, Fly With A Black Swan



05. Nightwish - Dark Passion Play



Nightwish's first album without Tarja Turunen was a great success. The Poet and the Pendulum alone is probably the best female fronted metal song ever and the rest don't fall far behind. The one thing Dark Passion Play suffers from is its lenght. Skipping one or two songs (Eva and Last of the Wilds come to my mind) would make the album much tighter and probably make it flow better. Regardless, however, DPP is a great return from one of my first favourite bands.

Song highlights: The Poet and the Pendulum, Amaranth, Master Passion Green, 7 Days To The Wolves



06. Pain of Salvation - Scarsick



There's not much I can say about this album that hasn't been discussed to death by now. I know a lot of people hated it for a variety of reasons, but I like it a lot. Granted, I haven't been listening to it much lately, but it's still one of the best releases of 2007.

Song highlights: Scarsick, Cribcaged, Kingdom of Loss, Enter Rain



07. Porcupine Tree - Fear of A Blank Planet



You probably saw this one coming, didn't you? I'm not the biggest Porcupine Tree fan but there's no denying that Fear of a Blank Planet is a brilliant album. The reason I'm not rating it any higher is because I still don't really like the last 2 songs. The first 4 are brilliant but it kind of ends there.

Song highlights: Fear of a Blank Planet, My Ashes, Anesthetize, Sentimental



08. The Flower Kings -  Sum of No Evil



If you've heard any previous Flower Kings albums, you'll know what to expect from Sum of No Evil. It's the same old symphonic prog delight that they always deliver. It's a great album but there really wasn't anything new so it gets the 8th spot.

Song highlights: One More Time, Love Is The Only Answer, Life In Motion



09. Dream Theater - Systematic Chaos



Systematic Chaos was good, but not really as good as I wanted. I can't really rate it higher because I find myself rarely listening to it at all.

Song highlights: Forsaken, The Dark Eternal Night, Repentance, The Ministry Of Lost Souls



10. Kamelot - Ghost Opera



Kamelot's The Black Halo is probably my favourite power metal album ever. Ghost Opera couldn't really surpass that and kind of fell flat on it's face. Don't get me wrong, it's a great album and easily surpasses 95% of all other power metal albums. That gives it the last spot on my list.

Song highlights: Rule the World, Ghost Opera, Blücher, Mourning Star

5. Swinelords (by Twilightning)

Twilightning is a Finnish metal band and "Swinelords" is their third album. The style on "Swinelords" is traditional guitar led heavy metal, instead of power metal found in their previous two albums. There's really no bad songs in the album, but neither are there any real shining stars. Of the three albums Twilightning has released so far this one is my favourite.

4. Paradise Lost (by Symphony X)

Symphony X finally released a new album after quite some years (five to be exact) and they did deliver. While not as good as the 2002 "The Odyssey", "Paradise Lost" manages to keep the Symphony X sound, with more emphasis on it's heavier side (the way I like it, even though Accolade II is propably the greatest ballad ever).

3. Unia (by Sonata Arctica)

With "Unia" Sonata Arctica has moved to more heavier and progressive path, from the old traditional power metal path. While I liked their old power metal albums a lot, "Unia" just managed to take Sonata Arctica to new heights and made the old albums feel not so good. Going heavier and progressive seems to be a popular move with in the power metal scene these days, mostly due to the flooded market and the need to stand out in the sea of power. Sonata Arctica did this move extremely well.

2. Dark Passion Play (by Nightwish)

When I heard Tarja Turunen got kicked out of Nightwish I was shocked. I thought Nightwish could never be as great without her. "Dark Passion Play" proved me wrong. I've never been this wrong actually. Turns out I like Anette's voice a lot more than Tarja's and in my opinion Anette's voice fits Nightwish much better. New and better vocalist isn't the only thing that makes "Dark Passion Play" my number two album of 2007; Great songs with great melodies are a definite proof that the guys in the band know how to make damn good music.

1. UniVers (by Voyager)

Every so often I get the need for new music. And when this happens, I usually read some reviews for potential experiments. "UniVers" was one of those experiments. And wow, what an experiment it was! I was completely amazed and mesmerized from the start to the end. I had found a new love... and now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever before listened to as good album as "UniVers". A totally random musical experiment turned out to be my new favourite album. I've listened the album from start to end unhealthy amounts so far and there's not even slight sign of it getting boring.

The music itself is mix of very very many different genres. There's awesome guitar work, extremely nice synth melodies and godly vocals (mostly clean power/heavy vocals with some growl vocals on the first and last song). The whole package just works so well together it's amazing. The overall style of the album could be described as atmospheric spacious futuristic progressive heavy metal.

Because I'm Finnish and english is only my second language I can't tell you exactly how damn great "UniVers" really is, but if you even remotely like metal, check out this album; it's pure eargasm, every second of it.

#5: Tromatic Reflexxions- Von Sudenfed

Mark E Smith goes electro! Need I say more? Weird and bizarrely danceable, like LCD Soundsystem fronted by a drunken lorry driver.

#4: Curses! - Future Of The Left

If you locked Mclusky and At The Drive In in a closet and forced them to breed, you would be committing a horrific and highly disturbing act. Also, you'd get this album. It rules. Buy it.

#3: Grinderman- Grinderman

Nick Cave fronts a gleefully raucous garage band! Awesome Stooges-esque riffs mixed with sneering, self-mocking, hilariously quoteable lyrics: "I read her Eliott, read her Yeats/ I tried my best to stay up late/ I fixed the hinges on her gate/ But she just didn't want to"... Classic.

#2: The Rotten Mile - Gallon Drunk

I only just heard of these guys recently, but they've become my new favorite band... It's kinda hard to describe their music... Think the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion mixed with Led Zeppelin, Grinderman, and the Cramps... Only better. They make every other band sound like fucking Beat Happening.

#1: The Narcotic Story - Oxbow

A concept album that doesn't suck! Creepy, weirdly beautiful, and completely undefineable. Seriously, I really would recommend this to everyone. It's just one of those weird albums that feel like instant classics on the very first listen...

Curses, Oxbow, and Grinderman are all very good. I would never put them on a top ten list, but my top ten list is boring and has the National and MIA on it so everyone knows them by now.

haven't heard of the other two, but you've never talked about a terrible band yet!

UGK - Underground Kingz: Another solid album which doesn't over-reach on it's double disc length, and sadly their last due to the death of Pimp C.

I love UGK but man this album DID over-reach. there's even a horrible s&c remix on the second cd. just too many songs.

but what do those Aussie guys sound like, I've been trying to appreciate other hiphop so.

also do you know $imple? he posts on SA and I think he's part of the Sandpeople Collective which is Aussie.

Uh, what about In Rainbows

om - pilgrimage

this is a wonderful band. nothing on it is as good as "at giza" but the album as a whole is good. im a doom drone murderhead.


boris with michio kurihara - rainbow

rainbow is a good album by boris and another guitar player. the guitar player is good and he makes a lot of noise that sounds like the devil, over pretty mellow tracks for boris. it's like psychedelic rock or some shit, i would say.


deerhunter - cryptograms

i dunno if this is the best, but it came out last year and i like it. "spring hall convert" is a nice song.


electric wizard - witchcult today

satanic rites of drugula


ratatat - remixes vol 2

ratatat can make anything good

yup everyone here likes her

I'll have to try to construct a list later, but I know it'll have M.I.A. - Kala, and the Field - from here we go sublime. maybe LCD - SoS and battles - mirrored, and I don't know what else!

Curses, Oxbow, and Grinderman are all very good. I would never put them on a top ten list, but my top ten list is boring and has the National and MIA on it so everyone knows them by now.

haven't heard of the other two, but you've never talked about a terrible band yet!

I love UGK but man this album DID over-reach. there's even a horrible s&c remix on the second cd. just too many songs.

but what do those Aussie guys sound like, I've been trying to appreciate other hiphop so.

also do you know $imple? he posts on SA and I think he's part of the Sandpeople Collective which is Aussie.

Sandpeople are American as far as I know - they just work with Aussie artists. If you check their Myspace it says they're American.

But yeah, search Vents - Love Song on YouTube for an idea of Vents (another guy posted Urthboy). It's real revolution rebellion music.

#4.) Lupe Fiasco - The Cool

To be honest I thought this was a weak record. I've been a fan of Lupe from the get go, and I even listen to his more underground and unreleased tracks. I really believe he can do better. To me the production values felt a little weak and unfinished. The lyrics are excellent, but not really amazing. I do like this album, I really do. Whenever I talk to people about it though, especially after listening to more and more underground hip-hop artists, I seem to say "You were amazed by this?!?!!?" I guess after understanding Aesop Rock songs, I just kind of chuckled at this.
Favorite Songs: Hip-Hop Saved My Life, Put You on Game, The Coolest

I thought the production was great and it was a really focused effort all around. I listen to Aesop quite a bit but I didn't chuckle at Lupe - it's a whole different kettle of fish. I forgot about Talib (as well as MIA) though - they both deserve honourable mentions from me.

2) JUSTICE - Cross

Yeah! I really enjoyed this, one of the best house albums since Human After All. Nice packaging, too. =P

one of you grabbed an image off another site that keeps asking for verification fyi, please get rid of it!