It's that time of year, where music blogs like to list their favourite albums of the year. BrokenFM is no exception to this, even if we are an exception to the principle of updating regularly. However, because we're so achingly different we're going to treat it slightly differently. And not just because we're a bit annoyed upon discovering the albums we've possibly listened to the most over 2007 - by Silversun Pickups and The Hold Steady - were actually released in 2006, preventing us from doing a normal Top Twenty. Bah.
How it works: We select the sixteen best albums of 2007. We 'draw' the first round, with each album 'seeded' by the number of plays of the most popular track has in our iTunes playlist. The respective merits of the most-played song from each album are compared, with the winner going through to the next 'round'. However, after being used in battle, that song must 'sit out' the rest of the tournament. Still with us?
The seeding format favours the albums we've liked since the beginning of the year, but the lower seeds are likely to be freshest in our memory, and we really do get bored with things quite easily. As Booked(Dissent) will attest. We realise this means an album only needs to contain four great songs to stand a chance of winning the tournament, but it's very rare we'll really, really like more than three songs on the same album. We're very picky.
The first round.
After whittling our list of albums down to sixteen (which took a while, we hadn't realised there was this much music we really liked this year), we've arrived at the following list. In order of seeding.
Apples In Stereo - New Magnetic Wonder
They Might Be Giants - The Else
Kylie Minogue - X
M.I.A. - Kala
Justice - Cross
Dinosaur Jr - Beyond
Girls Aloud - Tangled Up
Blonde Redhead - 23
Go! Team - Proof of Youth
Pepe Deluxe - Spare Time Machine
Malcolm Middleton - A Brighter Beat
Vive La Fete - Jour De Chance
Abdominal - Escape From The Pigeon Hole
The High Water Marks - Polar
Stereo Total - Paris <> Berlin
Polysics - Polysics Or Die!!! Vista
After painting the numbers one to sixteen onto some ping-pong balls and flinging them into BrokenFM's Mum's tumble dryer, we arrive at a set of fixtures. And here they are.
-- ROUND ONE --
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Apples In Stereo - Sunndal Song vs Polysics - I My Me Mine
You could make a case for Polysics being 'cup tied' for this tournament, what with their debut on MySpace Records essentially being a 'best of', but we don't care because they're ace. Not that it matters too much, because the Japanese art-electro-punk-popsters are blown away by the majesty of the Apples' uplifting Sunndal Song. With vocals from the departing Hilarie Sydney (off to become player-manager of The High Water Marks), this track is so wonderful it could lift the spirits of Morrissey, on the same day a massive family of foreigners move in next door to him. And that's the sort of thing he'd really dislike, of course, the overrated curmudgeon. A resounding victory to the Apples In Stereo, then.
Oh, and we're going to be using a lot of FA Cup references in this update, just so you know.
Oh, and we're going to be using a lot of FA Cup references in this update, just so you know.
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They Might Be Giants - I'm Impressed vs Stereo Total - Miss Rebellion Des Hormones
The top two bands in BrokenFM's Official LastFM Profile Page in a massive Liverpool versus Chelsea-esque clash. Will it be the John's catchily sarcastic critique of The War On Terror, or Les Total's catchily song about something that's in French that will prevail? It's not as much of a titanic battle as you might expect, with the new Stereo Total album being a little bit of a let down, to be honest. You could come up with a tortuous analogy about Françoise and Brezel employing a rotation system when it came to selecting the songs for their new album if you like, but it's certainly They Might Be Giants who'll be in the next round.
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Kylie Minogue - Sensitized vs The High Water Marks - Song For Emigrants
Kylie's back, and she's in no mood to dick around. X (or Kylie X, if you're being formal) is a real return to form, not least on this Gainsbourg-sampling slice of pop gold. We can't even bring ourselves to scoff "MC Solaar did it first", as it's the best thing she's released since Come Into My World. Brilliant stuff. In stark comparison to the media frenzy that accompanied Kylie's comeback, it seems that the first announcement of the release date for The High Water Marks' second album was when someone from the band replied to BrokenFM's Mark X on the band's MySpace page, with a message along the lines of "Oh crikey, it's out tomorrow, we'd forgot about that". Song For Emigrants sees Hilarie Sidney offering up an especially syrupy vocal performance, with the sort of track we could listen to all day. It's a tricky call, but it's Kylie who sneaks through after a replay.
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M.I.A. - Paper Planes vs Abdominal - Radio Friendly
The BrokenFM Album Of The Year equivalent of Manchester United vs Aston Villa. Abdominal's first solo effort is really rather enjoyable, but not quite up there with his material performed alongside DJ Format. Pick of the album is Radio Friendly, which is about swearing and the stuff that makes Abdominal swear a lot. However, this all comes to naught when Ab comes up against the M.I.A. juggernaut, especially considering Paper Planes is the best song released in 2007, without a doubt.
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Justice - D.A.N.C.E. vs Vive La Fete - Aventures Fictives
Ooh, cripes. The album that we spent the entire summer listening to pretty much non-stop, versus that latest offering from the band we've just fallen head over heels in love with. It's like having to choose between your mum and your girlfriend. Not in a sordid way. This must be how the gushing proto-celebrities on Big Brother Hijack must be feeling when coming up with nominations of the people they've just met and aren't annoyed by yet. Taking the two songs on their own individual merits, we're going to have to plump for Justice, on the basis that D.A.N.C.E. is one of the best pop songs of the last five years.
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Dinosaur Jr - Almost Ready vs Malcolm Middleton - We're All Going To Die
Another all-Premiership clash as far as the BrokenFM Awards are concerned, with Dinosaur Jr's first album in ten years showing they're as good as ever. It's not often a band we like can take such a hiatus and come back so strongly, unless you're the Go-Gos (shut up, we're right about their comeback album). Almost Ready is only a whisper away from being as superb as 'Freak Scene', and it's certainly superior to 'Feel The Pain'. Despite being tarnished slightly after being championed by Radio One's Scott Mills (in that annoyingly "I'm being ironic, me" fashion that he employs so annoyingly), We're All Going To Die is the best noise we've heard coming out of our radio in many a December. It's a very close call, but considering Malcolm Middleton has come up with the best album cover of the year, it is he who wins on penalties.
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Girls Aloud - Sexy No No No vs Pepe Deluxe - Pussy Cat Rock
Having had the misfortune to be party to plenty of sexual no-nos in it's prime, BrokenFM was only to pleased to hear that the experience has been a much more uplifting one for the Aloud Girls. This track is a thunderously enjoyable companion to Something Kinda Ooh in the GA canon. It's not easy to match that, and while Pepe Deluxe give a good go of it in their great feline-themed tribute to glam rock, they're no match for Girls Aloud's 2-3-5 attacking formation.
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Blonde Redhead - 23 vs Go! Team - Doing It Right
The title track from the American trio's seventh album is a delightfully dreamy affair. All over MTV2's 120 Minutes like some sort of lovely hypnotic rash, this is the sort of track that would have got into shoegazing as a moody teenager if it had been released in 1990. And we hadn't been too busy listening to the Pet Shop Boys. Meanwhile, the Go! Team (pop fact! Over 2% of Brighton's population are now members of The Go! Team) had us leaping across the BrokenFM radio in glee every time the track was played on the office radio. Tough call, but The Go! Team take it.
Next Update: The Second Round.
