Bleep Top 50 - Part 1

 
Presenting the top 50 albums of 2007 on Bleep.com - a mix of our personal favourites and those which have proved the most popular amongst Bleep customers. Part two to follow later in the week... All of these releases come in standard drm-free MP3, are iPod/Mac/PC compatible and have been encoded at the maximum quality of 320kbps. Clicking on a release will take you to Bleep where you can listen to it in its entirety.
 
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50. Colleen - Les Ondes Silencieuses (Leaf)
On her last album, Colleen amassed an orchestra of chiming music boxes to create an album of ethereal yet complex beauty. For this new work she custom built a 17th-century viola da gamba (a kind of fretted cello), using its whole range of deeply resonant tones and adding other instruments and found sounds (crystal glasses) to the end mix. The result is an album that starts inoccuously and becomes ever more compelling as it unfolds.

49. Ike Yard - 1980-82 Collected (Acute Records)
Influenced by their punk upbringing, avant-garde schooling, and no wave surroundings in early 80s NYC, Ike Yard tapped equally into the Krautrock experimentation of Can, the Neue Deutsche Welle of DAF and the UK post-punk dub of PiL and Joy Division to create sounds and songs unique enough to catch the attention of Factory Records, who made them their first American signing. This Acute Records release of "1980-82-Collect" collects, for the first time, Ike Yard's two releases (including their Factory LP) plus several previously unreleased tracks and is as relevant in 2007 as it was on its release.

48. The Fiery Furnaces - Widow City (Thrill Jockey)
Brother and sister duo Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger have been releasing their rough hewn, blues influenced, garage rock since 2003, often drawing comparisons with that other (fake) sibling combo The White Stripes. Widow City, their fifth long player, bucked the trend of its predecessors by eschewing an over arching concept and instead settling for a more straight up 70's rock feel that made for a much more rewarding listen and their best album to date.

47. Prefuse 73 - Preparations & Interregnums (Warp)
For his fifth outing under his Prefuse 73 moniker, Guillermo Scott Herren delivered an album that in stark contrast to its immediate predecessor featured just three collaborations. Split into two sections, Preparations the album proper featured 14 tracks of vintage Prefuse, tracks such as the beautiful Class Of 73 Bells ranking amongst his best work to date. Part 2, Interregnums may have been trailered as a 'bonus disc' but in effect was so much more, featuring Herren's till now unheard explorations into orchestral soundtrack music and could easily stand on its own merits as one of the year's best releases.

46. Andrew Weatherall - Sci.Fi.Lo.Fi (Soma)
Another trip inside the mind of Lord Sabre as he showcases the kind of tracks that inspired the recent Two Lone Swordsmen 'Wrong Meeting' albums. Surf punk, rockabilly and post-punk are the order of the day as Weatherall digs out classics from artists such as Gene Vincent, The Strangeloves and more well known acts like T-Rex and The Fall and mixes them all up into what sounds like the best lock-in you'll ever experience.

45. Lindstrom & Prins Thomas - Reinterpretations (Eskimo)
A collection of versions and remixes by the leading lights and original exponents of the space disco movement - wonderful dubby, sinuous, hypnotic tracks filled with analogue warmth that never deteriorate into deep-house jazz-doodle territory, if you've found yourself dancing in some lightless basement long after the sun has arisen in the past twelve months there's a good chance this was your soundtrack.

44. Seefeel - Quique (Redux Edition) (Too Pure)
With the likes of My Bloody Valentine reforming and an increasing interest in the early nineties shoegazer scene, Seefeel's 1993 album Quique got a well deserved re-issue this year complete with bonus b-sides and alternate versions. Straddling the indie and electronica scenes of the early nineties Quique is a classic of its time, though thanks to the vagaries of fashion could just as easily pass for the work of a new up and coming band and is well worth investigating.

43. The Field - From Here We Go Sublime (Kompakt)
As a genre minimal techno may be great for dancing long into the night to but it rarely lends itself to a satisfactory album experience. If any one label has managed to buck that trend though it is Michael Mayer's Kompakt and with The Field's 'From Here We Go Sublime' they struck gold again this year with an album whose ambient textures and minimal, looped beats and bleeps was rightfully received with critical adulation.

42. Amon Tobin - Foley Room (Ninja)
Foley Room, Amon Tobin's 7th album saw the sampling auteur make a quantum leap on from his previous experiments in sound manipulation. Having previously worked with vinyl as his primary sample source with Foley Room he painstakingly assembled hours of recordings made out 'in the field' of sounds ranging from the roar of tigers to the buzzing of wasps, the clatter of kitchen utensils and the throbbing engines of motorbikes to act as his sound palette. Combined with recordings of musicians such as the Kronos Quartet, Stefan Schneider and Sarah Pagi, Amon has created a deeply textured album of dense atmospheric sound-scapes that easily stands up to, if not surpasses, his impressive back catalogue.

41. Bola - Kroungrine (Skam)
After a lengthy hiatus Daryl Fitton returned to the fold this year with the sublime Kroungrine and it was well worth the wait. As you'd expect from a Bola album what we got was 8 tracks of perfectly crafted electronica with the emphasis firmly on gorgeous melodies and spacey ethereal sounds, enhanced but never in thrall to the technology used to create it.

40. Pole - Steingarten (Scape)
Hailed upon its release as a nearly perfect album by Pitchfork's Philip Sherburne, Pole's Steingarten is a beautifully rich album, filled with deep, resonant sounds and an almost physical presence. Improving with almost every listen, Steingarten is arguably Stefan Betke's finest work to date, steeped in the history of dub yet still effortlessly modern.

39. Pinch - Underwater Dancehall (Tectonic)
Having set dancefloors alight over the past 18 months with some of the best dubstep productions to date, Bristol's Pinch snuck out his debut album at the end of this year for his own Tectonic label. Underwater Dancehall saw Pinch team up with a variety of vocalists such as Jukali, Rudey Lee and Yolanda for an album that is both experimental and fresh yet also very accessible and could come to be seen as dubstep's own Timeless. The album also includes instrumental versions of all the tracks for all those who prefer their dub pressure vocal less.

38. M.I.A. - Kala (XL Recordings)
Dominating the covers of every music magazine and newspaper around on its release, Kala, the second album of rioutous Brazilian / African / Bollywood inspired beats, raps and electronic breaks from M.I.A. could easily have been as much of a mess as its garish cover. Instead with the likes of Switch, Diplo and Blaqstarr on production duties the result was an enthralling smash and grab raid on the most exciting music scenes all over the world, it may not have been one of the most consistent albums released this year but it is almost certainly one of the most relevant.

37. Kid Acne - Romance Ain't Dead (Lex)
After two well recieved if sometimes patchy efforts for his own Invisible Spies label, the 'rap Jonny Briggs' delivered his first album for Lex this year, with production duties handled by Req One and Ross Orton ( M.I.A, The Fat Truckers). The most complete and satisfying Kid Acne album to date, 'Romance Ain't Dead' effortlessly managed to skip between old skool 'break out the lino' hip-hop such as "Roc Roc Radio", the glorious hooligan rush of "2, 3, Break It" and the football terrace oi! stomp of "Oh No You Didn't" without ever losing its momentum.

36. Jean-Jacques Perrey & Luke Vibert - Moog Acid (Lo Recordings)
Finally arriving after what seemed like an interminably long wait, the idea of acid auteur Luke Vibert collaborating with veteran sonic scientist Jean Jacques Perry seemed almost too good to be true, thankfully Moog Acid was everything hoped for and more and saw the two maverick producers in fine form. Whilst we may never know exactly who was responsible for what, the cartoony elasticated breaks and squelchy sonics of Luke's Wagon Christ moniker are in full affect and the album sounds like it was probably as much fun to record as it is to listen to.

35. The Black Dog - Book Of Dogma (Soma)
Long-awaited reissue (and remaster) of the earliest, and maybe best, Black Dog material - The three EPs originally released on their own Black Dog Productions label ("Virtual", "Age of Slack" and "Techno Playtime") and the whole of "Parallel", originally released on GPR. Made up of Andy Turner, Ed Handley (both now Plaid) and Ken Downie, the Black Dog were revered as the pre-eminent UK techno pioneers, this early work shows their roots in hip hop and the development of sounds that would appear later in much of Plaid's work and should be an essential part of every discerning listener's library.

34. Various Artists - Box Of Dub (Soul Jazz)
With Soul Jazz's long history of archiving and introducing new generations to past dub masters it was inevitable that they would eventually turn their attention to the whump and thump of todays dubstep pioneers. Box Of Dub brought together 12 exclusive original tracks from the likes of Digital Mystikz, Kode 9, Burial and Skream. Whether you're new to the scene or a grizzled dubplate veteran Box Of Dub is an essential purchase.

33. Robert Wyatt - Comicopera (Domino)
With a career stretching over 4 decades as both a solo artist and as a member of Soft Machine, Robert Wyatt has been one of England's most influential artists and despite being over 60 years old continues to push boundaries. Having recently collaborated with the likes of Bjork and Brian Eno, 2007 saw Wyatt sign to Domino and in Comicopera release an album that Radiohead's Thom Yorke described as so beautiful he couldn't bare to listen past the first track, the big girl.

32. Gravenhurst - The Western Lands (Warp)
With The Western Lands, the third album from Gravenhurst, Nick Talbot firmly staked a claim to being one of England's premier singer/songwriters. The Western Lands is a beautiful album, part early Pink Floyd, part My Bloody Valentine yet with a voice entirely its own and easily one of the best of the new crop of shoegazer-esque albums to have been released in the past few years.

31. Cobblestone Jazz - 23 Seconds (K7)
Comprised of the trio of Mathew Jonson, Danuel Tate and Tyger Dhula, Cobblestone Jazz have been experimenting with programmed electronics and live instrumentation for several years now and finally with 23 Seconds we saw these experiments bare fruit. Using Jonson's minimalist techno as a springboard, 23 Seconds comes to life on tracks such as 'Lime In Da Coconut' infusing playful touches and an almost jazz looseness into an often all too austere genre.

30. Venetian Snares - My Downfall (Original Soundtrack) (Planet Mu)
Back in the territory that he explored to such good effect on the Rossz Csillag Alatt Szuletett album, "My Downfall" once again saw Mr Funk experimenting with classical orchestration to gorgeous effect, only allowing his trademark scattershot beats to make the briefest of appearances. Beautiful 21st century chamber music from an increasingly multi-dimensional artist.

29. The Dragons - BFI (Ninja Tune)
Originally recorded in 1969, The Dragons' BFI sat gathering dust for nearly 40 years before Ninja Tune's DJ Food stumbled across a test pressing of the track 'Food For Your Soul'. Digging into the history of the record he made contact with the band's Daryl Dragon who turned out to possess a whole unheard album's worth of superlative unheard psychedelic surf funk rock sat in his basement as fresh as the day it was recorded. Thanks to Ninja Tune BFI has finally reached the audience it deserved.

28. The Emperor Machine - Vertical Tones & Horizontal Noise (DC Recordings)
Not content with being a third of rave legends Bizarre Inc and then a half of disco punkers Chicken Lips, in 2003 Andy Meecham began recording brilliantly strange space age disco as The Emperor Machine. 'Vertical Tones and Horizontal Noise' compiled the last 6 12"s into one bacofoil wrapped package of far-out cosmic music that sounds like the BBC Radiophonic Workshop's Delia Derbyshire jamming with Can at Studio 54. Essential late night music for fans of vintage synthesizers the size of cupboards.

27. Simian Mobile Disco - Attack Delay Sustain Release (Wichita)
A compact album of big tracks that are pure fun to play very loud at house parties and in the jeep. Bordering on the downright cheesy, the album is nothing really new or particularly clever, but is a perfect mish-mash of classic hip-house anthems and early UK chart house (think Young MC, Bomb The Bass, LFO , Technotronic, Fast Eddie..) combined with modern production and great vocals. A compact album of big tracks that are pure fun to play very loud at house parties and in the jeep. Bordering on the downright cheesy, the album is nothing really new or particularly clever, but is a perfect mish-mash of classic hip-house anthems and early UK chart house (think Young MC, Bomb The Bass, LFO , Technotronic, Fast Eddie..) combined with modern production and great vocals.

26. Beirut - The Flying Club Cup (4AD)
The follow up to last year's surprise hit 'Gulag Orkestar' which propelled Beirut's Zach Condon into the limelight, 'The Flying Club Cup' saw Condon recreating the sounds and atmosphere of some mythical Paris, a sonic crawl through its bars, back streets and cafes. A hopelessly romantic, bewildering, at times pretentious but ultimately beautiful album, much like the city of its dreams then.