College Radio Top 200 Albums

Top 10 report card review of CMJ's Top 200 College Radio Chart for November 7, 2007



1) Iron and Wine Shepherd’s Dog
Sam Beam is still as charming as ever with his almost-whisper singing, and folk-melodies. But it’s apparent that while recording Shepherd’s Dog, he discovered a new musical style and influence without completely abandoning his old ones. This album isn’t quite what I expected, but it’s nearly as perfect as I had hoped. A

2) Animal Collective Strawberry Jam
“Uuh we are such peculiar artistes and no one understands us. This makes us undeniably indie and better than THOU!”
Animal Collective had to thinking something along those lines while recording this overly bizarre and noisy excuse for an album (and let me tell ya, it aint bizarre or noisy in the way that I like music.) Strawberry Jam features a terribly off key vocalist who sometimes resorts to screaming, faux-yodeling and, at times, even croaking his way through songs. On top of that, the album includes the headache-inducing sound effects. I’m talking toilets flushing, trashcans closing, records skipping. birds cawing?! The one song that I do like is the 9th track titled “Cuckoo” –which appropriately sums up my mental state by the end of this album. D+

3) The Go! Team Proof of Youth
“Cheerleaders on acid.”C-

4) Jose Gonzalez In Our Nature
Passionate, haunting and Spanish-accented (both vocally and musically) is how I would describe the singer-songwriter who is Jose Gonzalez. In Our Nature is a strong, profound, and musically enriched collection of songs, that at the same time, is easy to listen to. Jose Gonzalez is definitely gold and deserving of his position on the charts, if for nothing more than he acoustically covered “Teardrop” originally performed by trip hop pioneers, Massive Attack, and surprisingly it worked. B+

5) Weakerthans Reunion Tour
Taking a 4-year hiatus is awesome for a band's creativity as proved by Weakerthans. Reunion Tour showcases a variety in sound, sincere lyrics, and musical story-telling. Overall Reunion Tour is a poignant musical ensemble that is now embedded in my mind, and I’m ok with that. A

6) Caribou Andorra
Jingle Bells? Arabian Nights? I had almost mistaken the first few minutes of Andorra for those songs and was initially turned off. However, by the 3rd track, "After Hours" things changed; the album shifted to be slightly endearing in a trippy way. Psychedelic folk is what they call this, and I couldn’t agree more. B+

7) Stars In Our Bedroom After the War
This is an interesting album, and extremely listener friendly. I enjoy the male to female dueling vocals. Stars are synth-pop at it’s best. B

8) Les Savy Fav Let’s Stay Friends
Punk rock angst meets profound pop, blended with indie melodies and topped with a drizzle of organic 80s influence. Mmm, delicioso! A

9) Rilo Kiley Under the Blacklight
Upbeat, musically catchy and lyrically enjoyable. If you like disco, pop, soft rock; that’s all here. B-

10) The New Pornographers Challengers
Uppers meet downers? Apparently. As a New Pornographers fan I have been used to fast and energetic music that wore me out at the end of listening; some of that is still here, but for the most parts things have changed, and I am not one bit disappointed. Challengers has slowed the New Pornographers down a bit and the music has become more virtuous and thought provoking. In ole cliché, dare I say that The New Pornographers have matured? Hey, at some point we all have to, right? A


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