(Albums of the Year )

05
M .I.A.
KALA

Maya Arulpragasam intended to make her second album with Timbaland, but was forced to improvise when visa issues left her unable to enter the United States. That the record she created (mostly) on her own is far weirder and more ambitious than what Tim probably would’ve cooked up is as clear a measure of M.I.A.’s ingenuity as her future-shock fashion sense. A true world-music experiment, Kala throbs with beats and melodies and textures inspired by this former refugee’s journey around the planet. If globalization is inevitable, can this at least be the soundtrack? M.W.

04 KANYE WEST
GRADUATION

The guy’s ego needs no further bloating, but we can’t help it: Was there a more entertaining and creative hip-hop act in 2007? In a year when many blue-chip rappers stumbled ( 50 Cent, T.I., et al.), Mr. West returned with an album every bit as ambitious as his previous two. He’s a maximalist, pouring endless hooks (“Good Life”), stadium-rocking samples (“Stronger”), and dizzying trains of thought into each track. Whenever the rampant narcissism and materialism threaten to overwhelm the music, he spits a line like “I’m like the fly Malcolm X / Buy any jeans necessary.” M.E.

03 LCD SOUNDSYSTEM
SOUND OF SILVER

On LCD Soundsystem’s self-titled 2005 debut, James Murphy proved he was disco punk’s reigning master of nod-and-wink Moog curlicues and cowbell ruckus. With this follow-up, however, the Brooklyn party-starter stakes out more ambitious territory. Sure, he’s still a snarky imp— “North American Scum” hides its patriotism inside biting sarcasm—but the existential new wave of “All My Friends” and the singsong elegy of “Someone Great” are more than just stupendous white-boy funk; they’re touching. M.E.

Best Songs
BY CHARLES AARON
1Kanye West STRONGER

A kitschy French electro dig at the capitalist work ethic gets amped up masterfully by hip-hop’s prissy golden child (with an extra boost from

Timbaland), until it becomes a tribute to

^{Kanye’s ticking-time-bomb manhood. The sentiment is dubious—Big Dick Take Little Manu Chao Dick—but as a pop-culture fantasia of style RAININ IN PARADIZE} versus substance, it’s riveting. 12A rollicking, regrettable roll call of international strife that gives life to Joe Strummer’s multilingual punk reverie.

11Against Me!, THRASH UNREAL A full-throated, heart-grinding anthem about a seen-it-all, minimum-wage junkie, her blindsided mom, and pride trumping self-respect.

2LCD Soundsystem

ALL MY FRIENDS

Nodding elegantly to Steve Reich Grinderman
and New Order, James Murphy shows his NO PUSSY BLUES
bloggy lemmings what it feels like to grow 13The greatest dirty-old-man
old with only your bloodless good taste to rant ever. “I patted her revolting little
keep you company. Chihuahua,” sneers Nick Cave. And the
midlife-crisis guitars moan.

3Justice Vs Simian WE ARE YOUR FRIENDS This strutting, electroshocked reboot of a 2002 Brit-rock tune is the closest the context-starved, cocaine-fueled, nü-rave pool party had to a peace-love-unity-etc. moment.

14F---ed Up YEAR OF THE PIG At 18-plus minutes, this hardcore rondo sprawls the spectrum of human emotion—from shame to rage to shameful, rageful %$#*@!

4M. I. A. BIRD FLU A thrilling cook-up of African percussion, MC sass, and viral oppressed-peoples non sequiturs. “Credentials are boring”—indeed.

5The National FAKE EMPIRE Backed by a graceful, rolling piano, Matt Berninger devastatingly nails America’s political daydreaming: “Tiptoe through our shiny city with our diamond slippers on / Do our gay ballet on ice / Bluebirds on our shoulders.”

15Lil Mama SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT Brooklyn teen Niatia Kirkland blew up with “Lip Gloss,” but her exuberant jack of this ho-hum Jay-Z single was where she ripped the mic the hardest.

16Swizz Beatz, feat. Lil Wayne I T’S ME BI TCHES (REMIX) With Weezy’s mumblety-peg rap and Swizzy’s false-start beat-whorl, it’s like a Shanaynay public-access throwdown.

6UGK, feat. OutKast INTERNA TIONAL PLAYERS ANTHEM A lavish Willie Hutch sample and André 3000 bustin’ an epic, jump-the-broom love poem like only a kilt-wearin’ pip can.

17Just Jack STARZ IN THEIR EYES This wan, so-so Brit rapper up and pens a jaunty, surprisingly moving examination of fickle pop fame—a.k.a. “Wait Until Spring, Guarini.”

7T-Pain, feat. Yung Joc Lil Wayne I FEEL LIKE DYING BUY U A DRANK (SHAWTY Of the 864 guest verses and songs 18SNAPPIN’) the metaphorically voracious New 2007’s official musical license to do Patrón Orleans MC recorded in 2007, this was the shots off your best friend’s wife’s belly most rhapsodically fucked. (and other ignorant shit like that).

THIS PAGE: SCOT T LEGATO/RE TNA OPPOSI TE PAGE: BRAN TLE Y GU TIERREZ

8Arcade Fire INTERVENTION Rihanna UMBRELLA Win Butler’s appropriately angry Terius “The Dream” Nash (who gospel song for doubters who 19also concocted two of the year’s desperately want to believe in something, most infectious R&B jams, “Shawty Is Da but fear what’ll happen if they ever do. Shit” and J. Holiday’s “Bed”) claims he 9originally wrote this cavernous, ominous, Dude ’N Nem coldly reassuring ballad in sympathy with WATCH MY FEET the soldiers in Iraq. Rihanna’s hot pants, On this joyous Chicago “juke” F-me pumps, and nude interpretive dance anthem, an amiable bass line lures you in, were just a bonus. ^{then a synth squiggle suddenly cues a mad shuffle that scoots past 150 bpm—and DJ Unk, feat. before long, your feet are tapping involun- André 3000} tarily, like Savion Glover on Sesame Street. 20 WALK I T OUT (REMIX)

Inexplicably, André makes a cameo on this goofball dance track and pops his most cleverly composed verse in years, even debating the value of metal over plastic in auto design.

10Kanye West, feat. T-Pain GOOD LIFE Life must be good if you’ve got the juice to score a “P. Y. T.” sample.