Stuck In A Pagoda With Motoko Aoyama

Picking up where I left off last time…

5. Radiohead – In Rainbows (Initially self-released; physical edition on TBA Records/RED Distribution) – In which a best-selling band tells Capitol/EMI to fuck off, tries out the validity of selling music as name-your-own-price stand-alone mp3s, and succeeds. Oh yeah, the album’s pretty fucking good, too. In a post-script, now that the physical release is out, I’m planning to get my own copy… of the vinyl edition. (http://www.inrainbows.com, available on CD, vinyl, and through iTunes)

4. Bright Eyes – Cassadaga and Four Winds EP (Saddle Creek (US)/Polydor (EU)) – Having tried everything from four-track basement recordings to simultaneous electronica and folk workouts, Conor Oberst proceeds to channel Electric Warrior-era T.Rex by way of Brian Wilson and succeeds quite nicely. The preceding Four Winds EP is included here because the five “B-sides” on it are just as strong as the album tracks and could have easily fit amongst the rest of the track sequence if Conor and company had so chosen to shoehorn them in. (http://www.saddle-creek.com and http://www.thisisbrighteyes.com, available on CD, 180-gram vinyl (Cassadaga is a 2LP set) with bonus mp3 download, and through iTunes)

3. Koharu Kusumi – Mitsuboshi (Zetima) – The first of two semi-pseudonymous solo albums from Morning Musume’s Miracle Beam in 2007 (her second, Kirarin Land, came out too late for this list and will be explored in more detail later in the week), Koharu (sometimes as herself, sometimes as her animated doppelganger Kirari Tsukashima) delivers a wildly varied set of pop songs. A solid debut effort even though technically, it’s not really supposed to be her first solo album… or is it? (http://www.helloproject.com, available on CD)

2. The Stooges – The Weirdness (Virgin/Caroline) – Negative reviews be damned: this was worth the 30-plus-year-wait. Anyone declaring this album to be “weak”, “modern”, or “sellout” didn’t really listen to this album and shouldn’t consider themselves to be punks or even music lovers. And yes, almost a year since this album dropped, I must admit that Steve Albini’s hands-off “production” isn’t all there sometimes (the bass is barely audible on “Passing Cloud”). Fortunately, the songwriting by Iggy and the Asheton Brothers, and the playing by the entire band (with new Stooge Mike Watt on bass, and punk rock’s answer to John Coltrane, Steve MacKay, returning to his Fun House sax position) is more than solid enough to make up for it. (http://www.myspace.com/iggyandthestooges, available on CD, double LP and on iTunes)

1. Morning Musume – Sexy 8 Beat (Zetima) - This time around, they get the top spot all to themselves and with good reason. Starting off both 2007 and their 10th Anniversary with a bang, they delivered a studio effort that is solid from beginning to end (featuring one of their best ever singles, “Egao YES Nude”, and one of their most underrated, the preceding “Aruiteru”), both this album and the Stooges’ album coming out early in 2007 made the rest of the year a veritable anti-climax musically. It’s only a matter of time before the rest of the world catches up with these young ladies. (http://www.helloproject.com, available on CD)