KyleParkinson.com

As 2007 comes to a close, I’m taking a look back at some of my favorites from the past year. Lots of great memories, lots of great people. Here are the highlights:

Best Song: Husky Rescue – “Nightless Night”
Best Album: LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver
Best Live Performance: Peter Bjorn and John at Coachella
Best Movie: Dans Paris (technically released in 2006, but I saw it at the SFIFF in May)
Best Book: The Rest is Noise, by Alex Ross
Best Music Blog: Brooklyn Vegan
Best Non-Music Blog: What Would Tyler Durden Do?
Best Bar: Casanova Lounge, SF
Best Café: The Revolution Café (Café Rev), SF
Best Park: Dolores Park, SF
Best Party: SKANK at the Make-Out Room, SF, September 13
Best Day: April 27 – Coachella Day One: All of my favorite things in the world came together that day.

Here’s hoping 2008 continues the trend. Happy New Year.

The Raveonettes have always been a quiet favorite of mine. I adore their shoegaze/surf rock sound, and their live show I saw at Cafe Du Nord in San Francisco was one of my favorite concerts of the year. But for some reason they never made it into heavy rotation on my iPod, until I got their new album Lust Lust Lust, which I’ve had on repeat for the past week.

Supposedly their most minimalistic and synthetic album to date, Lust Lust Lust has enraptured me with its lyrics and melodic hooks. The Raveonettes prove that the simplest elements can make the most entrancing songs.

To hear for yourself, check out the two tracks below. The album’s second track, “Hallucinations,” begins with the line “Absurd, my obsession with someone new don’t feel like someone new,” so you kind of get where that one is going. “With My Eyes Closed,” the penultimate track on the album, turns the tables: “I close my eyes to hurt you, to leave you . . . It was never meant to be, for me.” Enjoy.

MP3: The Raveonettes - Hallucinations

MP3: The Raveonettes - With My Eyes Closed

Head over to my other blog, RockTransferProtocol, to check out my Top 10 Albums of 2007. There are also the Top 10 lists of my fellow RTPers. And then come talk to me about the music and I’ll love you forever.

Back in June, I woke up in the middle of a foggy SF night and decided to go for a walk. As I put on Beach House’s album to soundtrack my stroll, I was immediately and indelibly changed. I had listened to the album a bunch before, but this was one of those perfect combinations of music and atmosphere. Now every time I hear the opening chords of “Master of None,” I’m gladly back in the SF fog.

Six months later and three thousand miles away, the new Beach House album, Devotion, comes just in time for snowy Brooklyn strolls. The album is officially released in February 2008, and according to the first few listens, it will definitely be one of the highlights of the year. The band’s dreamy indie pop induces a perfectly pleasant trance. Standout tracks for me so far include “Gila” and “D.A.R.L.I.N.G.” Check them out below!

MP3: Beach House - Gila

MP3: Beach House - D.A.R.L.I.N.G.

Yet another reason to love Hot Chip: their video for “Ready for the Floor,” the first single off their upcoming album Made in the Dark, which comes out February 2008.