I reckon 2007 has been a great year for music. Just half of the year has gone, and there are already lots of standouts for me. And some albums from big names are due out later on this year, so it is surely only going to get even better.

Here are my favourites of the year so far. I won’t list them in a strict numerical order for the time being. That can wait until the end of the year.

Air — Pocket Symphony

Air is a strange band, because — although I am certain that I like them — I never feel as though they are one of my very favourite bands. Yet, every time they release the album I am uncontrollably drawn to buy it.

At first I was just going to ignore Pocket Symphony until I saw it in a sale or something. But then I heard that it was produced by Nigel Godrich. And then I heard that there was a collaboration with Jarvis Cocker. And then I read all the good reviews.

It is a fine album, but it is exactly how we have come to expect an Air album to sound like. It’s not all that different in style and mood from Talkie Walkie.

In reality, the Jarvis collaboration is not all that great. But the Neil Hannon collaboration, ‘Somewhere Between Waking And Sleeping’ is quite something. It won’t do much to shake off all of the clichés about “chill out” music, but there is no doubt that it is a beauty.

Battles — Mirrored

I have already written about this album once, and I have also written about the time I saw them live. I don’t feel the need to say much more. But believe the hype. Battles are real innovators. This is exciting as much for the use of technology, and what it holds for the future, as anything else.

Björk — Volta

For some bizarre reason, Björk’s label tried to make out that this is her most accessible album for years. I’m not sure if that is the case. Those who did not like Björk before will probably not be swung by a couple of Timbaland collaborations (good though they are).

For me, this is a slight disappointment. It’s quite a good album, although not as good as some of Björk’s previous albums. It’s not helped by the collaborations with Antony Hegarty, who is not personally my cup of tea.

That’s not to say it’s a bad album, but I was expecting more. In a way, the best bit is the packaging. The CD comes in an elaborate fold-out box containing Russian doll-inspired cardboard wallets.

Ceephax — Volume One

[Insert comparison to Squarepusher here], but quite a good album. Just because I like that 8-bit 80s retro thing.

Hanne Hukkelberg — Rykestrasse 68

On Last.fm, a fair number of people appear to have tagged Hanne Hukkelberg as “jazz”. It is not one that I would have thought of, although if they mean jazz in that completely un-jazz Norah Jones sense, I can kind of see where they are coming from.

I do not mean to insult Hanne Hukkelberg’s music by comparing it to Norah Jones, but I can see how this album is a bit like that kind of music, but with all the blandness sucked out and replaced by eclectica.

Hanne Hukkelberg manages to do something that many people can’t — make music that is beautiful as well as experimental. Add a gorgeous Norwegian accent into the mix and you have a delightful album.

Justice — †

What a breath of fresh air! Why does not all dance music sound as good as this? There is seemingly lots of exciting electronic music coming out of Paris at the moment, and Justice spearhead it all. Besides Mirrored, this has to be my favourite album of the year so far.

Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid — Tongues

The awesome collaboration between a man at the forefront of modern electronic music and a jazz drumming legend continues with Tongues. As before, these tracks are performed with no overdubs or edits. That is the most impressive thing about it.

The music is not always great. Some of it is a bit rambling, and a lot of it does sound like second-hand Four Tet out takes. Nonetheless, Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid clearly connect very well, and it is a joy to hear them playing together.

Shining — Grindstone

I love this album! Shining keep the electronic / jazz elements of old, but crank up the prog metal à la Dream Theater to create an astounding, enjoyable album.

Moments of madcap, humorous lunacy like ‘In the Kingdom of Kitsch You Will Be a Monster’ and ‘Winterreise’ are countered by the more thoughtful and beautiful moments like ‘Psalm’ and the playful ‘Moonchild Mindgames’

If you have never heard of Shining, trust me on this one. If you want to hear something a bit different, I don’t think you can go far wrong with Grindstone. In a way, it has to be heard to be believed. Quite an album.

And chalk another one up for Norway!

Simian Mobile Disco — Attack Decay Sustain Release

From the burning wreckage of lamented electronic-indie band Simian (who must be in a right huff after Hot Chip stole their act and became infinitely more popular) emerges Simian Mobile Disco. Like Justice (remixers of Simian, so this is an obvious comparison), SMD go in for the unashamedly fun dance stuff. It’s like IDM that doesn’t feel the need to emphasise the ‘I’. (It’s The Beat that matters, of course.)

SMD answered a call I think. The world was screaming out for them to come along. I mean, who else is there to make this sort of music (by which I mean dance music that is actually danceable yet isn’t the aural equivalent of scraping your balls through a cheesegrater)? The Chemical Brothers? They’re a bit old hat now…

The Tuss — Rushup Edge

Oh dear. Read one forum and this is Aphex Twin collaborating with Squarepusher. Someone else says it’s Aphex Twin collaborating with Luke Vibert. Go somewhere else and all of a sudden it’s Aphex Twin on his own. Then somebody comes along and says it’s not Aphex at all, it’s just somebody taking the piss and pretending to be Aphex.

So of course I had to buy it.

I am undecided on it so far. Musically it reminds me a lot of the Analord series, which I thought was okay but nothing more. Whether it is good or not seems a bit by the by though. It’s going to be a talking point whatever.

EP of note

Boom Bip — Sacchrilege EP

I was prepared to give up on Boom Bip. His last album, Blue Eyed in the Red Room was so boring that I almost forgot how good his old stuff was. Then I heard some samples of this EP, and found out that he’s gone all electro.

Sadly, it’s still not all that interesting. Still, full marks for trying. And infinity marks for the presentation. The artwork is wonderful, and the pink vinyl is irresistible. Maybe it will grow on me — I have not had much chance to digest it yet.

Reissue of note

Seefeel — Quique (redux edition)

Seefeel can’t have spent much time in Scotland if they were prepared to call their album Quique (which, yes, sounds like ‘keech’). But the album is anything but keech.

This lost shoegaze classic was given a reissue earlier this year. I guess it must have been a bit unexpected. There doesn’t seem to be much reason why Quique in particular deserved this treatment, although I’m glad it got it.

It comes with a bonus disc of previously unreleased material, remixes and the like. A real standout is ‘Clique’, which is easily as good as anything on the album. Why it was not released at the time is probably one of those little mysteries that even the band does not understand (I hope so anyway).

Cheesy image, I know. But lying on the bed, half asleep, listening to this through headphones is a special experience.

The other day I came across another interesting website from Spatial Literacy (you know them, they did that Surname Profiler). With this new website you type in your postcode and it tells you where you fit into ‘e-Society‘ (via Ben Metcalfe).

Apparently people in my postcode fall into categories “D : E for entertainment and shopping” and “D12 : Small time net shoppers”.

Group D : E for entertainment and shopping

This Group includes a number of moderately well paid blue collar workers for whom the Internet and personal computing provide important leisure activities. This Group tends to use the Internet not for obtaining information about products or for learning, but rather to provide access to music, games and general entertainment. People in this Group are smart enough to learn new methods of accessing what they want but they are not necessarily interested in technology for its own sake. Besides providing a form of personal relaxation they also see the computer as a resource for family entertainment…

Type D12 : Small time net shoppers

This Type comprises many younger and middle aged men who particularly rely upon the Internet to buy music, books and videos. They are also active Internet purchasers of computer games and of fashion wear. This Type is happy to undertake a wide variety of transactions on the Internet but tends not to be professionally involved in the development of information technology when at work.

It’s all true. There are no decent music shops around here, you see. So I buy a lot of CDs from the internet.

Internet shopping has its dangers though. On the plus side there are no bored / suspicious shopkeepers who pry on your every move. But you never physically see what you’re buying. This makes accidentally ordering an LP instead of a CD is a clumsy click away.

I thought I had got past that stage. I almost always double- and triple-check which format I’m buying. I was looking forward to receiving the goods that I had ordered from Boomkat’s fine summer campaign. But today I woke up to find a 12″×12″ parcel. Doh! I must have been rushing too much when I ordered it.

It’s not that I dislike vinyl. I don’t hesitate to buy a record if it has come out on vinyl only. I do own a turntable, but it’s hardly audiophile stuff. It plays everything too fast. You wouldn’t know unless you had already heard the track. It doesn’t feel faster, but the pitch is noticeably higher. Which is a bit of a pain.

I discovered that I can change the speed of my MP3s in Audacity, but it’s takes bloody ages. Plus I have got used to simply owning my whole music collection on CD with the exception of vinyl-only releases. All of my vinyl tends to be of obscure Team Doyobi 7 inches and Analords and whatnot. Hanne Hukkelberg will stick out like a sore thumb!

Plus, as I say, my record player is crap — I tend to avoid it if I possibly can because listening to it is like looking at a blurry photograph.

So now I have a dilemma on my hands. I could just send the album back and ask to exchange it for the CD, but that’s a pain for several reasons. Firstly, for whatever reason, the CD is actually £1 more expensive than the LP. Then there is the cost of postage (if I understand the explanation on their website, the Royal Mail would make 385 pretty pennies?!?). Add on top of that the plain old hassle of sending it back, and I’m really not sure I can be bothered.

But there it is. A mint, unopened record that I don’t really want. I could sell it on eBay and buy the CD separately. But music is so pretty.

I know there are a few readers of this blog now who are fans of these sorts of artists.

Right now the Featured Artists section of WATMM is an excellent place to get your hands on some brilliant live MP3s. Right now I’m listening to a high-quality MP3 of Autechre’s set from last year’s gig at the Glasgow School of Art. Sounds like it was a real blast.

• Lots of Autechre stuff is here (there’s also some Team Doyobi hidden in this thread)
• Boards of Canada — there is some brilliant unreleased stuff in here!
• Aphex Twin and other RDJ stuff
• Squarepusher
• And μ-ziq, if you’re that way inclined

Top marks to all the WATMMers!

Chris Clark’s first album, Clarence Park, was one of the albums that really grabbed me when I was first getting into Warpy electronic IDM whatever music. He seemed to be an exciting prospect, but I didn’t quite fully get into the EP and album he released in 2003.

Well, now Chris Clark has finally re-emerged with some new tunes! Warp say he is no longer Chris Clark, just Clark. Although the cover looks to me as though it says ‘Lark’, or ‘(Lark)’, or maybe ‘Clark)’ at a stretch. Which is it? We just don’t know. I’ll stick to ‘Chris Clark’ for the time being.

This 3″ CD is a mini-EP, a taster of what to expect from Clark’s new album. Given that four of the five tracks have been left off the album, it is mouthwatering to imagine what the standard of the tracks on the album must be like.

The track that is on the album, ‘Herr bar’, opens Throttle Furniture. It is a lot more intricate than previous Chris Clark work. Those subtle little drum rolls and and glockenspiel-style sound make this sound very much like a darker Four Tet. Good track.

‘Re-Scar Kiln’ follows up, and if Clark really wants to discourage people from comparing him to AFX he is going about it the wrong way, because this sounds like it could easily be a remix of some Analord tracks. Nevertheless, it’s a great track.

‘Urgent Jell hack’ comes next to slap you about the face. This is possibly the most exciting track on the album, a madcap journey that never stops changing, but sounds cohesive throughout, retaining a common thread. I think it’s a bit Squarepushery actually with an DrukQs-era Aphex Twin slant towards the end. I am truly in trouble for doing the lazy and comparing him to AFX and Squarepusher, huh?…

Aaaargh. Track four is ‘Frau Wav (brief fling)’. I heard this one before I got the CD, because Warp had it available for your listening pleasure on their front page. I was seriously sceptical about this track at first. It sounded too brash and simplistic. But get underneath its skin and it’s just as dirty as all the other tracks, especially during the second minute. A properly fun track, and it segues nicely into the closer, ‘Dusk Swells’. It is a brooding ambient piece, one of those ones that seem neverending; quite minimalist, but always changing slightly at the same time. Think a dark version of Sigur Rós’ ‘Smáskífa’, if you can.

All-in-all, this is another step up for Chris Clark. It makes the gap in between Clarence Park and his 2003 material seem much smaller than it was. I’m looking forward to the album now!

Update: Bleep now have this available to listen.

Phew. The essays (sub-standard, unfortunately) have been handed in. It’s all old news now, so normal service will now resume!

Just a quick note. If you’re reading via an RSS feed and you’re interested in the reviews I’m writing for Speakers Push the Air, I haven’t been putting the links in actual posts for a bit now. They have their own little box on the home page of the blog, up there. Here’s a run-down of what I’ve done recently:

• Boards of Canada — The Campfire Headphase. When chickens aren’t sneezing, they’re saying “boc boc boc”. Since October 18^th they’ve occasionally shaken their heads in mild disappointment.
• The Fiery Furnaces — Rehearsing My Choir. It’s a concept album about their gran. Ah! Pink Floyd didn’t think of that one, eh!
• AFX — Hangable Auto Bulb. Richard D James can’t wait to buy that new tank.
• Gravenhurst — Fires in Distant Buildings. Warp are rockin’ it up… again. I now seem to be Speakers’ unofficial Warp correspondent.

More here; RSS feed.