Best of 2007

There were some excellent releases in 2007, so I thought I'd feature some in a new mix. . My favorite ambient recording of the year was Stars of the Lid - And Their Refinement of the Decline. I know there are quite a few people who didn't care for the cd, but I love it. I like the more orchestral feel. I like that SOTL relies less & less on synths. A beautiful record. . My favorite vocal record was PG Six - Slightly Sorry. Snips from the Boomkat review..."a collection of quite unashamedly gorgeous 'proper' songs...'Slightly Sorry' is an album without tricks...'The Dance', the second track on the record - there's nothing necessarily modern about the song itself, it could have come out any time since 1969 and nobody would have batted an eyelid, but it's great music, pure and simple." I played this probably more than any other record this year. . As far as this mix is concerned, I pretty much stayed away from vocal tunes, with one exception in the middle of the mix. The mix opens with four drone tracks, including Paul Bradley, a new discovery thanks to the folks at the Hypnos forum. Some of his stuff gets a bit dark & dissonant for my taste, but his 2007 release "Chroma" features gorgeous, wide open drones. The drones gradually giveway to piano based tunes wich morph into electronics with a little beat then back to ambient to finish it off. . My full best of 2007 list follows the tracklisting for the mix. What were your favorite releases this year? Please leave some comments, I'd love to hear what you think. T R A C K L I S T : 00:00 - 04:30 Stars of the Lid - Even(out) 04:30 - 07:30 Paul Bradley - untitled #1 07:30 - 09:40 Adam Pacione - Warming Trend 09:40 - 15:30 Emeralds - arbole del tule 15:30 - 20:30 Alio Die & Luciano Daini - Crucibulum 20:30 - 24:24 Fennesz & Sakamoto - Aware 24:24 - 25:45 Library Tapes - Snowleaf 25:45 - 31:54 Dakota Suite - Because our lie breathes differently 31:54 - 35:20 Wes Willenbring - While my lungs fill with water 35:20 - 41:20 Sonmi 451 - Outer Shell 41:20 - 46:05 Kiln - Flycatcher 46:05 - 50:45 Rameses III - Theme 5 50:45 - 54:20 Meursault - Ivy 54:20 - 58:50 Alio Die & Zeit - Raag Drone Theory 58:50 - 06:20 Taylor Deupree - Landing 06:20 - 10:45 Tim Hecker - Norberg 10:45 - 14:30 Northern - Cinema 14:30 - 19:53 Stars of the Lid - Even if you're never awake B E S T O F 2 0 0 7 Stars of the Lid - And Their Refinement of the Decline (kranky) Alio Die & Luciano Daini - End of an Era (hic sunt leones) Alio Die & Zeit - Raag Drone Theory(hic sunt leones) Tetsu Inoue - Inland (fax) Taylor Deupree - Landing (room40) Adam Pacione - from stills to motion (infraction) Paul Bradley - Chroma (twenty hertz) Emeralds - Allegory Of Allergies (gods of tundra) Fennesz & Sakamoto - Cende (touch) Northern - Drawn (infraction) Tim Hecker - Norberg (room40) Rameses III - Honey Rose ( important) sonmi451 - probes & prisms (u-cover) Meursault - Sleeping Debris (students of decay) Wes Willenbring - Somewhere someone else (Aquarius Records) Library Tapes - Sketches (make mine music) Kiln - Dusker (Ghostly Int'l) Iron & Wine - The Sheperds Dog (sub pop) Trespassers William - noble house ep various - Box of Dub (soul jazz) Once - soundtrack (columbia) Canon Blue - Colonies (Rumraket) Dakota Suite - Waiting for the dawn to crawl through and take your life (glitterhouse) P.G. Six - Slightly Sorry (Drag City)