Best music of 2007

OK, here is my selection of what I think was the best music in 2007. It was actually a very good year in music, lots of very good stuff was released. What follows are two lists, best albums and best single songs of 2007, all in alphabetical order. (They are in alphabetical order because it's hard to compare.)

Albums

Air - Pocket Symphony

Björk - Volta

Jesu - Conqueror (actually a strong contender for the best album of 2007, but...)

Ministry - The Last Sucker

Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero

Radiohead - In Rainbows (not only interesting because of its novel selling mode, but just a damn good album as well)

Robyn - Robyn

16 Volt - FullBlackHabit

Skinny Puppy - Mythmaker (I didn't understand that album in the beginning, but it's actually very cool)

Throbbing Gristle - Part Two: The Endless Not

Underworld - Oblivion with Bells

Wir sind Helden - Soundso

...and finally, out of alphabetical order, the really absolute best album of this year:

UNKLE - War Stories

Singles

Adam Sky vs. Mark Stewart - We Are All Prostitutes (Shadow Dancer Rmx) (A new Mark Stewart album is announced for 2008, and I'm really looking forward to it.)

Dave Gahan - Kingdom (I was disappointed by his album, it's very weak. But this single is excellent.)

Motor - Bleep #1 (Their new album was also a disappointment, they probably shot too fast after their very good album of last year. This single is cool, though.)

The Piney Gir Country Roadshow - Great Divide (The Age of Reason's Rear View Mirror Re-fit) (Very untypical, unexpected, but nice remix.)

UNKLE - Heaven (A brilliant track from the "Hold My Hand" EP.)

Von Südenfed - Fledermaus Can't Get It (I thought about adding their album to the best-of list above, but in comparison to the other albums, it pales a little. The single is excellent, though.)

Music that didn't make these lists

The Chemical Brothers - We Are The Night (Well, good as always, but also the same as always.)

Chloé - The Waiting Room (A too late entry in my list, but it will probably also not make it for the 2008 list. It's very good, but gets a bit boring after a while.)

Jesu - Lifeline (Everything by Jesu is brilliant, also this one. But mentioning a band more than once? Nah...)

Nine Inch Nails - Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D (A good and unusually straightforward remix album, with some cool versions of tracks from Year Zero. But you can't have an album twice in a best-of list, if you already don't mention bands more than once. ;)

Rasputina - Oh Perilous World (Actually a very nice album, like all Rasputina albums, but not 'special' enough. It's probably just because the competition was too tough.)

Recoil - subHuman (I tried, but it still doesn't click with me.)

Wire - Read & Burn 03 (Nice, but not breathtaking. Let's see what comes next.)

Gekido Playlist 8/12/2007

My (final) Gekido playlist of 8/12/2007.

Throbbing Gristle - Vow of Silence
Jesu - Conqueror
UNKLE - Heaven
Circlesquare - Untitled (For Christmas)
Underworld - Glam Bucket
16 Volt - And You Are All Alone Again
Nine Inch Nails - God Given (Stephen Morris & Gillian Gilbert Remix)
Hellbent - Rubber Girls With Knives
Skinny Pupp - Tin Omen 1
Ministry - Death & Destruction
Sielwolf - Spuck Den Dreck Aus
Underworld - To Heal (Sunshine Version)
Chloé - Be Kind To Me
The Knife - Forest Families
Juno Reactor - Zwara (Sleepwalker)
Björk - Declare Independence

Gekido Playlist 10/11/2007

My Gekido playlist of 10/11/2007.

Adam Sky vs. Mark Stewart - We Are All Prostitutes (Shadow Dancer Rmx)
Saul Williams - List of Demands (Reparations)
ohGr - Borderline
Layo & Bushwacka! - Life2Live (Unkle Surrender Sounds Session #1)
Test Icicles - What's Your Damage? (Braxe/Falke Remix)
Underworld - Boy, Boy, Boy
Dave Gahan - Kingdom (K10K Extended Remix)
UNKLE - Burn My Shadow (Dan F Remix)
Juno Reactor - Zwara (Sleepwalker)
Nine Inch Nails - The Hand That Feeds (komapop)

Gekido Playlist 13/10/2007

My Gekido playlist of 13/10/2007.

Orbital - Halcyon
New Order - The Beach
Pan Sonic - Urania
Mu - Out Of Breach
Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia - Kraak (Coil Remix)
Prodigy - Voodoo People (Wonder Remix)
Autolux - Turnstile Blues (Unkle Surrender Sounds Session #4)
Underworld - Crocodile
UNKLE - Burn My Shadow (Dan F Remix)
Cut Copy - Going Nowhere (Digitalism Remix)
Motor - Night Drive
Deichkind - Beweg Dich (Extended Version)
The Faint - Agenda Suicide

Gekido Playlist 11/08/2007

My Gekido playlist of 11/08/2007.

The Hafler Trio - Masturbatorium
Reptilicus - Theoleptic Head
Laurie Anderson - O Superman (For Massenet)
Skinny Puppy - Jaher
Front 242 - GenEcide
Autechre - Gantz Graf
Von Südenfed - Fledermaus Can't Get It (Max Tundra Mix)
Akufen - Deck The House
Mark Stewart - Digital Justice
Björk - Innocence
ohGr - iOvNoW / ShiTe
Ministry - Hizbollah
UNKLE - Burn My Shadow (Unkle Surrender Sounds Session #5)

For full playlists, see the Gekido website (section "Weapons").

Best music of 2007 so far

This year in music has been pretty interesting so far, a lot of great stuff has been released. Here are my current nominations for best albums of 2007:

UNKLE - War Stories
Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero
Jesu - Conqueror
Rasputina - Oh Perilous World
Von Südenfed - Tromatic Reflexxions
Wir sind Helden - Soundso
Robyn - Robyn
Björk - Volta
Throbbing Gristle - Part Two: The Endless Not
The Chemical Brothers - We Are the Night
Air - Pocket Symphony
Mute Audio Documents

I don't know yet what to think of the following albums:

Recoil - subHuman
Motor - Unhuman
Skinny Puppy - Mythmaker

Gekido Playlist 14/07/2007

The party of June was a special event for which I don't have a playlist. The playlist of 14/07/2007 was as follows.

Jesu - Conqueror
Agoria featuring Peter Murphy - Edenbridge
Recoil - Prey (Single Version)
Throbbing Gristle - Persuasion (Motor Remix)
Deftones - Pink Cellphone
Ministry - Worm
Pigface - Ten Ground And Down
Rx - K Y Re:amin
Nine Inch Nails - The Greater Good
UNKLE - Burn My Shadow (Unkle Surrender Sounds Session #5)
Sono - A New Cage (Digitalism Pogo Edition)
Underworld - Lovely Broken Thing (excerpt)
Mu - Out Of Breach

Gekido Playlist 12/05/2007

My Gekido playlist of 12/05/2007.

Mark Stewart - Passivecation Program / Bastards
Nearly God - Tattoo
Circlesquare - All Sleepers
Aphex Twin - Icct Hedral (Edit)
Colder - The Slow Decent
Liaisons Dangereuses - Mystere Dans Le Brouillard
Coil - Where Even The Darkness Is Something To See
Throbbing Gristle - Vow of Silence
Underworld - Oich Oich
The Knife - Silent Shout
Nine Inch Nails - The Great Destroyer
Fad Gadget - Ad Nauseam
Swans - Time Is Money (Bastard)
Pigface - Taiko
Björk - Declare Independence

For full playlists, see the Gekido website (section "Weapons").

My first Gekido playlist

Last Saturday (April 14), I have DJed for the first time at Gekido. Here is my playlist:

Autechre - Second Bad Vilbel
Coil - Heaven's Blade
Tekel - Flunch
Mu - Out Of Breach
Felix Da Housecat - Silver Screen
Motor - Sweatbox (Chris Liebing Remix)
The Hafler Trio - By Eager Discarded Mention, Such Distance
The Knife - Forest Families
Circlesquare - Fight Sounds Part 3
Ministry - Fucked
Jesu - Weightless & Horizontal
Agoria - Like A Bull
Deftones - Pink Cellphone
Underworld - Lovely Broken Thing (excerpt)
LFO - Butterslut
Deichkind - Beweg Dich (koweSix Remix)
ohGr - HiLO
Nine Inch Nails - You Know Who You Are

You can find the full playlist and more at Kyoushu's myspace presence.

Gekido Bootstrap

I am going to DJ again. I haven't done this for nearly ten years now, so I am quite excited to try this again. This will be as part of Gekido at Klangstation in Bonn, Bad Godesberg, initially on April 14 (in about two weeks from now).

I am going to do the first 90 mins., as a warm up to the main party. I will post playlists here afterwards.

While we're at it, I currently enjoy Jesu's Conqueror a lot...

Bleep Survivalism

New videoclips by Motor and Nine Inch Nails.