Superblast!

Things to look forward to in 2008

Boris - Smile (April) Boris photo by Chinapixie.

Ghostface/MF Doom collab finally happening

Led Zeppelin tour??!

Radiohead tour

New Breeders record (April 8)

Shine a Light, Scorsese's Rolling Stones documentary

The mainstream return of vinyl

My Bloody Valentine U.S. tour/record?

Festival mania

Rhino's Pogues box set?

Indiana Jones 4

Dr. Dre - Detox

Guns 'n' Roses - Chinese Democracy (2028)

The next big you-thought-it-would-never-happen reunion (The Kinks? Talking Heads? Husker Du? The Partridge Family? LUSH?)

Superblast's Favorite Songs of 2007

Our Top Ten 0f 2007 frenzy continues, with today's entry:

Superblast's Favorite Songs of 2007*

*yes, we know that 10 and 19 are two completely different numbers, but considering that positive whole numbers go on forever, they're actually not that far apart.

In alphabetical order:

1.Kanye West - "Stronger" Naysayers: "What?! Kanye sampling Daft Punk?! That'll never work!" BUT IT DID HAPPEN.

2. LCD Soundsystem - "Something Great" A gorgeous, moving semi-ballad from a band known for face-melting dance-rock. More like "Something Awesome".

3. Feist - "I Feel it All" Forget "1,2,3,4" (Well, don't forget it, just stop thinking about for four seconds), the best joint on Feist's The Reminder was track 2.

4. Fog - "What's Up Freaks" It took days of struggling to pick one standout track from Fog's stellar Ditherer, but this chilling duet featuring Low's Mimi Parker wins due to its unusually straight-forward and heart-breaking lyrics.

5. Wilco - "Impossible Germany" Blue Sky Blue was a little too mellow for some tastes, but this slow-burner that shows off the axe skillz of both Nels Cline and Jeff Tweedy deserves a permanent spot on the band's setlist.

6. Bat For Lashes - "What's a Girl to Do" Move over, Bjork. Shut up, Siouxsie. Take a hike, Kate Bush? This is the sad girl jam of the year. With the added bonus of a spine-tingling harpsichord and some awesome "Be My Baby" percussion.

7. Tegan and Sara - "Back in Your Head" This song is STILL in your head, and it always will be, along with the Pythagoras theory. 

8. Kid Sister - "Control" Get the party started right by throwing on this off-the-chain banger. "You know all the shit that we be on." I don't, but I like it.

9. Ai Aso - "Islands" This is the list's most obscure item (available only on a beautiful but outrageously overpriced split 7" with Boris' Wata), but it's worth the hunt. A cute, but haunting take on a King Crimson (!) song by Japan's weirdest female pop star. If you're one of those strange people who hate to spend $30 on a song you've never heard, you can download it here free.

10. M.I.A. - "Hit That" The sexiest song of the year, hands down. Why wasn't this a single? And why the fuck didn't she play this in L.A.?

11. Rihanna - "Umbrella" This year's "Crazy in Love" has a crazy hook -- and you're the bait. And Rihanna's the, um...fisherman. I guess.

12. St. Vincent - "Now Now" There's something instantly nostalgic about this tune. Something to do with the fretless bass and/or the children's choir.

13. Jay-Z - "Roc Boys" This is 90% due to the absolutely slammin' sample. And the girl who joins in on the chorus at the end. Black superhero music. 

14. Go! Team - "Fake ID" Diminutive drummer Chi steps into the spotlight with this Sonic Youth-for-kids slam dunk.

15. Arcade Fire - "Keep the Car Running" Sometimes I'll nod my head with every beat, like I'm saying "Yes! Yes! Yes! THIS rocks!" And sometimes I'll switch it up and shake my head like "No! No! No! Don't stop rockin'!"

16. Argo - "The Firebot" Simply amazing guitar-driven instrumental. Please check out this band. www.argotheband.com

17. They Might Be Giants - "I'm Impressed" So am I! This is one of the best TMBG jams in ages.

18. Los Campesinos! - "Frontwards" A smokin' Pavement cover. DJs for Eight Grade dances take note -- this is what kids should be hearing, not "You Shook Me All Night Long" and "The Humpty Dance" for the one millionth time.

19. Mims - "This is Why I'm Hot" Some things just can't be explained. The year's laziest rap single is also one of its best.

Some more worth mentioning:

Andrew Bird - "Fiery Crash", Calvin Harris - "Merrymaking at My House", Justin Timberlake - "SexyBack", Spoon - "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb", MGMT - "Time to Pretend", Cloud Cult - "Take Your Medicine", Cass McCombs - "LionKiller", Rogue Wave - "Chicago X 12", Black Francis - "Captain Pasty", Peter, Bjorn and John - "The Chills", Pipettes - "Pull Shapes", Battles - "Ddiamondd", Bright Eyes - "Four Winds", Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - "Satan Said Dance", Shellac - "Steady as She Goes", Animal Collective - "Peace Bone", Amy Winehouse - "Rehab"

Superblast's Favorite Concerts of 2007

Year-end list time! Unless you're a heartless, souless scumbag who's more monster than man, you love lists. Grocery lists, to-do lists, Schindler's List, and best of all, Top Ten Lists. Here is the first of a few awesome lists commemorating the end of the year (according to the Roman calendar). Look for end-of-the-lunar-year-lists in March. Not really. Well, maybe.

Superblast!'s Top Ten Concerts of 2007*
*An extremely subjective list, concentrating on L.A.-area shows, heavy on the indie rock. (In no particular order):

10. Hold Steady @ The El Rey, Los Angeles. The dudes played a lot of shows this year -- and I bet 99% of them were awesome -- but this show fell into that 1% where they were SUPER-awesome.

9. Daft Punk @ Vegoose Festival, Day 1, Las Vegas. Everyone in Sin City wanted to grab the two robots that front Daft Punk, run to a makeshift Wedding Chapel and get married. The French dudes rocked it like a robo-hurricane.

8. Boris @ The Echoplex, Los Angeles. Dd-nnea-neaw-yeah-da-DA-DA-DA. That was the sound of two awesome guitars battling it out on stage. Brkkksh!!! That was the sound of every dude's heart breaking when he saw hottie guitarist Wata walk on stage.

7. St. Vincent @ The Echo, Los Angeles. Texas cutie Annie Clark showed her teeth on the live version of "Now, Now," one of the year's most off-the-hook songs.

6. Vooredoms @ Studio Coast, Tokyo. Yeah, being in Japan may have added to the show's value, but the incognito Boredoms burned that spacious hall down opening for headliners Sonic Youth.

5. Deerhoof @ McGuire Theater, Minneapolis. The SF trio is equally goofy and arty, but they rock in a unique Mr. Rogers-meets-Mr. Bungle kind of way. Earplugs -- they're so necessary.

4. The Go! Team @ Glasshouse, Pomona, CA. The best live band in the world (well maybe second best, thanks to Hold Steady) treated L.A. to three shows this year, but this one seemed to have the highest energy.

3. LCD Soundsystem @ The El Rey, Los Angeles. They played three nights there, so it's possible this was the worst of the three. If that's the case then I never would've survived the best night.

2. Melvins @ Henry Fonda, Los Angeles. If the Melvins was a child, you'd be like "Goddammit Melvins, keep it down in there!" Instead you're like "Turn it up, Doodz!" They played Houdini all the way through and then Mudhoney played Superfuzz Bigmuff all the way through.

1. Sonic Youth @ Greek Theater, Los Angeles NY noise gods (and goddess) played Daydream Nation all the way through. It was amazing.

Gorilla vs. Bear recaps the best live shows deep in the heart of Texas.

Muzzle of Bees reminisces about the great Madison-area concerts they caught in '07.

Pitchfork has a massively entertaining year in concert photos spread.

Stereogum let their readers do the voting when it comes to 2007's best live acts. But it's kind of bullshit, since Radiohead is #16 and they didn't even play any live shows this year. Oh well, at least it's not 3 Doors Down or something. Stereogum also picked their own top 30. So much for democracy.