Dave Heaton: January 21, 2007

1. 
   
   My Teenage Stride – Ears Like Golden Bats (Becalmed)

   The best 2007 album I’ve heard yet – smart, funny, stylish, catchy indie-pop.

2. LD Beghtol – 69 Love Songs: A Field Guide (33 1/3 Series) (Continuum)

   Besides being the most creative use of the 33 1/3 Series’ small-book-about-an-album format yet, this is a delightful, enlightening read about The Magnetic Fields’ epic.

3. The Pines – It’s Been a While (Matinee)

   It has been a while, and what a great return. Well not a return really, as this is a collection of previously released singles and EP tracks, plus a couple unreleased covers…but it’s gorgeous.

4. The Blow – “Parentheses”

   I’ve been going through music released in 2006 to make some mix CDs—a yearly habit—and this fantastic song keeps getting stuck in my head…

5. Ghostface Killah – “Jellyfish”

   ...and this one keeps fascinating me. Old-school format (repeating lines, MCs trading stories) with new-school organ loop. And it’s a surprisingly sweet love song, from a bunch of tough guys.

6. Sloan – Never Hear the End of It (Yep Roc)

   Speaking of fascinating, this endless river of power-pop (30 tracks!) is blowing my mind daily.

7. Tom Waits – Orphans (Anti-)

   I was surprised by how many critics put this on their top 10 lists, cause it is still a random-pieces collection of scraps (if a three-disc one), but Waits’ scraps are definitely other people’s treasure. Lots of great stuff throughout.

8. Jonathan Richman – Having a Party With Jonathan Richman (Rounder)

   One of my favorite albums ever… he’s coming here to Philadelphia next week, 2/8.

9. Idlewild

   The Outkast movie is nothing more than a star-vehicle, lip-sync-filled musical, but it’s way better than the Prince films that are its obvious source; bright and affable at the very least.

10. The Office (Thursdays, NBC)

    I have nothing new to say about this show except that it’s still the best – funnier than any TV show ever, as far as I’m concerned, but not just funny.