Art Hinshaw’s Best of 2007

As a law professor at Arizona State University, Art Hinshaw is all grown-up and respectable now. But way back when, he was in a band in the St. Louis music scene that spawned Uncle Tupelo (and, ultimately, Wilco and Son Volt). Here are nine albums that made the grade in the Valley of the Sun.

Thanks to the Teenage Kicks staff for asking for my top picks of 2007. Here they are in order:

LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver
M.I.A – Kala (the Clash sample on Paper Planes got me to listen)
Peter Bjorn and John – Writer’s Block
Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Radiohead – In Rainbows
The New Pornographers – Challengers (down from their last, but still good)
Lucinda Williams – West (got goose bumps when she played the title track live)
The Shins – Wincing the Night Away (not up to usual standards, but still good)
Iron and Wine – The Shepherd’s Dog

I expect that most other submissions will be a list of ten, but I believe a year end list needs to consist of legitimately good cds worthy of such an elevated status. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t ten worthy cds. It’s just that I’m not aware of any others, although I’m likely to discover them in 08 and play them tons. While two of my favorite bands released cds that have some great tunes on them, the White Stripes – Icky Thump and Wilco – Sky Blue Sky, I find them uneven to a point of distraction.