Year End List « Seven Ten Twelve

Devon Williams - A Truce | Elevator 7″

January 11, 2008

a: A Truce
b: Elevator
Purchase from LA Record
Stream on MySpace

Oh man, I’m kind of freaking out over this.

I ordered it based on the fact that one of the guys from No Age put it in his 2007 top ten - I like No Age, hadn’t heard of this Devon Williams character. Magic. Since then, I’ve seen it on a few more top ten lists, including SevenTenTwelve favourite Dan Bejar (did I mention here how I FINALLY won a copy of Streethawk: A Seduction on vinyl? This thing has been my White Whale for a few years now, and I even managed to get it for a pretty sweet price - $120, which makes it the single highest dollar amount that I have ever paid for vinyl). So yeah, Dan Bejar likes it, Randy from No Age likes it - but, the Mp3 blogger’s remain silent? Isn’t this your job, Mp3 bloggers, to find the good shit and put it under people’s noses?

Oh well.

Generally, I only write about records that I dig (you dig?) - I have a pretty sizable collection, growing every week, and there is lots there that I could be writing about, but don’t - because, as I see it, just because I hate something doesn’t mean that it isn’t good (and vice versa). Too many factors to account for with taste. Plus, the last thing struggling musicians need is another asshole blogger saying that they suck. Which may be the case, but what’s the point? I’ve been in bands long enough to know how much it can feel like banging your head against the wall (my new band, Light Years, is gonna be different though - we’re gonna light it up!).

Which is a really long-winded way for me to emphasize the following - this 7″ is REALLY fucking good. I know I say that lots (there is, after all, a lot of really fucking good 7″ records out there), but this 7″ would be the one I would pick if my house was burning down. Fuck the rest of them. Since the No Age singles arrived at my doorstep, I can’t think of any other 7″ that I have just played over and over and over and over again. Like now - I just got up and played it again. What more can I say to hype this out of proportion?

Prediction time - I am going to say about Devon Williams (which I think I also said about Abe Vigoda a few months ago): this guy is going to blow up. Big time. I’ll eat my hat if he doesn’t. From these two songs, I know it in my heart. This music is just too transcending, too universal not to catch on. When he gets around to releasing a full length, Pitchfork is gonna give it a 10.0 (at which point the backlash will start, so now is the time to get on board). Even if these are the two best songs this guy ever writes, he will have made his mark on the world.

Think a more accessible Magnetic Fields, the best Belle and Sebastian song, the pop-sensibilities of Elliott Smith (Figure 8 era), Morrissey with a cold, a less annoying Jens Leckman, the 70’s quirk of Harry Nilsson… on and on I go. Hyperbole aside, this is why I do this. Fuck me.

Posted by qmass Filed in 7", Year End List
Tags: 7", vinyl, single, 45, Devon Williams

4 Comments »

SevenTenTwelve’s Favourite 7″ Records of 2007

December 21, 2007

This time of year we are faced with many arbitrary lists. Especially music geeks (I think we have High Fidelity to blame for this mess), who love nothing more than collecting, cataloging and ranking their music. I am no different. The criteria for ranking these 7″ records are 1) quality of the music 2) overall presentation. This is why two singles series rank so highly

10. Fabulous Diamonds - S/T 7″

This band is going to be worth following in the next year - they are doing everything they shouldn’t be, and making it sound good.

9. Wooden Shjips - Summer of Love (Sol 2007)

I came late to the Wooden Shjips party, and it is difficult to predict how this is going to hold up - the singles thus far have been ace, but the full length was kind of a snore.

8. Abe Vigoda - Animal Ghosts 7″

“Animal Ghosts” is everything I like about music - short, snotty bursts of melody. Like I said before, these guys are going to blow up.

7. LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends (w/ John Cale and W/ Franz Ferdinand) 7″

The last thing that anyone needs at this point is some asshole online telling you how amazing LCD Soundsystem are, or how good “All My Friends” is. Yet, these are worth paying the overseas cost for the covers done by John Cale and Franz Ferdinand (whose version I actually like more than LCD’s).

6. Prinzhorn Dance School (series): “You are the Space Invader” + “Up! Up1 Up!” + “Crackerjack Docker”

These three singles are all you ever need of Prinzhorn. Listening to the full length will annoy the shit out of you; listening to the singles will bring joy to your heart. All featuring hand-made (purses?) done by Suzy Horn. These singles are a hit at house parties.

5. Pet Politics - The Spring 7″

This music here is amazing, but it is the packaging that sells this one. Circular, shell like sleeves with some really nice art, The Great Pop Supplement does it again.

4. Times New Viking - My Head 7″

Christ this is good - can’t get enough of this band, and am spending way too much time right now tracking down their other 7″’s. Matador sold out of these before they were even released, and I do say that very few bands have got me as excited this year.

3. The Ostrich - S/T 7″

I meant it when I said that this is the best Canadian 7″ I have heard this year (from a Calgary band, no less!). Dark, world weary garage-pop, this single says everything to me about my life, and I can’t wait to hear more. Don’t sleep on this.

2. Shocking Pinks (series)

Shocking Pinks totally blew me away this year - these 7″ singles each sound like different bands, with the common denominator being that the songs are all really good. Apparently, there is a box-set of all the 7″s now, but I have yet to see that.

1. No Age (series)