Music

2007 Music Year in Review

Continued from page 7

The show has drawn comparisons to such programs as H.R. Pufnstuf, Pee-Wee's Playhouse, The Muppet Show and Banana Splits Adventure Hour. The regular appearance of celebrities and music groups — including the Shins, the Aggrolites, Mya, Supernova, Rah-Zel of the Roots, Tony Hawk, Elijah Wood and Biz Markie — also harks back to MTV's golden age. If that weren't enough, Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh provides graphics for the show.

Alternadad author Neal Pollack has declared his love for Yo Gabba Gabba! on his blog: "This will be the TV show around which our movement rallies. Not that we have a movement, mind you, but if we did, this would be the TV show around which it...you get the idea."

On top of all this Yo Gabba Gabba! success, the Aquabats! finally secured a production deal for their long-germinating superhero show. Amid increasing time constraints in his life, Jacobs (a father himself) miraculously found a few minutes to share "the songs I listened to the most, over and over this past year."

Jerry Reed, "East Bound and Down"

"C'mon! Haven't you ever been under the gun and had to drop the hammer down! I know I was all year. We would play this super-loud in the office when things were getting pretty bleak. And, you know, when Smokey's got his ears on, and he's hot on yer trail, he ain't gonna rest till yer in jail! So, bring it, Jerry, bring it!! I'm not at all a country fan, but this song brings the goods...literally!"

The Killers, "When You Were Young (Jaques Lu Cont's Thin White Duke Radio Edit)"

"I thought the album cut was okay, but this remix is way better. It is real good. Say what you want about the Killers, but I think they are real good. And with a little help, they are way better."

M.I.A., "XR2" and "Jimmy"

"This whole album [Kala] is crazy, and I love it. Wow! 'Where were you in '92?' This song is such a mind-blower. It is so frantic and slamming, but somehow so super-smooth, like a ninja knife hit at the 1985 Video Game Olympics. The beat is insane. It pumps so many crazy feelings, it goes off like bomb. I guess Maya being no stranger to bombs going off, [she] really has a knack for blowing things apart while still somehow looking fresh in pink '80s stretch pants. Then, her track 'Jimmy' takes us to a sixth-grade Bollywood disco-party love-song and doesn't disappoint. M.I.A is way more gangsta than anything on MTV. Sorry, all ya Fergie dawgs."

Futureheads, "Worry About It Later"

"I know that this came out last summer, but I listened to it so much this year that it may as well have come out this year...again. It's so simple but super-good. It's what I say to my fellow coworkers every day, so why wouldn't it be my favorite song? Catchy and punchy: two great tastes that taste great together."

Arcade Fire, "Antichrist Television Blues"

"This song is so gnarly. I can't really explain it, but as lead singer Win [Butler] sings on in the guise of a down-on-his-luck Dad praying for a child so he can raise her up to put on television and sing the gospel, so that he can make money...Well, it's complex, layered with all these weird emotions and so very American that you can't help but get swept away by it. When he sings, "My lips are near / My heart is far away / Now the war is won / How come nothing tastes good?" and then the "angel bird" background singers start to sing, "WAAAA AAOOOO WAAAA AHHAOO!", I get the chills every time. This song is about as anti-American Idol as it gets and it's about time! Brilliant."

ST. LOUIS

Richard Fortus's Great Guns
By Annie Zaleski

Richard Fortus once attended a Replacements/X double bill at legendary St. Louis venue Mississippi Nights; he and Mats bassist Tommy Stinson were the same age. Two decades or so later, the two are bandmates in the current incarnation of Guns N' Roses.

It's a just reward for Fortus, a talented guitarist who first found fame in the '80s with St. Louis darlings the Eyes (later known as Pale Divine during their major-label days) and later in Love Spit Love, the criminally underrated '90s act that also featured Psychedelic Furs figurehead Richard Butler.

Fortus is still an in-demand musician today: In 2007, he played on albums by the Crystal Method, Puddle of Mudd, the Divinyls and Scott McCloud (ex-Girls Against Boys); worked on the Spiderman 3 video-game score; and played on releases by three new, completely separate, artists named Kerli, Krista and Karen.

As for G N' R, Fortus hit Australia, Mexico, New Zealand and Japan with the band this year, and in 2008 he hopes to be touring in support of G N' R's long-awaited album, Chinese Democracy.

"No, really."

In the meantime, here are his picks for 2007's best.

M.I.A., Kala

"I can't stop listening to it. Great references [Pixies, Modern Lovers], love the Bollywood elements and the production is very fresh and exciting."

Sea Wolf, Leaves in the River

"Great songs, feels very real to me, not contrived."

Wilco, Sky Blue Sky

"I think this is my favorite Wilco record yet. Nels Cline is the most inspirational guitarist I've heard in a long time. Lyrically, the strongest Wilco record."

Spoon, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

"Love Britt [Daniel]'s voice. Reminds me of Springsteen, Phil Lynott and Elvis Costello while still remaining very unique."

Radiohead, In Rainbows

"This record feels so much more real and organic than anything they've done before, as well as having very solid songs. In my opinion, they are still the most important band of the last two decades."

Tacks, the Boy Disaster, Oh, Beatrice

"They are an unsigned [Austin] band that are unbelievable. Great arrangements, beautiful lyrics, criminally unknown [www.myspace.com/tackstheboy­disaster]."

Blonde Redhead, 23

"Very different to anything they'd done previously. I know, I know, it's very ­Radiohead-ish, but they do it well."

Nine Inch Nails, Year Zero

"I really had no intention of liking this record, but...I do."

Arcade Fire, Neon Bible

"I think I like it even more than Funeral. They definitely avoided the sophomore slump."

The Shins, Wincing the Night Away

"I didn't like the rest of the record nearly as much as Oh, Inverted World, and not quite as much as Chutes Too Narrow, but 'Phantom Limb' is stellar."

LOS ANGELES

Margaret Cho's Sensuous Sides
By Lina Lecaro

Margaret Cho has had her own TV show, a couple of best-selling books, a Grammy-nominated comedy album and two feature films based on her national tours, but 2007 saw a new conquest for the comic: she became a viral-video queen. The Sensuous Woman, a sexy, traveling circus-like spectacle melding music, comedy and burlesque as performed by Cho and a myriad of her talented pals, was a critical success in L.A., New York and Chicago.

But when a clip from Woman showing the comedienne, clad in nothing but pasties and panties, twirling her ta-tas with awe-inspiring speed, was posted on YouTube and subsequently every blog on the Net, Cho became not only a national cyber-sensation, but a champion for voluptuous women everywhere.

"I got really good at twirling those tassels. It was very popular online and quite controversial," she says. "Women loved it and felt empowered, but a few straight guys were furious because I challenge the stripper archetype."

Challenging preconceived notions and stereotypes is what Cho does. The Korean-American funny lady has always had a strong political and cultural viewpoint, and her work has explored not only her Asian background and upbringing, but also her views on homosexuality (currently married, she claims to be bisexual) and the government (big shocker: she's anti-Bush).

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