Casey Neill's Music Picks

Favorite 07 LPs Bruce Springsteen - Magic --- E Street Band in fine form & the best batch of Bruce songs since the early 80s.

Ted Leo & The Pharmacists- Living with the Living (+ More Living EP) A workhorse touring band & the only act out there updating the DC hardcore sound and combining it with crafted songs that would hold up on a solo guitar.

Band of Horses- Cease to Begin Perfectly dreamy pop rock from bearded North Carolinans.

M.I.A.- Kala- Joe Strummer would have loved her. And then she goes and samples "Straight to Hell" on her track "Paper Planes" which is my favorite song of the year.

Elliott Smith - New Moon - a double CD of Elliott in his Portland years, artwork by Mike King who has done poster design for the Oregon punk scene since for 20 years, and a benefit for Portland's homeless youth. It's like someone took his best record "Either/Or" and multiplied by 2.

New Model Army - High - Bradford England's political rockers come back with a straight ahead collection of beautiful melodies and sonic textures. Not as strident as 06's "Carnival" but Justin Sullivan always seems to capture how I'm feeling about the world.

Soulsavers (featuring Mark Lanegan) - It's Not How Far You Fall, It's The Way You Land A gospel tinged effort with Lanegan's trademark growl on over a third of the songs. Features great covers of Neil Young's "Through My Sails" and the Stones' "No Expectations"

Rush - Snakes & Arrows Love em or hate em. This is their best cd in decades. Riff heavy, great lyrics. And the tour behind it is not to missed (if you love 'em like me).

Rickie Lee Jones - Sermon on Exposition Boulevard Normally a record inspired by Jesus would make me run far away, but this is more about the story and not a religious record at all. It invokes Astral Weeks quite a bit and her voice is sounding suburb. There are some serious goosebumps on this one.

Radiohead - In Rainbows Forget how much anyone paid for it, the music itself is what matters and it's gorgeous.

Favorite 07 Songs "Paper Planes" M.I.A. "Senor (Tales of Yankee Power)" - Willie Nelson & Calexico I'm Not There Soundtrack best guitar solo of the year on Willie's beat up nylon string. "Man in the Moon" Grinderman "Rappaport's Testament (I Never Gave Up)" Ted Leo (More Living EP)- a Chumbawamba cover "Age Old Blue" Alela Diane