THE START OF a new year is also a time to look back, and in the entertainment world that means an abundance of awards shows. With the Grammys less than a month away, senior editor Carl Zielinski and guest contributor senior Jake Seeley offer their choices for the top albums of 2007.

But don't think that's all you're going to get from the music lovers at the Gargoyle. Entertainment editors Kumars Salehi and Erin Hayes will follow soon with their own top 10 records of the year.

Jake Seeley’s best of 2007

10. “Icky Thump” — The White Stripes (Warner Bros.)
The White Stripes sounded frustrated with their self-imposed musical boundaries on “Get Behind Me Satan,” as evidenced by extensive use of marimba(?!). On “Icky Thump,” though, Jack and Meg White have returned to the guitar-drums basics and rediscovered the sense of weirdness and fun that was so endearing on “De Stijl” and “White Blood Cells.” This album rocks hard, with Jack’s classic rock and blues sensibilities coming through very strongly. His lyrics are also as full of wordplay and whimsy as they ever were, often based in childhood friendship and arguably misplaced angst. Meanwhile, Meg’s bare-bones drumming remains charmingly simple. Basically, The White Stripes are back the way I liked them best.

9. “Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters” — The Twilight Sad (FatCat)
The debut LP from this band from outside of Glasgow, Scotland, is so sonically confident that one cannot help but wonder whether they’ve been playing together for years without recording anything. The Twilight Sad favor huge choruses with solid walls of sound — on almost every song, there is a moment where the guitar distortion becomes practically all you can hear. The songs are epic and familiar, and most of the lyrics are in some way about the disillusionment that accompanies growing up. There are also themes of nature and weather that run throughout the album, contributing to the sense of inevitability that permeates the whole record — as sure as the changing of seasons is the ground-shaking sonic implosion you know is just around the corner. This band knows when to turn it up.

8. “Boxer” — The National (Beggars Banquet)
On paper, The National sound like a very conventional band. Their songs feature guitar, drums, piano, bass, some electronics, and vocals. But they distinguish themselves brilliantly through surprisingly dramatic song structures (helped by singer Matt Berringer’s deep baritone) and lyrics that are full of grim jokes and imagery that evokes dark, empty streets. The drumming on this album is especially remarkable — rather than simply keeping time, Brian Devendorf actually contributes to the atmosphere of the songs in very appreciable ways. This album is pure isolation and estrangement, so it’s absolutely a mood record — listen to it in your headphones while riding a nearly empty metro with a nighttime cityscape whizzing by, and you’ll love it.

7. “The Reminder” — Feist (Arts & Crafts)
Feist’s much-anticipated follow-up to her breakthrough “Let It Die” finds her maturing in every respect, and the result is an album that tops her excellent sophomore effort. Where “Let It Die” was a centaur album, half lo-fi originals and half covers, “The Reminder” is more unified (Feist had writing credits on all but one song.) This album is at times eerie, at times upbeat and poppy, at times intimate, but throughout the varied songs runs one common thread: Feist’s incredibly beautiful and emotive voice. I can’t say enough about her singing — she’s very talented at the sparse folk-guitar style she employs, but her best instrument by far is her pipes.

6. “Marry Me” — St. Vincent (Beggars Banquet)
Like one of my favorite new artists from last year (Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond), Annie Clark (St. Vincent) has been a Sufjan Stevens collaborator. Also like My Brightest Diamond, St. Vincent’s debut album is stellar. From the staccato guitar harmonics and buzzing bass of opener “Now Now” to the swooning violins and hand claps of the astoundingly beautiful title track, “Marry Me” is richly instrumented — and the liner notes of the album credit Clark with almost all of it. This album shows Clark to be such an accomplished instrumentalist, vocalist, composer, and arranger that one wonders why she has waited so long to display her immense talent with a solo record. This is one of the best art rock albums I have ever heard.

5. “Person Pitch” — Panda Bear (Paw Tracks)
Panda Bear had quite a year, contributing to the awesome “Strawberry Jam” as part of Animal Collective as well as creating this very different but excellent solo record. A warning — one absolutely has to think of this album in the right way to appreciate it. The first few times I heard it, I was listening to it as if it was the work of a band, and I was disappointed. The songs never seemed to go anywhere. But when it eventually clicked, it revealed itself to be an amazing album. Rather than chord shifts, Panda Bear favors utilizing samples and overdubbing to create increasingly complex loops, a technique that lends his songs some qualities of trance music and takes some getting used to. Panda Bear is bizarrely fun to sing along to after you’ve heard the album a few times. This is mainly because all the tunefulness of these songs comes from his singing over the loops he creates. This is definitely headphones music; if you listen to it with other people they had better already like “Person Pitch” as much as you do. Because otherwise they’re going to think you’re really weird (come to think of it, this is definitely good advice for Sunset Rubdown as well — see below).

4. “Night Falls Over Kortedala” — Jens Lekman (Secretly Canadian)
This album is what pop should sound like. Jens Lekman is a Swedish singer-songwriter whose songs are guitar- and piano-based but also lean heavily on strings and brass sections. His lyrics are romantic and melancholy, but his tendency to make puns and write ballads about the women who cut his hair (“Shirin”) make it clear that he doesn’t take himself too seriously. In fact some of these songs are hysterical in a sad sort of way, like “A Postcard to Nina,” which has Jens participating in a fake relationship with Nina (with whom he is in love) to hide from her father her actual relationship with another woman. Or on “The Opposite of Hallelujah,” where he sings, “I picked up a seashell to illustrate my homelessness / But then a crab crawled out of it, making it useless.” Jens Lekman is a pop genius, and his witty lyrics and absurdly catchy songwriting make his latest album incredibly fun to listen to.

3. “The Shepherd’s Dog” — Iron & Wine (Sub Pop)
If you are familiar with Iron & Wine, you’ll know that Sam Beam’s outstanding first two LPs were from start to finish Southern-flavored folk albums. Beam’s distinctive way of whisper-singing managed to lend a bedroom recording intimacy to even the (relatively) more raucous tracks, and his delicate folk-guitar style was always achingly beautiful. But on “The Shepherd’s Dog,” Sam Beam makes the risky transition into a full band and away from simple folk songs with confidence. Everything is evolved on this album. Beam’s singing is more varied and backing vocals are more prominent than they have ever been. Shuffling maraca rhythms, well-chosen synth effects, electric guitars, and piano flesh out the old mainstays of banjo and acoustic guitar. The most important aspect of this album is how varied it is — from the West African-tinged “House by the Sea” (which calls to mind Amadou et Mariam), to the sitar-heavy “White Tooth Man,” “The Shepherd’s Dog” is infinitely more varied than any of Iron & Wine’s previous efforts. Beam’s familiar lyrical tactic of dreamlike juxtapositions and oblique poetry is (wonderfully) still present: “Cain bought a blade from some witch at the window / Abel bought a bag of weed / And even the last of the brown-eyed babies see / That the cartoon king has a tattoo of a bleeding heart.” This third album is a logical extension of an already brilliant catalogue.

2. “Strawberry Jam” — Animal Collective (Domino)
Animal Collective are one of the most innovative acts on the music scene today. They have a knack for hiding brilliantly catchy pop hooks in the very weirdest of contexts, something that all sorts of indie artists attempt but fail to do as well as Animal Collective. The technique has the effect of making their songs sound comfortably familiar and bizarrely original at the same time, and I enjoy this aspect of their music immensely. Avey Tare’s voice is astonishingly agile on “Strawberry Jam,” leaping octaves and affectations with ease. New to an Animal Collective record are discernible lyrics, which are perfectly synchronized with each song’s mood. There is a contagious exuberance contained in this disc, which everyone should experience as soon as possible. This is Animal Collective’s best album to date and one of the year’s best.

1. “Random Spirit Lover” — Sunset Rubdown (Jagjaguwar)
When I listen to Sunset Rubdown, I imagine Spencer Krug (who also contributes his brilliance to a menagerie of bestial bands including Wolf Parade, Frog Eyes, and Swan Lake) hunched over a piano, maniacally banging out his insane melodies. The most striking aspect of this album is how unfamiliar it sounds. It can be difficult to get into — but after a few listens, one realizes that each arpeggio and warble is masterfully orchestrated in songs that ebb and flow and (occasionally) build to crescendo. It’s as if one needs to be in a Sunset Rubdown state of mind for the song structures to make sense. “Random Spirit Lover” offers songs that climax with throbbing mallet pounds and guitar squall, but equally rewarding are those that are intricately woven and end not with a bang but with something sonically fascinating. Also, Krug’s fantastical lyrical imagery (“You’re the one who’s riding about on a leopard / You’re the one who’s throwing the shiv in the air!”) is captivating at every turn. I know this album inside and out, and it continues to reveal secrets in a most rewarding fashion. This is, by far, my favorite album of the year.

Carl Zielinski’s best of 2007

5. “To the Nameless Dead” — Primordial (Metal Blade)
The members of Primordial hail from Ireland, and I wasn’t sure what to expect when I received this CD from Metal Blade Records, a company which is nothing if not tireless in promoting its artists. The idea of Celtic black metal seemed a little weird, but I thought, “Why not?” and gave it a listen. I’m glad I did. It’s very intelligent, very complex, and very different. I’m not going to hear a lot of music like this, ever. Sure the band may be a bit obsessed with the concept of “empire,” but the sheer wealth of music on call could make even the stupidest concepts feasible. As vocalist Nemtheanga said in announcing this album: “The mainstream might take notice or they might not. Who gives a f***? We certainly don’t. Album No. 6 and no compromise … not then, not now, not ever.”

4. “The Last Sucker” — Ministry (13th Planet)
Ministry have always been a favorite of mine. “The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste” from 1989 and “Psalm 69” from 1992 are stone-cold classics. As such, I’m glad their last album is as good as it is. It’s got all the great Ministry elements: thrashing guitars, heavy beats, samples of idiotic politicians, and a ton of black humor. This is supposed to be Ministry's final album. Al Jourgenson, who founded the band in Chicago in 1981, definitely went out with a bang on this one. I’m hoping he doesn’t decide to take the band out of retirement in the future; it could only tarnish the legacy of this album.

3. “Precambrian” — The Ocean Collective (Metal Blade)
Another one I wasn’t so sure about when I first got it. There isn’t much left to say once the 80-plus minutes of music are over; it sums up pretty much everything it’s possible to say. The only problem is that the band might be a little too smart for their own good. This is possibly the least accessible album I’ve ever heard, but in a good way. The Ocean Collective's willingness to piece together previously opposing elements (soft piano passages and thrash metal breakdowns, for instance) puts them head and shoulders above even the most tenacious band in the music industry today. Those who can bear the length of the album are gifted with more musical experimentation and brilliance than you can shake a stick at.

2. “Tio Bitar” — Dungen (Kemado)
I waited about two years to get Dungen’s previous CD, “Ta Det Lungt,” and the payoff was definitely worth the delay. This time I only had to wait a few months, but again the result was breathtaking. Each song is a carefully constructed masterpiece, and they all gel together perfectly. There isn’t one genre of music that is left untouched here (except maybe emo or goth) — garage rock, pop, metal, psychedelic, it’s all here. While being able to speak Swedish would be useful for picking up the lyrics, no language experience is necessary to enjoy “Tio Batar.” Songs like “Familj,” “En Gång i år Kom Det En Tår” and “Gör Det Nu” all feature beyond catchy vocals, excellent guitar work, and a delightfully quirky pop sensibility that is undeniable. Gustav Ejstes’s singing and mastery of just about every instrument known to man can be appreciated by anyone, no matter where they come from.

1. “Fear of a Blank Planet” — Porcupine Tree (Atlantic)
This album came out of nowhere and quickly proceeded to kick my ass. Almost a year later, it still hasn’t relented. It still kicks me in the head every time I pop it into the CD player, and that’s why I love it. Every song is so delightfully intelligent and pretentious and simultaneously obsessed with boredom and idiocy that one cannot help but love Stephen Wilson’s group of polite British gentlemen. Never before has an album made up almost entirely of acoustic or clean guitars been this downright metal, and it’s not a feat that’s likely to be repeated any time soon.