Music: Top 40 Albums of 2007 34-30

30) The Field – From Here We Go Sublime
Musical chill pill - hypnotic repetition builds Philip Glass like patterns -- some of which you can dance to.

Here’s “The Little Heart Beats so Fast” live at Monterrey


31) Kings of Leon – Because of the Times
The Kings get complex -- Lynyrd Skynyrd force fed Pixies dynamics with lyrics that lead you down the garden path.
Here’s Kings of Leon doing “On Call” on Letterman:


32) Mark Olson – The Salvation Blues
Welcome to 1970. Superior country rock from ex-Jayhawk with sparkling melancholic tunes.
Here’s Mark Olson doing “Carol” live in Toronto:


33) Iron & Wine – The Shepherd’s Dog
Sam Beam broadens his folky palette taking in elements of afro-pop, Deadhead jams, and tempo variations. His best yet.
Here is Iron & Wine on Letterman doing “The Devil Never Sleeps”:


34) Animal Collective – Strawberry Jam
Contempo freak jammers continue to add songcraft to their Beta Band on acid crazy quilt:
Here’s the video for “Peacebone”

Music: Chart Beat, It's a Love Beat

Iron & Wine: "Sigh...maybe I'll shave tomorrow..."

This week's Billboard Top 200 chart sees country once again ruling the roost with the new Rascal Flatts album coming in at number one. The biggest surprise has to be indie mope-folkster Sam Beam's Iron and Wine album The Shepherd's Dog which rides excellent reviews and a newly expansive sound into a career high debut at number 24. Foo Fighters clumsily named Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace takes the number 3 slot followed by neo-soulstress Jill Scott and then it's a heavy estrogen zone further down as Queen Latifah reigns at number 11 and 13-15 is occupied by Melissa Etheridge's Awakening Joni Mitchell's cool new one Shine, and Chaka Khan's umpteenth comeback attempt Funk This respectively.