Music: Top 40 Best Albums of 2007 14-10

10) M.I.A. – Kala
M.I.A. brings it on with an incredible array of beats and a heady stew of third world power anthems and clever references.
Here’s the video for “Jimmy”:


11) Battles – Mirrored
Prog rock was never this much fun. Battles puts the groove and beat into the genre, making for a giddy stew of tempo changes and twisty-turny songs.
Here’s the video for “Atlas”:


12) Deerhoof – Friend Opportunity
Deerhoof moves further away from their hard guitar sound and into the world of exotic rhythms and springy arrangements.
Here’s the video for “The Perfect Me”:


13) Feist – The Reminder
Feist does the cool iPod commercial chick thing well, becoming this year's Regina Spektor. But her album is full of curveballs like the blazing jazzy "Sea Lion Woman".
Here’s the video for “My Moon, My Man”:


14) Jay-Z – American Gangster
Jay-Z took a few moments out of his busy day job as atop music exec to lay down his best rhymes since the Black Album.
Jizza chats with David Letterman and then favors us with a performance of “Roc Boys”:

Music: This Week's New Releases

Jay-Z shows off this weeks colors

Busy executive on the go Jay-Z knows how to stay relevant. Perhaps soon to step aside Time Warner head honcho Richard Parsons and Merrill Lynch's former CEO Stanley O'Neal (still sporting fresh tire tracks on his back) could learn from their fellow CEO of color Jay-Z how to hang on to the top job. Rap about the old days of slinging bags and popping caps. American Gangster, the soundtrack to the oh-so-very serious Denzel Washington/Russel Crowe Shaft Goes to The Oscars-esque film of the same name, is getting the comeback hype that Jay's last album squelched. The diff? He's rapping about drug dealing again rather than being rich and having it made as the head of Def Jam records. The market has spoken!

Meanwhile Grizzly Bear's Friend EP has the Pitchfork set all in a tizzy despite being a bunch of remixes and alternate versions of already seen stuff. But CSS slides a cover on in there and you know that's gonna be good.

Sigur Ros's new one Hvarf/Heim has a name that sounds like the sound my cats make when they have a nasty hairball. Other than that I'm sure they will bring the icy coolness to autumn as per usual.