extrawack!'s Top Ten Albums for 2007

Lest we get one more email or phonecall from a publicist or music mag asking us for a sneak peek at our year-end album list, I thought I'd post it up about three weeks earlier than we have in the past.



Ladies & Gentlemen, without further ado, and in alphabetical order...the extrawack! Top Ten Albums of 2007:


Nicole Atkins Neptune City
The Besnard Lakes The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse
The Cake Sale The Cake Sale
Calvin Harris I Created Disco
The Fratellis Costello Music
Gabby Glaser Gimme Splash
LCD Soundsystem Sound Of Silver
Ra Ra Riot Ra Ra Riot
M.I.A. Kala
White Rabbits Fort Nightly

As you can see, we were moved mostly by music that made us move. A bunch of the artists above gave us some of the best live sets of the year as well...James & LCD had us grooving with friends at Webster Hall and in the middle of thousands of strangers at the Virgin Festival in Baltimore. The Fratellis had us pogoing like it was 1979 at the Filter Courtyard Party @ SXSW. Nicole Atkins and The Besnard Lakes both hypnotized us in different but amazing ways at shows in Austin and Hoboken respectively. And M.I.A. made us feel like we were citizens of some sort of Groove Nation and she was that country's Queen Of Dope Beats when we saw her in Maryland and on Coney Island.

Here's our year-end gift to you, enough downloads to make your Zune/iPhone/whatever sound like ours:

Calvin Harris - "Acceptable In The 80s" mp3
Nicole Atkins - "Party's Over" mp3
The Besnard Lakes - "And You Lied To Me" mp3
The Cake Sale (featuring Nina Persson) - "Black Winged Bird" mp3
Gabby Glaser - "Spirit Of Long Island" mp3
The Fratellis - "Chelsea Dagger" mp3
White Rabbits - "The Plot" mp3

Rock For Darfur with Gabby Glaser & Mink Saturday Night

Need something to do Saturday night that'll rock you, and let you feel good about drinkin' and carousin' in a club?



That's right...come down and catch Gabby Glaser's set of wah-wah-fuzzed funky rock songs, and let the cover charge help Oxfam America's brave work in Darfur. Mink will be there to open, and to set your evening off in a groovy glammy way.

If you must stay further uptown, the following Saturday night shows are also Rock For Darfur events:

John Butler Trio - Terminal 5
Los Amigos Invisibles - The Fillmore @ Irving Plaza
Streetlight Manifesto - Grand Ballroom @ Manhattan Center

But if you do make it to Gabby's show, I'll be the guy in the Oxfam shirt. Let's have a beer, ok?

Gabby Glaser - "Naturally High" mp3

Mink - "Talk To Me" wma



Into Darfur: A Young American's Journey

Hipsters To Be Forced To Dance At Calvin Harris & Gabby Glaser Show Tonight.

A super-fun bill tonight at the Mercury Lounge:



By now you should know Calvin Harris as the man who claims to have invented disco. Of course it's not true, but perhaps he has re-invented the genre...nomatter what, his tunes are crazy dancable.

If you read extrawack! regularly, you already know we are big fans of ex-Luscious Jackson Gabby Glaser, and her live set will have you movin' & groovin' to her funky rock and rockin' funk.

Zambri is a catchy-as-hell synth & guitar-driven band fronted by two sisters who mix equal parts new wave, electro-pop, and Tori/Regina girly smartness. Yet another band on the bill who will force you to move enough to spill your overpriced cocktail.

The show is listed as sold out, but there are usually a few tickets at the door for early birds at the Mercury Lounge.

Calvin Harris - "Acceptable In The 80s" mp3

Gabby Glaser - "Spirit Of Long Island" mp3

And here's Zambri's "Get Dressed" Live at The Annex:



And for those who want to extend their dancing pleasure...the after party at Happy Ending with Adam Kesher & David Bruno:

album review: Gabby Glaser - "Gimme Splash"

Gabby Glaser - Gimme Splash

Ask ten people what they think "the New York sound" is, and chances are you'll get ten different answers. I've been asked that question a couple of times, and as I start explaining, I always find myself including some phrase like "streetwise funky rock". When pressed further for an example, Luscious Jackson always pops up.

LJ has been dormant for sometime now, but thankfully, singer/guitarist Gabby Glaser has recently cut loose a long-player loaded with the funk-fueled, wah-pedal washed rock grooves and soulful mid-tempo burners that made her perhaps the most luscious of the Jacksons.

Gimme Splash is full of the sexy, trippy vibe that made Glaser's previous work so compelling and fun, and its diversity of sound and style makes it equally perfect for cranking up at a house party or pumping through an iPod on the subway. Thankfully not trendy or bandwagon-skitching like most records coming out of NYC lately, Gimme Splash has a sound that's timeless and au courant all at once.

Want to hear state-of-the-art "New York sound"? This is it.

Gabby Glaser - "Spirit of Long Island" mp3 buy

Gabby Glaser & The Great Ones - "Spirit Of Long Island" live at The Cake Shop, Aug 07 (courtesy PUNKCAST):




Upcoming shows:

Wednesday, September 12
@ Mercury Lounge (New York, NY)
10:30pm - Calvin Harris
9:30pm - GABBY GLASER
$10 :: 21+
Buy Tickets

Sunday, September 23
@ Middle East - Upstairs (Cambridge, MA)
11:30pm - Steve Smith (of Dirty Vegas)
10:30pm - GABBY GLASER
$9 :: 18+