The best albums of 2007

Chosen by: K. Leander Williams, music writer

1. M.I.A. Kala (Interscope). No hip-hop masterpiece has ever sounded this raucously globalist and fun. It’s as if the London phenom is spinning the world on her finger. Full review

2. Gogol Bordello Super Taranta! (Side One Dummy). The Gypsy-punk band’s dubby splatter says hedonism, but its words are as serious as your life.

3. Tabu Ley Rochereau The Voice of Lightness (Stern’s). The Congolese-rumba pioneer finally gets a career summation worthy of his stature. Full review

4. Amy Winehouse Back to Black (Universal). When the tabloids find another troubled child to latch onto, what we’ll be left with is this raft of splendid R&B songs.

5. Russ Lossing/Mat Maneri/Mark Dresser Metal Rat (Clean Feed; Portugal). Piano, violin and bass: dreamy, chamberesque improv that’s about the lyricism of strings bowed, plucked and hammered. Full review

6. Fanfare Ciocarlia Queens and Kings (Asphalt Tango; Germany). The Romanian brass band convenes a veritable European Union of funked-up Gypsies.

7. Various artists Music of Central Asia, Vol. 4, Bardic Divas: Women’s Voices of Central Asia (Smithsonian Folkways). Sisters are doing it for themselves, from Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan.

8. Roy Haynes A Life in Time: The Roy Haynes Story (Dreyfus Jazz; France). The history of modern jazz is laid out in rhythm, from the perspective of a drummer who had a front-row seat.

9. Various artists Think Global: Tango (Oxfam/World Music Network; U.K.). You’d think there’s nothing idiosyncratic about sensuous dance music from Buenos Aires…or is there? Full review

10. Taylor Ho Bynum/Tomas Fujiwara True Events (482 Music). This spiky-smooth duet asks the trumpeter for rhythmic moxie while the drummer dusts off his melodic chops.

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