Top Tracks 2007

Haven't checked out the entire list, but I can't really argue with that top 10. UGK was my personal fav for the year. M.I.A. and Battles follow very closely though.

Yes, they really are. "All My Friends" was my top song of the year, so imagine how pleased I was when it was theirs, too!

I love making these lists at work, when I don't have half my music with me, thus ensuring that my list will SUCK.

Some favorite tracks from this year:
Iron & Wine - Boy With a Coin
Jens Lekman - Friday Night at the Drive-In Bingo
Andrew Bird - Heretics
Beirut - Cliquot
The National - Racing Like a Pro (I can't fault Pitchfork for Mistaken for Strangers, though)
The National Lights - Swimming in the Swamp
Okkervil River - Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe
Jason Isbell - Dress Blues
Feist - I Feel it All
Amy Winehouse - Me and Mr. Jones (though, I think this should be considered a 2006 release)
Black Kids - Hurricane Jane
Justince - D.A.N.C.E. (Benny Blanco remix)
Modest Mouse - Dashboard
Rocky Volotato - Your Darkest Eyes
Spoon - The Ghost of You Lingers
Sunset Rubdown - Up on Your Leopard, Upon the End of Your Feral Days
Yeasayer - 2080

Man, I could keep going. Lots and lots of great tracks this year.

Not sure, but Amazon has the MP3's for $5.99, which is low enough for me to give them a shot.

Well, you sold me, Chris. They're on their way to my HD right now.

I wish I knew the New Pornographers' disc better, there are some great tracks on that. Same with Of Montreal.

Happy to see Spoon with 2 on the list. The number one pick of "All My Friends" is pretty much unassailable. Pretty solid list this year.

Also, you can download about 35 of the tracks, and stream many of the rest. Nice.

I said this in the other thread, but yeah, there wasn't a better mainstream pop song this year other than "Umbrella," which is probably my favorite pop song since "Hey Ya!" Runner up would be Timberlake's "What Goes Around." And possibly "Rehab," although I like "You Know I'm No Good" more.

Aside from that, I don't want to be the guy who gushes about it after only hearing it a week ago, but "Keep The Car Running" is a pretty fucking fantastic song.

Get the whole album. Sound of Silver is one of the best of the year.

It fills my heart with joy to see so much love for the National Lights. Swimming in the Swamp is probably my favourite song of the year it's just stunningly beautiful.

Other choices:

Arcade Fire - Black Waves/Bad Vibrations

Bit of an odd choice, but this is still the stand out track from Neon Bible for me. It's so different than everything else that I can see why people don't like it, but there's something about the pounding ferocity of the song which I just adore

Battles - Atlas

I remember seeing this song live and just being blown away. It's a tricky little thing, far more subtle and extravagant than a first listen would attest to. It initially seems to be fairly simple, its depths only revealing themselves on multiple listens. But even on a basic level it's one of the most viscerally entertaining songs I've heard this year.

Bat for Lashes - Prescilla

Ethereal, magical and rich. It's like the perfect pop song, matching simplicity of concept with a surprising virtuosity. The only failing is that it sounds a little too close to a Joga era Bjork parody.

Beirut - Cliquot

I've always preferred Beirut as a concept than an actual group. The idea is nice, but the handling always seems a little off. However this song, with vocal leads from Owen Pallett, manages to nail the concept completely and creates a sprawling 'Jacques Brel' like piece of wonderment.

Valley of the Giants - Whaling Song

A sparse piece of spoken word work. This song flits around near the end of Valley of the Giants debut album and benefits greatly from being a break in what is a largely monotonous album. It's a breathtaking piece of work, a piece of passion and frenzy in a rather dreary album.

Jesca Hoop - Summertime

Infinitely cheery and joyous, it's all artifice but it's so palatable that you barely notice.

Editors - Racing Rats

Ditching their Joy Division cover act facade, The Editors deliver the kind of high energy rock song that'll probably score a million trailers in a few years time. There is an urgency and vigour to the song which helps it past its clunkier parts (it has a two chorus structure which kinda destroys all momentum at times)

Damn, I forgot to mention Justin Timberlake - Summer Love. Such a great song.

I'm not huge on commercial radio so last year and this year seem to blur. I apologize if some of these are from albums released last year. In no particular order:

New Pornographers - Myriad River
Okkervil River - Our Life is Not A Movie
Arcade Fire - The Well and the Lighthouse
Hold Steady - Stuck Between Stations
Corb Lund Band - Family Reunion or Brother Brigham, Brother Young
Arctic Monkeys - Fluorescent Adolescent
Iron and Wine - Boy With A Coin
Feist - 1,2,3,4
Blue Rodeo - Blue House

And honourable mention to the entirety of Springsteen's Magic, particularly Girls in Their Summer Clothes

Hold Steady is last year, but that's such a good song that I think it can be excused.

The entirety of Neon Bible would be my choice, but if I had to choose one from that album, "Keep the Car Running" would be it. Also, "Fake Empire" by The National, "The Opposite of Hallelujah" by Jens Lekman, and "Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse" by Of Montreal.

This is absolutely my number one, but I can't fault Pitchfork too much for choosing "A Postcard to Nina" instead. They are so right in the write-up: each time the song comes up, I think 'okay, this time it'll stop being so damn funny,' but it hasn't yet.

You know, that's my favorite song off the album, and I really love the message (simple as it might be). But, I listened to Friday Night at the Drive-In Bingo so many times this year before the album came out that I had to stick with it for my list.

Opposite of Hallelujah was on a 2005 EP Lekman did. Still a great track tho, I put it on a 2007 podcast I made. I can't believe people complain there's nothing good this year.

Just listened to it, and you speak truth. It probably wouldn't be my choice, but that's a great song.

Pfft, okay then.

My favorites: (half of which have been mentioned already)

"Don't Lose Yourself" - Laura Veirs
"No Cars Go" - Arcade Fire
"Pussyole (Old Skool)" - Dizzee Rascal
"The Con" - Tegan and Sara
"All My Friends" - LCD Soundsystem
"Down Boy" - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
"A Postcard to Nina" - Jens Lekman
"Identity Theft" - Nellie McKay
"Can't Tell Me Nothing" - Kanye West
"Silently" - Blonde Redhead

"Pussyole" is great. I don't know what the British think of their own rap (grime?) music but Dizzee and Roots Manuva get a lot of rotation in my car, much to the dismay of my friends.

I've always wanted to like Dizzee Rascal, but I just couldn't get into his production or his voice. I liked "Pussyole" so much, though, that it kinda opened up the rest of his stuff for me. I'm listening to Boy in Da Corner right now.

It's been well over a year since I've heard any new Manuva material. And I'm with you on liking most of his stuff more than Dizzee's. I guess technically Manuva's more "dub" than "grime," but I live in West Texas, so the only chance I get to hear about either is on Radio 1 or the internet.

I love "Temptation." If you haven't heard the Arctic Monkeys version from the Brianstorm EP, you'll love it. Dizzee's still on it, albeit for a shorter time but he's great. I got to see the Monkeys in Austin last September and I think the only show that topped it was Arcade Fire, which I couldn't stay for all of. They sound nearly exactly the same live, except a little looser and faster.

I forgot about "Gone, Gone, Gone" from Robert Plant and Allison Krause. Feel free to stick that anywhere in my top ten.