Sunday, December 16, 2007

Song, Song Blue

The ever popular "Best Of" lists... I can't do one. Who am I to judge that sort of thing? But since some of you have asked nicely what I've liked over the course of 2007 , I'll tell you. But not all at once.

Here are a bunch of songs that I really liked this year, and they pretty much all came off releases from 2007 (or kind of towards the end of last year, maybe).


20. Thuggery - You Am I

Drunk Aussies rock out, cleverly, again.

19. Flightless Bird, American Mouth - Iron & Wine
Maybe it's just because he calls himself a "fat house cat" on this one, but I find the song beautiful.

18. Irreplaceable - Beyonce

From now on, whenever I'm done with a guy, it will be expressed by the phrase: "to the left."

17. Detlef Schrempf - Band of Horses
So pretty and sad. I'm a sucker for pretty and sad.

16. Georgia, You Were Right - Sally Jaye
From this local (by way of Georgia) singer's debut, Amarillo, her voice was my favorite to sing along to in the shower, especially when this song came on. Earthy and melodic.

15. Eddie's Raga - Spoon
I like it when Spoon gets groovy, and I dig the line "I'm a slut for the New York Times." Smarty pants!

14. Wild Vanilla - Kristin Hersh
"You messing with my head makes a terrible noise." That clinched it for me.

13. Revival - Soulsavers

Close your eyes and listen... perhaps it's salvation?

12. Apartment Story - The National
His voice is immensely swoonable, and this song is sexy as opposed to too slick (like I find about half of that album).

11. Stronger - Kanye West
Oh please, you danced your ass off too. And this line? "Since Prince was on Apollonia, since OJ had isotoners..." Rad.

10. The Golden State - John Doe
Obviously, swoon factor goes far with me, and there are few voices more swoonable than John Doe's. It's a sad yet rockin' tribute to the aches and pains of love. Sigh...

9. Get It On - Grinderman
Dirty, dirty boys!

8. The Heinrich Maneuver - Interpol
Okay, I liked the record, but I LOVED this single. It just kicks off to a classic Interpol jam and is tight as fuck.

7. Devastation - The Besnard Lakes
A noisily beautiful track that made me remember why I loved that whole shoegazer thing when it was done right.

6. Paper Planes - M.I.A.
How does she do it? It's fun to sing along to, and you can pretend to shoot guns and open cash registers WHILE dancing. Good going, girl!

5. Exodus Honey - Honeycut
This soulful trippy number is all about melodies and "do do dos." It makes me think about lazing on a lounge chair, smoking pot, and ignoring the whole entire world. Nice, huh?

4. Telling Lies - Great Northern
Again, if I enjoy singing along, it makes the list. This one is more intense than other tracks on the record, but I love the motion of the music here. And her voice - gorgeous.

3. Someone Great - LCD Soundsystem
This song just builds so perfectly, is so endearing and bittersweet, all while remaining groovy. Like a good New Order moment. Of which I approve.

2. Go Places - The New Pornographers
I pretty much only like New Pornographer tracks with Neko Case on them. And this is a really good one to (you guessed it!) sing along with.

1. Nights Are Long - Intramural
A gorgeous voice, beautiful music, heartbreaking lyrics - "Here's the part where I drink all the time, here's the part where I tell you I'm fine..." Open a bottle of wine and hit repeat. I did that for about a month.

There you go! Some of my favorite songs of the last year. I'll get around to tossing out more opinions later.