Best Music of 2007, Part III (Best Songs)

Some might say February is a bit late to still be putting out Best Of lists for 2007.  The year’s already underway, and I’ve already got my eye on some new music from 2008.  But the delay notwithstanding, I’m excited to follow up my list of the top 20 albums of 2007 with a few of my favorite tracks from some other artists.  Some, like Jens Lekman’s ” A Postcard From Nina” and Andrew Bird’s “Plasticities,” are standouts from albums that didn’t quite make the cut.  Some are from artists like Battles, White Rabbits, or the Twilight Sad, who deserved more attention – maybe I’ve caught part of a set of at a music festival or heard a couple of quality tracks from the blogs, but haven’t had a chance to check out the album.  A couple, like Julianna Barwick’s “Dancing With Friends,” Gui Boratto’s “Beautiful Life,” or Alex Delivery’s “Sheath-Wet” are singular tracks that speak for themselves, or, like Le Loup’s rounds of “Oh this world was made for ending” on “Planes Like Vultures,” stand out for a few transcendent moments.  Then there are the tracks like Rihanna’s “Umbrella” and Kimya Dawson’s “Loose Lips” (from the movie Juno) which, aside from being severely catchy, actually had something of an iconic presence in the general public.  And, finally, there a few tracks like “Lovers Who Uncover,” “Something Special” and “The Burning Ambition of the Early Diuretics” which just resounded with me personally for some reason.  Behind each of these tracks, I’m sure there’s a lot more good music from each of these artists still to be discovered, and I hope you’ll be inspired to find out for yourself.

Here are the tracks, in alphabetical order:

• Aesop Rock – “None Shall Pass”
• Alex Delivery – “Sheath-Wet”
• Andrew Bird – “Plasticities”
• Basia Bulat – “Snakes and Ladders”
• Battles – “Leyendecker”
• The Black Lips – “Katrina”
• Blonde Redhead – “23”
• Child Rebel Soldiers (Lupe Fiasco + Pharrell Williams + Kanye West) – “US Placers”
• Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! – “Satan Said Dance”
• Fiery Furnaces – “Pricked In The Heart”
• Glass Candy – “I Always Say Yes”
• Grizzly Bear – “Blackcurrant Jam”
• Gui Boratto – “Beautiful Life”
• Jens Lekman – “A Postcard To Nina”
• Je Suis France – “Whalebone”
• Julianna Barwick – “Dancing With Friends”
• Kimya Dawson – “Loose Lips”
• Klaxons – “Gravity’s Rainbow”
• The Little Ones – “Lovers Who Uncover (Crystal Castles Remix)”
• Le Loup – “Planes Like Vultures”
• Magik Markers – “Taste”
• Minus Story – “Come Into My Arms”
• Monster Bobby – “The Burning Ambition Of The Early Diurectics”
• Rihanna – “Umbrella”
• Sally Shapiro – “He Keeps Me Alive”
• The Shins – “Sleeping Lessons”
• Tough Alliance – “Something Special”
• Twilight Sad – “3 Second of Dead Air”
• White Rabbits – “The Plot”
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Kiss Kiss”

A zip file with all of the tracks from my series of posts on the Best Music of 2007 should be up on my webfiles later today.  Shortly after, I’ll send out an email with links to the people with whom I’ve been talking about this.  If you want the link and you haven’t gotten an email by this weekend, just drop me a line via email/Facebook/comment fields and I’ll be happy to pass it on.

~ by Matt on February 4, 2008.