Blogcritics The critical lens on today's culture & entertainment
This definitely being my last say on the year that passed (in terms of lists), I wanted to give some songs that came out near the end of '07 some more time before narrowing down my favorites to a best of listing such as this.
In keeping with my previous theme of categorizing best of lists into groups of sevens, this one will be my favorite 27 songs of '07.
It may seem like a long list but trust me, I've heard hundreds, if not thousands of songs that were released in 2007, so 27 is a relatively small number for such a list as this. Heck, like some other Blogcritics writers, I'm still making my way through albums and music DVDs from last year! But I will have no regrets about my song choices that appear below.
As you will see, this is pretty much a rock-based list, even though I'm a fan of all kinds of music, including hip-hop, electronica, trance, reggae, alt-country, and many other genres. But these are the songs that kept my repeat button busy the most or that keep playing in the back of my head on a near constant basis.
I think it is pointless to strictly rank favorites, but like your typical college football or basketball rankings, the first ten songs or so are my no-brainers, with the rest being a sampler of what else I found to be cool as ice, awesomely skilled and heavy, hypnotic, infectious… you get the idea.
Rather than go line by line, here's a summary of why many of these tracks stood out: there's just something instantly memorable about those soft twinkling electronics on Carrie Akre's "Trafalgar Square"; Megadeth's United Abominations album had some of David Mustaine's most riff-tastic songs to date, including "Sleepwalker"; newer metal stars Avenged Sevenfold channeled Disturbed on the memorable chorus to their hit "Almost Easy"; on the flip side of the rock realm, the sweet, sad and dark feel of "Three Seed" by Silversun Pickups stood out; the Pumpkins came back to show how dynamic their music can be, with the Brian May-influenced rocker "Tarantula" and the shoegaze-ish feel of "That's The Way (My Love Is)."
Canada had yet another big year in music, with Feist, Kevin Drew (of Broken Social Scene fame), Tokyo Police Club, and Arcade Fire providing some of the year's best in indie-turned-mainstream rock. I also remember getting goose bumps the first time I heard the final minute or so of Radiohead's "All I Need." Same with "Colder" by Travis, which reminded me of the most dreamy moments of Radiohead's music, particularly "Karma Police." And finally, As Tall As Lions's epic "Into The Flood" and its self-titled EP came out of nowhere around November of 2007, and after some time I decided there was no way it couldn't make the cut.
And now, the moment you've been waiting for:
1. Travis "Colder"
2. Radiohead "All I Need"
3. Tool "Jambi"
4. Perry Farrell's Satellite Party "Milky Ave."
5. Silversun Pickups "Three Seed"
6. Silversun Pickups "Rusted Wheel"
7. Smashing Pumpkins "Tarantula"
8. Jens Lekman "The Opposite of Hallelujah"
9. Tokyo Police Club "Your English Is Good"
10. Smashing Pumpkins "That's The Way (My Love Is)"
11. Carrie Akre "Trafalgar Square"
12. Travis "Selfish Jean"
13. Rilo Kiley "Silver Lining"
14. Avenged Sevenfold "Almost Easy"
15. Feist "1,2,3,4"
16. Arcade Fire "Keep The Car Running"
17. Megadeth "Sleepwalker"
18. Bird And The Bee "Again And Again"
19. Satellite Party "Only Love, Let's Celebrate"
20. Feist "My Moon, My Man"
21. Kevin Drew "F**ed Up Kid"
22. Dinosaur Jr. "Been There All The Time"
23. Machinehead "Aesthetics of Hate"
24. As Tall As Lions "Into The Flood"
25. The Raveonettes "Dead Sound"
26. Tegan and Sara "Back In Your Head"
27. Junior Varsity "Memory Made Easy" (Instrumental)
As a final note, all of these bands are still active as far as I know, with the exception of rock group Junior Varsity, who broke up recently.
