The best you ever played it: 2007 in songs

It wasn't too long into the planning stages of my 2007 Mix when I realized that this had been a year of long songs. Some of my favorites topped the six-minute mark, my #1 favorite topped seven, and that if I worked in the constraints of the audio CD time limit of 80 minutes, the mix would be the shortest I'd ever made, and lots of worthy songs were going to be left off. So a new era of year-end mixes begins for me: no more working within the audio CD time limit.

It's a whole new world now. If you wanted the whole mix and are still stuck on audio CDs, you're being left behind. You can still fit it on 2 CDs (with the second disc starting nicely with "Spare-Oh's") if you're up for the marathon.

Forget the tech of it, though. It's the quality that's important, and 2007 was a fantastic year for music. Usually at around this time, I'm ready to put the year behind me and see what the next year has in store, but I'm not ready for 2008 yet. I love this mix so much that I restart it as soon as it's over, and I'm still not tired of it yet. 2007 has high quality in the retro and the futuristic, the sad and the joyful, the quiet and the loud, the quirky and the straightforward. There's lots of dancing and plenty of singing, lots of love and even some self-pity. Good Lord, is this some good stuff.

A few notes about this annual vanity project of mine:

• Songs marked with an asterisk have not been featured on the site before
• Almost all mp3s are 192kbps, so it's decent quality, but they've all been transcoded, so not great quality. The lone exception is "Footballs And Flower Tops" which is 128. Sorry. Just think of it as adding to the mix tape feel of it all. Let me know if the quality's too crap.
  

And on with the show:

(cover photo taken by Hans at the Nationals/Marlins game last May)

2007 - You Forget What You Meant When You Read What You Said

"All My Friends" by LCD Soundsystem
"The Magic Position" by Patrick Wolf *
"You Got Yr Cherry Bomb" by Spoon
"Ain't Never Been Cool" by Lucky Soul *
"Valerie" by Mark Ronson featuring Amy Winehouse
"Can I Get Get Get" by Junior Senior
"D.A.N.C.E." by Justice
"The Opposite of Hallelujah" by Jens Lekman
"1 2 3 4" by Feist *
"I Am John" by Loney, Dear *
"(Antichrist Television Blues)" by the Arcade Fire *
"Dead Sound" by the Raveonettes *
"Flowers and Football Tops" by Glasvegas *
"Bookshop Casanova" by the Clientele *
"Me and Mr. Jones (Fuckery)" by Amy Winehouse
"You Turned My Head Around" by Dean and Britta
"Tourist Trap" by Bright Eyes
"Miss Misery (early version)" by Elliott Smith
"Spare-Oh's" by Andrew Bird *
"Sleeping Lessons" by the Shins *
"Bunny Ain't No Kind of Rider" by Of Montreal *
"For Reverend Green" by Animal Collective
"Muscle 'n' Flo" by Menomena *
"Go Places" by the New Pornographers
"I Started A Joke" by the Lucksmiths
"Bro's" by Panda Bear
"The Pills Won't Help You Now" by the Chemical Brothers featuring Midlake *
"All I Need" by Radiohead
"Archangel" by Burial *
"Bamboo Banga" by M.I.A.
"Mistaken For Strangers" by the National
"That Summer, At Home, I Had Become The Invisible Boy" by the Twilight Sad
"In Our Bedroom After the War" by Stars
"Butterfly Nets" by Bishop Allen *

Download the songs individually
Download the whole mix (zip file)

"All My Friends" by LCD Soundsystem
A few years ago, my friend Meredith, a great singer/songwriter with a few releases under his belt was wondering out loud if the climate of the music world was changing to be more accepting of older musicians or if it was just because he was getting older and seeing what was around him. I couldn't really answer this, because I'd thought the same thing. It did seem that the rule of the rock era--that breakthrough artists had to be young--was fading away, but it could have just been my persepective.

I would guess that there's probably plenty of people in their 20's and even teens who love LCD Soundsystem and never given a thought to the themes of aging in the music; were never awed at how perfectly James Murphy is able to wonder about his aging and what it means to the music-obsessed life that he's led since his teens. They don't stop dancing to "All My Friends" for a minute to think about lines like, "When you're drunk and the kids look impossibly tan, you think over and over 'hey, I'm finally dead'". They won't hear the heartbreaking truth of lines like "you spend the first five years trying to get with the plan and then next five years trying to be with your friends again" and won't for another 10-15 years. It stands alongside Pulp's "Sorted for E's and Wizz" as a classic of finally understanding what your age means to the party life you've been leading.

This song is so revelatory that it rocks me as hard to think about it as it does to listen to it. It's as propulsive as it is philosophical: the off-kilter piano chords blending seamlessly into a dance groove, the vocals that push closer and closer together until they form a killer rhythmic climax, the subtle keyboard and guitar accents that quietly enter the song over its course and push it higher when they do.

Song of the year. Easily.
Best part: From the 6:30 mark on.

"The Magic Position" by Patrick Wolf *
From the sound of my favorite songs of the year, you'd think that 2007 was about the happiest year I could imagine. The year had its ups and downs, of course, like any year, but even during the down times, the tunes hitting my ears (hitting a little too hard, sometimes) most often were stupid fun. The songs would get me dancing while I dreaded work and fill me with joy even while I replayed arguments in my head. It's proof that good music rises above mood, answering the question posed in High Fidelity, "Do we listen to pop music because we're sad or are we sad because we listen to pop music?" with a solid, "Neither. We listen to it because we have good taste."

More often than not, I was naked when I was rocking to "The Magic Position", my face half-covered in shaving cream, fresh from the shower, not quite awake until the hand claps started in, the violins trilled, and then I had self-control for nothing, with no choice but to put down the razor (safety first, kids) and jump around to, "It's YOU!", filled with the same glee that this song radiated out of my tiny iPod speakers. After that, I was not only awake, but I was ready for absolutely anything the world threw at me.
Best part: besides the glorious "It's YOU!", the second chorus, where the violins join the handclaps after abstaining from the first chorus. Sheer joy-pop perfection.

"You Got Yr Cherry Bomb" by Spoon
It's Not Always The Best Songs #1: The Spoon album was one of the few records that I loved as a whole, and songs like "Finer Feelings", "Don't Make Me a Target" and "Black Like Me" struck me for their construction and hooks. Any one of those three could have been the designated Spoon representative to the conference that is this year's mix.

But it's not all about the quality of the song that gets a song on my year-end mixes: it's how much it reminds me of the year, and this song more than any other on Ga, etc. stuck out. The melody may not be as masterful and the hooks not as, um, hooky, but the feel and those amazing amazing horns lifted this song out of the bunch for me over and over. It not only stuck in my head, but it kicked out almost everything else in there. A mind-blower for sure.
Best part: say it with me now: when the horns come in. That baritone sax is bliss.

"Ain't Never Been Cool" by Lucky Soul *
Sometimes I wish I didn't speak English. Then songs like this could bring nothing but joy, because I'd never pick at the lyrics. I'd be off in another country, jumping around the room to this song before curiosity would overcome the enjoyment of this song's energy and playfulness. I'd track down an English-speaking friend and make her listen to it. She would listen closely to the lyrics, and at the end tell me, "It's kind of about feeling like you've never really fit in, but finding joy in that, and then taking pride in doing whatever you want to do without worrying if it's fashionable."

That would make me love the song even more. I could enjoy the vocal swoops, the loping middle section and the exuberant ending and not get at all hung up on the soccer-mom awkwardness of "ain't" and "cool", not picking at the word choices that make the claim of uncool feel all too accurate. I would just love this song for the blast that it is.
Best part: the barely-contained ending, which heightens the highs of the choruses. Never has reserved, calculated rocking sounded so off-the-hook.

"Valerie" by Mark Ronson featuring Amy Winehouse
A good cover should accentuate, not just imitate. Bar bands can get away with playing a song exactly the same way, but if you're recording a different version, it should actually be a different version; not just note-for-note. The best covers are not usually radical re-workings, but rather a slight twist on the original that brings out the best parts.

Horns and Winehouse are going to tweak anything they touch, but it's the simple double-timing of the snare that takes the slurring original version by the Zutons and turns it into an irresistible Motown-style rave-up. A should've-been hit.
Best part: when Winehouse adds three ascending notes to the end of "lawyer" (1:10). I like the beer-soaked original, but that vocal part is always sorely missed.

"Can I Get Get Get" by Junior Senior
One of the top shames of the year was that I didn't get as much of a chance to dance in 2007 as I did last year. But I can't help to think that it would have been kind of frustrating to be sweating out on a dance floor and know there was no chance of this song coming on. This should have been the biggest hit of the year, the song that was on everyone's lips, instead of just confined to the foreign-pop fringe.
Best part: the back-and-forth between Junior and his dance floor prey is one of the most hilarious moments of 2007 this side of Flight of the Conchords. His disbelieving "why not?!" and then the suit-yourself "okay!" are priceless.

"D.A.N.C.E." by Justice
Dear world,

I think we can all agree that dance music with pop sense is irresistible, right? We all love Daft Punk and Basement Jaxx. So why does it seem that releases like this fantastic Justice record are so few and far between? The pop gloss and structure on top of dance beats, the killer electro beat, the breakdown just as the repetition seems too much, any and all Michael Jackson references (P.Y.T, ABC, black and white)...these are the keys that unlock our dancing shoe boxes. Why don't we get more of it?

Just askin' is all.
Best part: at 2:58, when the beat kicks back in to the breakdown.

"The Opposite of Hallelujah" by Jens Lekman
The Sum Has Nothing To Do With Its Parts #1: Jens Lekman starts with a voice whose ambition far exceeds its talents and standard-issue twee instrumentation and ends up with songs whose simple hooks end up so deep in you that you stop even noticing the flaws, and even start loving them.
Best part: From the Morrissey school of "three notes with a rhythmic lyric is enough for an insanely catchy chorus" comes the chorus.

"1 2 3 4" by Feist *
I have a theory that the title to this song is actually a reference to the four step program this song requires:

1. Discovery: You hear this song as a clear standout on the album.
2. Wonder tempered with doubt: You had forgotten how good a song this was until it started appearing on the iPod ads. It's a shame it took a commercial to point that out to you.
   
3. Anger: If you have to hear this fucking song one more goddamn time, you swear to all that is holy that you'll start killing. Any person or animal who stands between you and the mute button when this song comes on will die.
   
4. Acceptance: You don't want to hear it again for another five years or so--around about the time you'll be ready to hear "Hey Ya!" again--but it's a great song and is as 2007 as anything.

Best part: is the part that the the iPod commercial doesn't want you to hear, at 2:10, when the trumpet leads the horn attack. Chill city, baby.

"I Am John" by Loney, Dear *
One of the biggest reasons that 2007 has been such a great year in music for me is that the year was filled with songs that took unusual paths to song arrangement. Whether through rhythm or structure, music is heading slowly further away from the constraints of the rock 'n' roll era, keeping the quality elements while ignoring the rules (because as much as people like to deny it, rock music and it's culture has a LOT of rules).

"I Am John" seems like standard-issue bedroom-studio pop at first listen, but it's structure is so much more. It's constantly ascending, weaving new vocal parts into the nearly-breathless lyrical structure and keeping enough melodic themes that it tricks you into thinking you're getting choruses, but you're actually not. The climax of this song never failed to blow me away, and if there's any song on this mix that I hope I can sway some of you towards, it's this one.
Best part: from 2:53 to 3:04, when the vocals part peaks. It always seems impossible and was a constant source of energy for me.

"(Antichrist Television Blues)" by the Arcade Fire *
I did not pick this song to be on my mix; my iPod (who's named "I, Pod") did. Neon Bible didn't really stir me up too much. I liked it alright, but there was nothing on it close to the emotional genius of "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" or "Wake Up". But almost every time I put on the shuffle roulette of my 2007 Radio playlist, this song came on. So here you go, iPod. This one's for you.
Best part: Almost at the very end, there's three successive snare hits behind the line "I was working downtown" that perfectly gets me every time and perfectly sets up the sudden end.

"Dead Sound" by the Raveonettes *
"Flowers and Football Tops" by Glasvegas *
One of the first things that any student of pop music notices is The Chord Change. It's one of the best hooks to have: it doesn't matter that you've heard it before or that it's attached to an otherwise-ordinary song. The switch from major to minor and back or the quick addition of a seventh chord at the turn...it's a well-worn tactic that's well-worn for a reason: because it melts hearts. Both of these songs are about nothing but the chord changes.

"Bookshop Casanova" by the Clientele *
I'm sorry...is that a '60's-style chank guitar hitting on the whole notes? And is that a disco-style hi-hat going on there? Oh. And what happens when the hi-hat drops out? Oh. I see. It changes to a pingy ride cymbal. So let me axe you this: is there anything else going on in this song? And does it matter? I didn't think so.
Best part: Given what attracts me so strongly to this song, it's both weird and perfectly sensible that my favorite part is the outro, where the cymbals and guitar can't distract me.

"Me and Mr. Jones (Fuckery)" by Amy Winehouse
I love the foulmouthed sweetness of this song and the way the modern lyrics take pull this song from a '60's soul impersonation to a genuine expression of personal and romantic disfunction. And reminds you that music can make even the most disgusting people seem appealing, exciting and fun.

"You Turned My Head Around" by Dean and Britta
While the other two covers on this mix show how a good cover can cast a clear light that puts a new shine on the original, this song reveals the down side of a good cover: that clear light can be mighty harsh on the artist's originals. Why Dean and Britta can't put the same vocal energy and instrumental sparkle into their own songs is a mystery. The songs on their new album weren't too memorable anyway, but side-by-side with this stunning version, they're downright dull.
Best part: I never, ever get tired of hearing Britta belt out "BABYYYY!"

"Tourist Trap" by Bright Eyes
I can't think of many other acts that I love and hate as much as Bright Eyes. Conor Oberst's pretentious presentation of tired cliches as though they're undiscovered insights into life gets to new levels of annoying, but there's enough times that he punches through that pretension with amazing songwriting that his moves are always worth following.

So the fact that Oberst still hasn't lived up to his billing as the "new Dylan" is both schadenfreudely delicious and kind of sad. I know it's my own personal reading, but that sadness seems to come out in this song. It's a predictable Gram Parsons-wannabe melody, but it's that fact that Oberst seems to have run out of ideas so young that makes gives this common-but-beautiful song a little twist of tragedy.
Best part: when all the instrumentation but the reverbed-out percussion drops out, leaving just the melody on top of the beat, it's a classic moment of beauty.

"Miss Misery (early version)" by Elliott Smith
It should be clear by now that I have no control of my brain. It does whatever it wants, and what it usually wants is to forget everything. And even though I try to get my brain to embrace logic, it just doesn't really have the time.

So when my brain kept pushing me to listen to this song, I tried to tell it, "But you didn't even like the version in Good Will Hunting much! Why the hell would you be so into this one?" And with an exasperated sigh, my brain (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman in the same style as he does in Charlie Wilson's War) says, "You want to know why I like this song? Spare. Sparse. Simple." And then it goes back to it's cigarette and scotch, and I leave, embarrassed, knowing that's it's right.
Best part: it's almost a meaningless line, but the expression of "some enchanted night, I'll be with you" gives this song a beauty that's missing in the more famous version, especially at the very end of the song.

"Spare-Oh's" by Andrew Bird *
It's Not Always The Best Songs #2: The Andrew Bird record was great largely because of his ever-expanding range of arrangements. Songs like "Plasticities" and "Armchairs" were ambitious in their rhythms and dynamics, but it was this song, with it's boy/girl vocals and ascending melody that struck me the hardest. It's almost like Bird is going back to his Bowl of Fire days, but with the same mood as everything he's been working towards since.
Best part: that incredible rise in the melody in the chorus at "through the air"

"Sleeping Lessons" by the Shins *
I still love the Shins. I've gotten tired of the Shins. There's nothing special about the Shins, but they still stand out from the crowd. James Mercer's pothead pretensions have worn really thin, but not enough to obscure the great melodies and vibrant arrangements and production. I love the Shins, but I don't really know why any more.
Best part: the rhythm of the muted guitar strings at 1:30 foreshadowing the pickup of the song. Better than a cup of coffee to ease you into the day.

"Bunny Ain't No Kind of Rider" by Of Montreal *
Another case where feel is what decides what goes on my mix. There's almost no question, even to me, that my other two favorite songs on the Of Montreal record--"Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse" and "A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger"--are not just more ridiculously titled, but better constructed songs with a wider appeal.

But this song, in spite of its quirks, is one of the most vivid, playful songs of the year. Almost any snatch of lyric--"I was judging her friend", "you must be aware I'm not alone; I've got a tigress back at home", "the DJ played a dead gem"--has the power to make me smile and give a little jolt of joy. But it's the real hook of the chorus--"I need a lover with soul power, and you ain't got no soul power"--that makes this song. Between the chanks of guitar and the casual melody, that phrase would almost always be in my head for a good part of this year and always had the power to lift my spirits.

"For Reverend Green" by Animal Collective
There's scenarios when your back is being scratched really hard. Not enough to draw blood, but hard enough so that it hurts but still feels fantastic. That's what the screams in this song do to me. They're painful, but just enough so that I get a small surge of adrenaline each time they sound out and shoot down my spine. That they're happening during a crack construction of a pop song is icing.
Best part: in case you didn't catch it above, Screams are the new Melody.

"Muscle 'n' Flo" by Menomena *
A surefire way to get a song to take up residence in heads is to associate it with a common phrase or action. It's usually the tactic of crap pop songs (see: "Some Guys Have All the Luck", "Simply The Best"), but every now and then, a song keeps working its way back into your head and you're glad to have it there. It's like a casual friend that you keep running into by sheer chance, and because you do, you end up becoming really close.

So it was with this song. I didn't listen much to the Menomena album at first, but the first track on the album kept working it's way back into my head with it's day-in-day-out motif: "Oh, in the morning, I stumble my way towards the mirror..." And so the many times that I thought of this song as I stumbled my way in the morning towards the mirror put it in my mind and pushed me to listen again, and I discovered that it wasn't just a good song; it was an amazing song. The agitated drums matched the weary anger of the vocals, entire measures of cymbal crashes gives the song simultaneous tension and release, and this song became a standout example of how music that was both searching and sincere in a year that was full of songs like that. All because I couldn't stop thinking of it because I couldn't stop thinking of it.
Best part: The hushed bridge comes as a surprise from the clatter of the rest of the song, and the sparkling peak of it--the rise of force at "come lay down your head upon my chest"--is a revelation every time.

"Go Places" by the New Pornographers
There were two camps on the new New Pornos record: the people who thought it was a great step forward and those of us who were underwhelmed. I was in the latter camp. I thought some of the songs were fine, but the production ambition was a little undercooked and AC Newman's tendency towards ridiculous phrase repetition turned me off of otherwise-great songs like "My Rights Vs. Yours".

But the evidence presented in a beautiful melody and brilliant lyric can sway me as a judge, and this song kept me swaying for a good part of the year. There's few more cleverly romantic phrases than "stay with me, go places".
Best part: When the chorus comes in at 1:20, the beauty of the melody just seems impossible. I still can't believe that it's as pretty as it is, and I keep waiting for the shine to wear off. It never does.

"I Started A Joke" by the Lucksmiths
The self-pity of the Bee Gees' original turns into a cozy, sweet self-deprecation in the hands of the Lucksmiths, highlighting an amazing vocal performance and reminding me that I'm totally gay for Tali White's voice.
Best part: the swaying, carefree singing at "I finally died" betrays that the Lucksmiths are playing the song, not the sentiment. A gorgeous version from beginning to end.

"Bro's" by Panda Bear
Sounds perfect as the soundtrack to falling snow. Is an incredible mix of clutter and expanse. Is a perfect combination of wild experiment and simple, familiar beauty. Is amazing.
Best part: At 2:12, when the already-gorgeous third melody gets a harmony and becomes better than just about anything in the world.

"The Pills Won't Help You Now" by the Chemical Brothers featuring Midlake *
Every year, when I start cobbling my year-end mix together, there's always at least one surprise, one song that had never gone beyond simple like until it came time to review everything I'd been listening to, and only then do I find out just how fantastic it is. This is that song this year. I marked this song as the one song I'd enjoyed off the new Chemical Brothers album, only to come fully come to appreciate it's propulsive prettiness in the last few weeks. A true sleeper.
Best part: when the quickened beat meets the main synth riff meets the chorus meets the atmospherics at 2:15.

"All I Need" by Radiohead
I almost lost friends over Kid A. I've learned to like it, but the aggravation that it gave me then is still a slight irritation now: the feeling that almost every step Radiohead takes on that album (and often since) is a deliberate move to keep from sounding pretty or emotional. A case can be made that it's an artistic choice to create a claustrophobic and desperate sound, and it accomplishes that, but it always sounds to me like they're choking back their natural inclinations (and talents) for soaring, soulful songs.

The first time I heard "All I Need", I thought, "Now this is the Radiohead that I signed up for." Even the warping of the piano and distortion of the vocal crescendo can't cover up that this is a simple, beautiful, emotional song. For a few minutes, they're back to being the Radiohead that apparently only I favor.
Best part: when Thom Yorke finally--finally--opens up again at the vocal climax at the end. Where ya been, Thom?

"Archangel" by Burial *
The British have become masters of creating new kinds of music and then immediately killing it off. Especially in the electronic world of the last 10-15 years, variations on beats and sounds popped up only to be declared dead before they could ever get fully developed. The name of the style gets changed and the sound gets tweaked and everyone starts over again.

It'll be interesting to see what happens to so-crowned dubstep in the wake of the hype that Burial's been getting. Untrue is an incredibly mature-sounding record that seems to finally fully cook a lot of the half-baked ideas that have floated around since jungle became drum 'n' bass in the mid '90's. I say this a definite outsider to the English electronic world, but "Archangel", with it's twisting vocal sample and logical approach to the frantic dubstep rhythm is the first song of its kind that I've wanted to listen to more than once in a long, long time.
Best part: the pop approach of the chorus vocals; to add in the "tell me how..." bit (1:11) only at the second time through that vocal part.

"Bamboo Banga" by M.I.A.
Simultaneously sleeker and dirtier than "Galang", this song is still a party-starter, with its backing chants and a groove built around a South Asian pop sample. I'm not sure what a "Bamboo Banga" actually it, but from the sound of it, it's something fun.
Best part: the globetrotting and great rhythm of "Somalia, Angola, Ghana Ghana Ghana; India, Sri Lanka, Burma, bamboo banga".

"Mistaken For Strangers" by the National
The Sum Has Nothing To Do With Its Parts #2: The National start with bizarrely-melodramatic vocals dynamic-less, thudding instrumentation and end up with songs whose simple hooks end up so deep in you that you stop noticing the flaws, and even start loving them.
Best part: From the Morrissey school of "one note with a rhythmic lyric and a nice chord change underneath is enough for an irresistibly catchy chorus".

"That Summer, At Home, I Had Become The Invisible Boy" by the Twilight Sad
An important lesson that I took from 2007 that I hope I remember but will undoubtedly forget is that I'm not as in control of my emotions as I think I am, and at a point this past summer, I found myself getting worked up and brought down by things that things that I'm now embarrassed to have not been able to shake off. But there was a bright side to that period: things had gotten dark enough that even the P!O!P! couldn't pull me back into the sunshine, and I just wanted something that sounded like my mood. This song was it; perfectly, completely it. It's a fantastic song well beyond its sorrowful feel, but I'm not sure I ever would have dug it out if I hadn't been in a place that this tune was so suited to.
Best part: It's always a little disappointing when the climax of a song comes too early, but at 1:53--"and with a broken heart"--the song's feel is totally realized and is almost too much to bear. The Scottish accent doesn't hurt.

"In Our Bedroom After the War" by Stars
The Sum Has Nothing To Do With Its Parts #3: Stars start with pretentious, fey vocals and lyrics and overwrought instrumentation and end up with songs whose beautiful melodies and irresistible climaxes end up so deep in you that you stop noticing the flaws, and even start loving them.
Best part: At 4:20, the swelling violins and drawn out vocals of "war" is proof that Stars can create beautiful moments from forced drama better than anyone else.

"Butterfly Nets" by Bishop Allen *
It must be tiring to be a fashionable taste. You're in a heavily written-about indie rock band from New York, written about on every worthy indie music blog and Pitchfork. It's an enviable perch, but it's a precarious one, too; one where you could be dumped off into the pit of uncool with the slightest of "wrong" moves.

So sometimes you must think, "You know what? Fuck you, indie world of cool. I'm going to write a cute song that sounds like it would end up on a 'Songs That We Fell In Love To' wedding mix CD and dive into that pit before I can be pushed off, washing the hip off myself."

Which, of course, is cooler than just about anything else.

Bonus Track
If I was really being honest with myself about the songs that made up my year, I'd have to throw in some business socks from everyone's favorite novelty hitmakers from New Zealand:

Happy new year, everyone! Thanks for reading, and if you want to go off on 2007 tracks--your favorites, least favorites, life-changers or just a song that'll always say 2007 to you--you know I'd love to hear about it in the comments.