HeraldNet: My top 10 songs of 2007



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Pop Secrets

December 31, 2007

My top 10 songs of 2007

Rihanna, Neil Young, Modest Mouse and more

Posted at 12:01 am

As promised in my column, here are my top 10 songs of 2007 — the ones most likely to get on a mix CD for a friend, the ones I won’t skip on the iPod, the ones that I love.

All the pop up windows that should appear after you click on the song title are from Hype Machine. If you have troubles, e-mail me.

Arcade Fire, “Windowsill”: Most people would sound pretentious complaining about MTV and World War III within seconds. Not singer Win Butler. This song is about as anthemic as they come, and is my favorite from an album loaded with terrific music.

Band of Horses, “Ode to LRC”: It starts all crunchy guitar before going sap at the end, but I can’t think of a singer other than Ben Bridwell more qualified to make “la-de-dah” sound earnest.

Kanye West, “Stronger”: Grabbing a hold of one of Daft Punk’s best songs certainly helped this track, but Chicago hip-hop master West reliably delivers the goods even when the French electronica due aren’t fronting the song.

Modest Mouse, “Spitting Venom”: Isaac Brock sings about inconsequential opinions and trash talk, which is all well and good, but it's those Spanish horns and the way he hiccups out words like soda pop that elevate this long, quiet/LOUD song.

Neil Young, “The Way”: For this waltz, Young gave the following instruction to the children’s choir that sings with him: “You have to pretend that you’re singing to your parents and you know how to have world peace,” he told the New York Times. “They don’t. You have to tell them while they’re sleeping, so they know when they wake up, but you can’t tell them too loud or they’ll wake up.”

The New Pornographers, “Myriad Harbour”: Typically self-referential pop perfection from singer Dan Bejar.

Rilo Kiley, “Breakin’ Up”: Rilo Kiley’s best stuff is cowritten by singer Jenny Lewis and guitarist Blake Lewis (not of “American Idol” fame – a different Lewis). So it’s no surprise that the new album, which only had two collaborations between the two, was lackluster. Still, this song gets a co-writing credit, and it’s retro dance vibe is a joyous wonder.

Rihanna, “Umbrella”: Does anyone dislike this song? Sure, the lyrics can be kind of lame — “You have my heart / And we'll never be worlds apart” — but the way Rihanna drags out the word umbrella, making it sound like steamy business to be stuck in the rain, should appeal to any resident of a cloudy state.

Ryan Adams, “The Sun Also Sets”: I didn’t really get this song until I saw Adams play it live. Then, boom, it made sense — the heavy emoting on the intro, the more reined in verses, the near-shouting near the song’s end. It’s wonderfully sad stuff.

Spoon, “The Underdog”: Produced by Jon Brion (who has worked with Fiona Apple and scored some of Paul Anderson’s films), this song could be taken as a horn-drenched bash on President Bush, or a simple pat on the back to the low man on the totem pole.

Wilco, “You Are My Face”: This song is all about the guitar freakout about 1:30 minutes in, followed by Jeff Tweedy finally cutting loose with his vocals, singing “Happenstance has changed my plans. So many times, my heart has been outgrown.”