What a job, what a job

And now, because nobody demanded it, a bunch of my fave singles/songs of the year. In more or less random order. Notes when I feel like it. And now I’m going to check out some of the other year-end lists for word on all the great stuff out there that I’m undoubtedly behind on.

A couple notes: (1) I won’t bother repeating any songs from my list of fave albums, even though every one of those should by rights have one or more songs here. (2) There will be no “Umbrella” on this list. I do love the girl R&B stuff, but I really don’t get this Rihanna thing. Some cool beats here & there, but for me her vocals just flatten & dull everything.

Anyway:

Devin the Dude with Andre 3000 & Snoop Dogg, “What a Job”
Man, this one has me hooked. Maybe the order isn’t totally random.

The Cave Singers, “Seeds of Night”
I came to this one late in the year, and thanks only to S, but this would also be a strong #1 of 2007 candidate.

CocoRosie, “Rainbowarriors”
Sappy fer sure, but it works for me.

Lavender Diamond, “Open Your Heart”
I know they’re American, but it sounds like some great lost Britpop, sun glinting through raindrops.

Feist, “1 2 3 4” and “I Feel It All”
At least half of the album puts me to sleep, but I absolutely love these two, and even overplay and iPod commercials haven’t killed them. Yet.

Caribou, “Melody Day” and Miracle Fortress, “Have You Seen in Your Dreams”
I could swear each of these quotes fleetingly from other Canadian songs – the Hidden Cameras’ “Ban Marriage” and the Stars’ “Elevator Love Letter,” respectively. But each one is its own compelling thing too.

Bishop Allen, “clickclickclickclick” and Page France, “Here’s a Telephone”
Saw both of them live this year. The Bishop Allen show in particular was one of the more enjoyable concert experiences I had in 2007.

Eve, “Tambourine” and Lil Mama, “Lip Gloss”
This is the girl R&B I like.

Kanye West, “Stronger” and Pharoahe Monch, “Body Baby”
I don’t think I dig the Pharoahe Monch song just because of the conventional rock & roll trappings – I think it’s just because of its ferocious energy.

Grinderman, “No Pussy Blues”
I like Nick Cave best when he’s funny. Well, he’s always kind of funny. But I like him best when he’s this kind of funny. Like that really long song from a couple albums back, “Babe I’m on Fire.”

Springsteen, “Radio Nowhere”
Liked the single a lot – it wasn’t reinventing rock and roll or anything, but it sure didn’t sound like typical E Street Band stuff. Then I listened to the album a couple times, and it sounded like pretty typical E Street Band stuff.

Matthew Dear, “Pom Pom”
Pneumatic.

Devendra Banhart, “Lover”
Funk it up, Devendra!

Of Montreal, “The Past Is a Grotesque Animal”
Couple other songs on the album could be on this list too, but the Krautrock vibe puts it over.

Eluvium, “Amreik”
On repeated listens, the album got a bit too dinner-classics for me. But this one still gets me.

The Shout Out Louds, “Tonight I Have to Leave It”
Or “In Between Fridays I’m in Love Just Like Heaven.”

Round up the usual suspects

Since everyone else is doing it (OK, almost everyone), here are my fave albums of the year, and I’ll even throw in a few mp3s. These are alphabetical by artist. Later I’ll try to do a singles/songs list too.

Black Moth Super Rainbow, Dandelion Gum
Some genius stuff here, really energetic & creative. Although it’s recorded fairly cleanly, with each sound element discrete & identifiable, to me it still sounds almost oppressively fecund, like some teeming dusky jungle. But once you’re in you don’t want to come out.

Coltrane Motion, Songs About Music
Wrote about it here.

Holy Fuck, LP
Plus their self-titled EP from early this year, which was mostly rendered obsolete by this new full-length.

LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver
Not to mention the various alternate-version B-sides and the rereleased also-very-cool 45:33.

M.I.A., Kala

Plants and Animals, with/avec
Can an EP be on my album list? Sure. Wrote about it here. Looking forward to the full-length.

Spoon, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
While it’s obviously highly enjoyable, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga at first seemed a tad disposable. But it really came into focus a few months in; the little strangenesses reward close listening, while the pop and funk affectations make Spoon more purely pleasurable than most of their contemporaries. If this were, er, a ranked list, this one would be at or near the top.

Times New Viking Present the Paisley Reich
Here and here.

Vampire Weekend, “blue CDR” demos
Here. Saw them live a few months ago and again last week and was struck by the difference in crowd size. The buzz is building, I guess. Accordingly, the second time they seemed more confident, and they duly withheld “Oxford Comma” (the “hit”) until the end of the set proper. But dudes, if you’re going to be touring a lot, you gotta have some more songs. Learn some covers or something! (I never fully trust a band that never does any covers. But that’s my baggage.)

White Rainbow, Prism of Eternal Now
The latter ambient-roomtone tracks are perhaps a bit too minimal for my taste, but the stoner jams more than make up for them.

Among those bubbling under are records by Shocking Pinks, Deerhunter, Burial, Oh No, Tinariwen, and lots of others. Also it was great to see new reissues of Pylon’s Gyrate and Sly Stone’s There’s a Riot Goin’ On. And a new Savage Republic that I only found out about recently and have not even gotten to yet. And I’m looking forward to checking out Miles Davis’s Complete On the Corner Sessions in the hopefully not-too-distant future.

• Black Moth Super Rainbow, “When the Sun Grows on Your Tongue” (buy here)
• Holy Fuck, “Frenchy’s” (buy here)
• White Rainbow, “Mystic Prism” (buy here)

The mud above and the stars below

In a bookstore last night they were playing Tom Verlaine’s first solo album in its entirety, which was making me happy indeed. This song in particular is on my Anywhere Anytime list.*

• Tom Verlaine, “Red Leaves” (buy here)

Great guitar work, which is to be expected – the steady chug in the left channel alongside the jazzier flecks in the right. And the chorus, while pretty minimal, is still damn pleasurable. I’d argue that the background coo helps out disproportionately, but then I tend to like background coos disproportionately. The shameless rock-star tricks at the end – the key change and then the double-time drumming – also work on me like sugar.

Man, I’ve just listened to this like 10 times in a row. You should too.

* (It’s true, and it’s a real list. On my iPod. Called “Anywhere Anytime.”)