Best Underappreciated Songs of 2007

It is that time of year when people start making their “Best of XXXX” lists, and to continue acting as if this was a personal blog, I felt I ought to be no exception.

Those of you who  know me at all know I am extremely passionate about music.  One of my greatest joys is “discovering” a great new band or song.  I spend a lamentable amount of my time indulging this passion – combing mp3 blogs, going to live shows, and so on.  So I thought I might compile a list of the ten songs that I felt most needed to be heard by a lot more people from 2007.  I’m happy to email any of these to anyone, or if anyone would be willing to host them, to upload them and provide the links.

And by all means, please share in my indulgence, and post your best of 2007 lists in the comments.

Peyote – Atmosphere

Who would have guessed that one of hip-hop’s most danceable and socially-aware MCs would be a white guy from Minneapolis?

Because I’m Awesome – The Dollyrots

This is the kind of song I wish so much The Donnas still wrote.  Find me a funnier send up of what passes for “girl power” in the Gwen Stefani age than “I always say how nice you smell – it’s cause I’m naturally deodorized!”

Tasmanian Pain Coaster – El-P

Nearly every track from El-P’s I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead could make this list.  But the opener captures its entirety fairly well.  If CNN really aired the news, it would sound like this: hyper articulate, in pain, and surrounded by the most beautiful cacaphony.

Album of the Year – The Good Life

No single song that I’ve ever heard captures every single failed relationship I’ve had or heard about as well as this one.

How Now – The Jealous Girlfriends

I don’t know what about this track from Brooklyn’s Jealous Girlfriends makes it seem so flawless, but listening to it over and over again has showed me that it keeps seeming that way.

You! Me! Dancing! – Los Campesinos!

Try not dancing to this.  I dare you.

Woah! – Palomar

If Brooklyn’s Palomar (why is so much great music coming from Brooklyn?) can put out four more albums of songs like this, they will be the new Sleater-Kinney.

When I Lose My Eyes – Saturday Looks Good To Me

No two songs by SLGTM sound like the same band to me.  But this eight minute opus is the jewel of their newest release.

Spiders – Say Hi

This is another record where I would pick almost every track.  But this lovely and scary song is my current favorite, which is notable simply because I’m an arachnophobe.

I’ve Been Shot – Tim Fite

Uber-versatile Tim Fite follows up last year’s alt-country record with Over the Counterculture, a hip-hop album.  And in the process, writes this gem skewering 50 Cent and his imitators.

Honorable Mention – Dress Blues – Jason Isbell

This song gets an honorable mention from me because although I first heard this song in 2006, when Isbell played it as an encore while he was still with Drive-By Truckers, and I listened to that live recording over and over, he didn’t put it out on an album until 2007.  I’m happy to pass along both the live and album versions of the definitive great song about the Iraq War (IMHO, of course).