Anyway, 2007 saw (and continues to see) me lean heavily towards remixes and post-punk dance rock, though plenty else caught my ear as well. Here are five jammin' tunes that deserve a listenin' to. This isn't a best-of-the-best list, and it's killing me to limit this to five songs. But again, something more complete and comprehensive regarding 2007 will show up in a couple months.
[Due to the intensely frustrating fact that Filegunner isn't workin' right now, I've had to link these songs from various elsewheres. This means that I don't know how long these tracks will be available for download, so get 'em while they're hot.]
Blonde Redhead - 23 [Linked from Inflightatnight.com]Uh-oh, it's the number 23. Fortunately this song is much too blissful to drive me to madness. This is the the title track from their first full-length release in three years and though it may not be as great as their prior albums, this track and a couple others stand out. "23" (the song) is at the same time heavenly, slightly dark, catchy, and spacey. I like densely packed sound that envelops, but it's a rare thing that a song envelops and drives all at once. It's like a nebula with a V8 engine.
Klaxons - Golden Skans [From Dancehallhips]Apparently this song was kind of a big deal in Britain. It might be a big deal here, but I'm a little bit out of touch. Anyway, "Golden Skans" short and to the point. I don't know what that point is, but it's dang catchy. Also, is "post-disco" a genre?
Midlake - Roscoe (Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve Remix) [From Badmintonstamps.com]
"Roscoe" originally appeared on The Trials of Van Occupanther, which was released in 2006. The song has a very rootsy vibe to it (equal parts folk, 70s, and modern indie) and initially doesn't appear as though it would lend itself to any sort of remix. But Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve (a duo I know next to nothing about) crafts it into perfection. The percussion, guitars, everything but the vocals are muted and draped across a soft electronic bed. The song itself is extended by a couple minutes, effectively enhancing the already mellowfied atmosphere.
Mob - Wait For Me [...And until I can get things working again you'll just have to stream some of their other excellent songs from their Myspace site.]I first caught this one from the It's A Trap blog, but rediscovered it a few months later. I know very little about Mob -- they're Danish and the lead singer sounds like he's about to explode all over himself, what else do you need to know? -- but they've already made a great impact on the way I perceive music. If you're a stickler about your definition of "emo" then check these guys out. If you like intensely passionate (and passionately intense) music then check these guys out. If you like music, then check these guys out.
Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass (clean)I only have the clean version because I snagged this one from the FREE Definitive Swim album. Not like you can easily sing along anyway, he's so powpowpow fast. Mr. Aesop strings together those multisyllabic words to create fascinating imagery-laden ideas that flow into eachother like a sweet groovin' river of poetry. Por ejemplo:
If you never had a day a snowcone couldn't fix,Things like that.
you wouldn't relate to the rogue vocoder blitz.
I sure do like snowcones.
