Andrew Wheeler's Music Picks

Most years, I'd have to hem and haw, and dig my toe into the dirt, because I've been out of touch with contemporary music for close to a decade now, and just slowly excavating things I'd missed when I was growing up. (The Violent Femmes! Richard Thompson! Nick Cave!...how did I miss them the first time around?)

But this year I discovered Fingertips (http://fingertipsmusic.blogspot.com/), a blog that posts links to three completely free and legal MP3s every week, and so my music purchases have just exploded. I'm actually listening to brand new music by people I'd never have heard of, which is wonderful.

So here are my 10 favorite songs of 2007, in no real order:

"March Into the Sea" by Modest Mouse, from WE WERE DEAD BEFORE THE SHIP EVEN SANK -- my kids like "Dashboard" better, and "Parting of the Sensory" (which swells up magnificently near the end) is close, but this dark, clanging song is my favorite song from what's probably my favorite record of the year.

"New Routine" by Fountains of Wayne, from TRAFFIC AND WEATHER -- I grew up in Wayne, so I have to like this band, and the fact that they make the kind if music I love the most is even better. I'll probably like the title song of that record most over the long term, but this one was the soundtrack of my summer: "I'm so, I'm so sick of this place, I'm so ready for a change of pace, I'm just looking for a new routine."

"When I Say Go" by The 1900s, from COLD & KIND -- female voice, mostly over piano; it sounds almost like a long-lost Carole King song.

"My Rights Versus Yours" by The New Pornographers, from CHALLENGERS -- pitch-perfect power pop from a band I'd never have otherwise paid attention to.

"Trouble" by Over the Rhine, from "The Trumpet Child" -- There comes a point in everyone's life when he feels the urge to listen to "smooth jazz." I managed to slide sideways to this song, a torch song from a great singer and my new favorite band. I've also been listening a lot to their Christmas song "Darlin' (Christmas Is Coming)" from the record THE SNOW ANGEL. Both are available free online (in common with a lot of the stuff I'm listing.)

"Cage in a Cave" by Rasputina, from OH PERILOUS WORLD -- A band that's essentially a bunch of Goth-y young women playing cellos just shouldn't work at all. And when they do a song about Fletcher Christian moping, it should be even worse. So how come I can't get this great song out of my head?

"Intelligentactile 101" by Jesca Hoop, from KISMET -- A sexy song about finger-licking, I think. It's got a great, bouncy beat and a vocal performance that stays just this side of affected.

"All the Same Mistakes" by Mieka Pauley, from ELIJAH DROP YOUR GUN -- A searing, swirling, all-encompassing song about bad love.

"White Dove" by John Vanderslice, from EMERALD CITY -- crunchy, jangly with barely-controlled feedback: this is what rock can be when it's played just a hair too loud and too close to the amp.

"Dad's Gonna Kill Me" by Richard Thompson -- So god-damn great, you might miss how political it is. And that guitar can draw blood.

Honorable Mentions:

Patti Smith made "Gimmie Shelter" sound dangerous again.

Josh Ritter's "To the Dogs or Whoever" channels the early-60s rush-of-words Dylan in a way I've never heard anyone else do.

Fourth of July's "She's in Love" sounds like a great lost mid-80s summer single.

Goldrush's "Every One of Us" pulls psychedelica straight up to the modern day.

"Summer's Ending" by Steve Goldberg and the Arch Enemies is a whole summer teen movie in itself.

I'm not sure exactly *what* "Shinking Ships" by the Archibalds sounds like -- a white Sly and the Family Stone? Three Dog Night, thirty years later? -- but it's a rollicking, horn-driven slice of fun.

"Nothing Burns Like Bridges" by Penny Century is another lost horn-driven power-pop gem.

It's hard to choose one They Might Be Giants song, but I'll mention the very silly "The Mesopotamians."

And I could name another dozen songs, from Dirk Darmstaedter, Innocence Mission, Joe Henry, Kate Tucker & The Sons of Sweden, Melou, Mono in VCF, Moonbabies, Arcade Fire, Voxtrot...

(And that's not even counting the records for the last few years I've recently dug up, by the Deathray Davies, Grand Champeen, The Contrast, Hem, The Mendoza Line -- suddenly, there's a lot of great stuff out there, and the biggest problem is finding time to listen to it.)