Remembering 2007

Tonight's Top Ten!Ok so we're now a month into Jan08 so it's time to talk about the best songs of 2007. This is less about mine but just a spot were we can make our own lists of our fav songs from the past year.

10. Rihanna - Umbrella

So this is probably an unpopular move listing this on the site, especially given the topic, but for whatever reason I like this song. Albeit I did edit Jay-Z out of the version I have. It's incredibly catchy, if you deny that there's something wrong with you. There's something about Rihanna though that I like, this is not my sort of music at all but I’m not going to deny myself listening to a song that I like because it doesn't fit in with my regular programming. Rihanna gets a lot of heat from people, especially about the size of her forehead, but like a friend of mine says, turn it into a positive - more space to aim at!

9. Kate Miller-Heidke - Words

Let’s get the females out of the way quickly eh? I really like Kate Miller-Heidke, I think she has an incredible voice that she puts to good use in the world of pop and is able to make it interesting enough to stand out. Her voice is also very distinctly Australian, especially in this song which I generally find is not a great thing, but she makes it work. It's not your typical pop song, but it's quirky and fun.

8. Infected Mushroom - Becoming Insane

I've been getting into these guys more and more lately, now I'm upset I didn't get to see them on their tour. But I'll get my chance of Feb 29th when they're back in Melbourne. This song is incredible, the guys are classically trained musos, the guitar in this song is just superb, you're thinking it'll be a song more befitting of a flamenco guitarist so it's surprising that when the typical trance style kicks in that it works so well. It's high energy which you'd expect from these guys but the vocals also are great, the fact that they don't sing in perfect English also helps the mood of the song "remind me of the story so I won't get insane" is a great line. Certainly a party starter.

7. Powderfinger - Head in the clouds

I was pretty disappointed with the new Powderfinger album.. to me it sounded like a second Bernard Fanning solo album, which certainly had it's moments but on the whole lacked something. However this first track on the latest album to me really stands out. Powderfinger have a history of really awesome opening album tracks, this is no exception, there isn't really anywhere else on the album you could imagine this song. I love the lyrics, depicting someone who lives with their head up in the clouds, oblivious to their surroundings and how other people around them struggle. The vocals are solid as is the guitar work. If only the rest of the album could have lived up to this.

6. Tomahawk - Ghost Dance

I've grown out of the new Tomahawk album pretty quickly, but this to me is the stand out track on the album. I think it mixes the Native American style they were after with the typical hard rock they are known for. The drumming is outstanding and Patton's voice is at the albums best here. It's extremely menacing which is what I do love about this album.

5. The Go! Team - Fake ID

I do prefer The Go! Team's first album but their latest effort isn't without greatness and this is nigh on my favourite song by them. It is more of the same, yet different in it's own right. What I love about this song is the fact that even if it’s the first time you've heard it you felt like you've heard it 100 times before and know every word even though you probably can't understand a word of it, but not getting sick of it. The vocals are done by the newest member of the group called Kaori Tsuchida; the tall Japanese emo girl ... her voice is really cute here too! But main vocalist, Ninja still adds her cheerleader like chants to part of the song too. It's more of a structured song than mixes of samples which make up a lot of their material.

4. Modest Mouse - Spitting Venom

I love the new Modest Mouse album and this song is my favourite MM song of all. It's quite an epic at nearly 9 minutes long with a 2 minute acoustic guitar solo opening with some witty lyrics before exploding into a real rocker with a great electric guitar riff provided by Johnny Marr. What I love about Marr's guitar work here is that it showcases 2 great styles, the jangly early Smiths guitar is noticeable but he also can construct a pretty driving riff that is anything but jangly; it's direct and heavy but the two mesh together well. The vocals are typical Isaac Brock, not as much screaming and ranting and raving as you'd generally expect but it gets a bit crazy when the song is reaching it's peak about 4 minutes or so in. The extended outro is cool too, with the repeated lines of "Cheer up baby it always wasn't quite so bad/for every venom then that came out the antidote was had" accompanied by trumpet it's quite hypnotic.

3. Battles - Atlas

I remember first seeing the clip for this on Rage and was captivated. I hadn't quite heard anything like it. I rushed online and began researching the band. This song rocks my socks, John Stanier (Helmet, Tomahawk) is at his drumming best here, and the beats are just so good yet simple. The vocals are crazy and very hard to make out but I think I have most of them sussed, although online it seems people have come to a few different conclusions. The band is mostly listed as Mathamatical Rock ... I'm not even sure what that means but it does make sense when you listen to it. I find it really hard to describe this song if you haven't yet heard it. I'm not sure what the popularity of Battles really is, they've been in Beat magazine a bit recently, played at the BDO and you hear about their growing stature yet I've not met another person who actually knows them. Either way, if you haven't heard them give this a listen.

2. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Weapon Of Choice

I only got into this band right at the end of last year. In the last 3 weeks I've gone from not knowing who they were to owning all of their albums, so that has to say something. They really grabbed me straight away when I first heard the song "Ain't no easy way". This song was released in early 2007 as a single, it's a great rocker of a song. The band is very simple yet create some great tunes. It's a mixture of blues, rock and pop. As if someone mixed The Beatles, Johnny Cash, The Doors and Australian blues man Jeff Lang together. Weapon Of Choice is a political song without being in your face like American Idiot by Greenday for example. The rocking chorus of "I won't waste it, I won't waste it, I won't waste my love on a nation" I imagine would really get people jumping about at a gig. If you haven't heard these guys - check them out, my best new discovery of the past year.

1. Ween - My Own Bare Hands

I love this song pure and simple. Best one from the new album now that I've given it enough listens. Some of the best Ween lyrics ever with "She's gonna be my cock professor studying my dick, she's gonna get her master's degree in fuckin' me". It's angry, it's unnecessarily angry ... Deaner is singing about getting himself a bit of action yet he is still so pissed off about it - I love it! Infact in the live versions I have heard he chucks and absolute fit at some points it sounds like he's about to explode. The beats are hard and aggressive yet still typically Ween and comical.