The Sweet Sixteen: My Favorite Tracks of 2007 (#11-16)

You didn't think I could go without some sort of year-end music countdown did you? I'll be doing a three-part countdown of my favorite tracks of 2007. Here's numbers 11-16, in descending order, of course:

16. Everybody Always Leaves – Matthew Ryan
He creates a mood of cold darkness with his lyrics and vocals, and somhow integrates it well with the electronic beats. And then those female vocals in the chorus provide a wonderful lift to the song, as well as a superb counterpoint to Ryan’s sandpapery voice.

15. Chase This Light – Jimmy Eat World
I’m just a sucker for the grandeur of a Jimmy Eat World anthemic track, what can I say, and this one fits the bill quite nicely.

14. Cold Cold Ground – Lea
There’s a Tracy Chapman-esque quality to Lea’s vocals, and the gentle, folky arrangement of “Cold Cold Ground” gives her voice room to shine.

13. Up and Down – The Chesterfield Kings
If you’re going to to do retro, this is how retro should be done - Raucous and rowdy garage rock complete with a niiice fuzzy guitar solo.

12. Bubbles – Dizzee Rascal
Those are some some mad, overdriven, syncopated beats – and what’s he saying? Something about Nike Airs? I’m not sure, but I bloody well like it!

11. Back To Black – Amy Winehouse
Yeah, I know, she likes to party and how she won’t go to rehab. But I love the darkness of this title track’s subject matter, as well as its smoky, neo-soul vocals and groove.

Fourfer

NOMENCLATURE: The most popular baby names of 2007. Caleb?

GEEKY: Go test your ears’ sci-fi mettle with the Sci Fi Sounds Quiz here – I scored an 86 (thanks, LeeHead)

SOMNIA: Not enough time to sleep? In the future, perhaps we’ll just snort some orexin instead

WATCH: Go check out Rolling Stone’s Readers’ Twenty Five Favorite Videos of 2007 here

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Clapton

I got the new Eric Clapton autobiography for Christmas (actually, I got two copies), so I’ve been in the mood for some Clapton. So here’s some live nose candy for you…

MP3: Cocaine (Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, 2/12/78) – Eric Clapton
MP3: Have You Ever Loved A Woman (Long Beach Arena, 7/19/74) – Eric Clapton

Photo: Jill Furmanovsky

Were You Good?

Go get your Pearl Jam Christmas single over at I Am Fuel, You Are Friends right here. . .even if you were naughty.

Be Like Led

There’s been much ado about Led Zeppelin these days, and I had meant to put a post up a while back linking to Ickmusic’s live mp3s from Zep’s 1969 Paris set here. Also, LeeHead sent me a link to this very cool article in Guitar Player that talks about how Jimmy Page would set up the studio in order to get that certain Zeppelin sound.

Merry House-mas!

It’s almost Christmas, so in celebration, I’m posting the theme to House (full studio version) by Massive Attack, along with an acoustic cover version by Jose Gonzalez. Kind of a strange way to mark the holiday, but why not?

MP3: Teardrop – Massive Attack
MP3: Teardrop – Jose Gonzalez

The Best, Jerry!

Washingtonian has done their annual "100 Best Restaurants" issue - go check it out their choices and reviews here. Print out the list so you can check em off during the year. That is, if you're willing to spend the dinero...

Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Trailer)

Looks like the trailer for Hellboy II: The Golden Army is now out...

Threefer

BOUNTY: Gotta get me a Boba Fett bobblehead

FISHY: Now why would you want to put a Siamese fighting fish in your iPod? (thanks, LeeHead)

WHY NOT: Slate’s Explainer lists the questions they never answered in 2007 – it’s a pretty damn funny read

Pitchfork's Top 100 - Zipped!

Stereogum has Pitchfork’s top 100 tracks of 2007 all nice and zipped for you here. Talk about a nice holiday present!

Twofer

SHOCKER: Tasers….now come in pink – another perfect gift for the girl who has everything

HARRY: Yeah, Amazon purchased a copy of J.K. Rowling’s The Tales of Beedle the Bard (just one of only seven in existence) for mucho dinero – but they’re sharing the wealth by posting images of the book, along with reviews here – pretty cool, eh?

Dan Fogelberg

Singer-songwriter Dan Fogelberg died yesterday of prostate cancer at age 56. Althought I wasn't as big a fan of him as CC, I have fond memories of listening to my parents' 45 (yes, vinyl) of "Leader of the Band" over and over as a kid - and it turns out, I really like "Same Old Lang Syne" quite a bit, too. Go listen to some Dan Fogelberg here.

Nothing At All

It appears that somebody has made my favorite Ned Flanders quote into a video of sorts, mashing it up with Franz Ferdinand's "Take Me Out." Check it here. (Thanks, LeeHead)

New Kula Shaker on the Way

Good news from one of my favorite (and newly-reformed) bands. Kula Shaker, will be releasing their new album, Strangefolk, in the US (it’s already out in the UK) February 19th. But if you can’t wait until then, you can always purchase the import version on Amazon (at a higher price) here. And you can always listen to a couple of the tracks on their MySpace page here.

MP3: Sound of Drums – Kula Shaker

More Jack!

Good news, kids - There's gonna be more fresh Jackass content out there soon! A new internet-only feature, the hour-long Jackass 2.5, will be dropping December 19th. It'll be composed of extra footage from last year's Jackass 2, along with new content. Sounds like the perfect holiday gift.

Knight Rider, Revisited

Oh, KITT, what have they done to you!!!! The new KITT on the new Knight Rider is going to be a Mustang. A butt-ugly Mustang. Simply awful. (thanks, CC)

Threefer

HOLY: What would Jesus drink? Can you believe companies are bottling holy water?

CHOW: How good are you at telling what’s better for you? Play “Eat This, Not That”

DIRTY: How do you plug a hole in an oil tanker? Here.

Fourfer

SWEET & SAVORY: Chocolate-chip cookies…with bacon? Yup. (thanks, Explained Bacon)

GREEN DAY MOONLIGHTING?: Word on the street is that the Foxboro Hot Tubs are a secret side project of Billy Joe, Tre, and Mike. And Heather over at I Am Fuel, You Are Friends has got three of their tracks posted here, so go check out their 60s garage rock sound…

SUPERFUND: Ever wonder if you’re living (or used to live) near a Superfund site? Why don’t you check here…it might surprise you. No New Jersey jokes!

RYAN: I've been listening to a bunch of Matthew Ryan recently, and I just found an "official" video for his track "Guilty," from his first album May Day (1997) here and a very interesting old electronic press kit here - his new album is dropping 4/1/08

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Michel Gondry Solves a Rubik's Cube With His...Nose?

I think this has been around for awhile, but I just found it - it's an entertaining little clip...

Threefer

OPEN ARMS: Journey has found themselves a new lead singer…on YouTube

LIVE LONG: 50 tips for men to improve their health, courtesy of Men’s Health, of course…

SNAP: DCist Exposed 2008 photo contest starts….now

A Case of the Fridays

It’s been a cold, white week here in the DC Metro area, but hopefully some music will warm things up. So we kick things off with Patty Reese’s alt-country/rock track “Just Friends.” I’m really liking her vocal range, especially when she digs in and gets a little Melissa Etheridge thing going on. She just picked up a silver medal for it in the rock category at the 2007 Mid-Atlantic Songwriting Contest - take a listen.

MP3: Just Friends – Patty Reese

And we close out with a UK import, “Bleeding Love,” from Leona Lewis. It’s a sweet pop confection, combining programmed beats with Lewis’ Mariah Carey-esque vocals. And a hooky chorus to boot. Take a listen.

MP3: Bleeding Love – Leona Lewis

Fourfer

DEATH WISH: As you should know, Chuck Norris can already do many things, but now he can even generate political buzz for a presidential candidate

P-I-M-P: Cracked presents their Five Pimpingest Historical Figures

POP: Remember “Pop Up Video?” Well, VH1 has posted a bunch of video Clips from that show on its website here (thanks, Pop Candy)

WOOF: What kind of breed of dog are you? Take this survey and find out.

New Terminator

EW.com pumps the producers of Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins for information about the new Terminator flick. Christian Bale is starring as John Connor. That's good. McG is directing. That's bad. Read the interview here.

Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip 'Thou Shalt Always Kill'

Heather over at I Am Fuel, You Are Friends posted this video a few days ago, and it's so freaking cool, I just had to post it, too.

Fourfer

SLASH: The top ten things Spin.com learned from Slash’s autobiography…here

PRE-FAILER: Aquarium Drunkard has posted the tracks from alt-country songstress Kathleen Edwards’ first EP, Building 55 (1999) here – Edwards has a new album due out in March

D’OH: Ever wonder what The Simpsons sound like in languages other than English? Check it out…

JACKO: Yep, it’s been 25 years since Michael Jackson’s Thriller hit the streets, and the gloved one is celebrating by releasing a special edition that includes remixes, unreleased tracks, demos, and videos. He’s gotta pay those legal bills somehow, right?

Julian Velard Coming to Jammin Java 12/4

I’m pretty psyched that one of my favorite musicians, singer/songwriter Julian Velard will be in town this Tuesday, December 4th. He’ll be bringing his smoky New Yawk baritone and mad piano skills to Jammin Java in Vienna, VA. Check him out.

Bon Jovi - Til We Ain't Strangers Anymore (Unplugged)

I've really been digging the Bon Jovi/LeAnn Rimes duet, "Till We Ain't Strangers Anymore." They're a great blend of voices for the song - Here's a live acoustic version of them performing it on what I believe is MTV's Unplugged.