The Music of 2007: The Secret 50 Part 2

30. Kalabrese featuring Guillermo Sohrya – “Hide”

A song that—even at thunderous volumes—sounds like a whisper. Over a bed of minimalist techno, Guillermo Sorhya sings like the voice of his own subconscious rattling of a list of imperatives from the back of his closet.

29. Ghostface Killah featuring Chrisette Michele – “Slow Down”

When the track slows down for Chrisette Michele’s choruses, “Slow Down” sounds like an admonishment to relax and appreciate every moment of every day. When Ghostface gets on the mike and the pace quickens, it’s a lesson on how to get the most out of life by kicking into high gear. At the end of the song, he considers her point; we’re mesmerized by his.

28. King Khan & The Shrines – “The Ballad of Lady Godiva”

The title character “graduated at the age of four with a broken heart and open sores,” and things didn’t get prettier from there. “The Ballad of Lady Godiva” works as both a Dylan tribute and parody, and may have the best lyrics of 2007.

27. Matthew Dear – “Don and Sherri (Hot Chip Version)”

Hot Chip were quietly ubiquitous this year (check out The Fader’s “Top 13 Hot Chip Remixes” for proof.) This reworking of Matthew Dear’s “Don and Sherri” is more of a cover than a remix. Which is probably why we like it so much.

26. Lucky Soul – “Ain’t Never Been Cool”

Remember last year, when Marty was all hot on the Pipettes, and Tucker was all like, “Dude, you won’t give a fuck about them next year”? Marty so won.

25. Rhys Chatham – “A Crimson Grail, Pt. 2”

The subtitle is “For 400 Electric Guitars.”

24. Broken Social Scene Presents… Kevin Drew – “Lucky Ones”

Feel good song of the year: Your love makes Kevin Drew want to drive to Croatia and play, like, 3 bazillion electric guitars. 

23. R. Kelly – “Real Talk”

Has anyone noticed that R. Kelly has basically invented a new type of song? Here, it’s non-stop laughs as he defends himself to his unheard soon-to-be ex-girlfriend and actually uses the phrase “What they eat don’t make us shit” with absolute sincerity before hollering at some dude named Milton to get the car ready to take him home. Who the fuck is Milton?

22. Spoon – “Finer Feelings”

Either the music industry is a metaphor for love or love is a metaphor for the music industry. Either way, Britt Daniel thinks the answer is in “commercial appeal,” and then actually finds commercial appeal, which may make this the most meta song of the year. 

21. Kathy Diamond – “Between the Lines”

Kathy Diamond’s debut album, produced by Maurice Fulton, contains some of the sickest Funk instrumentation we’ve heard in a long time. Album opener “Between The Lines” sets the bar high with a ridiculous bass line and a jaunty piano solo. And then there’s sexy-ass Diamond singing about insecurity. Dynamite.

20. Jay-Z – “Sweet”

This American Gangster slow jam sounds like it was plucked directly out of a blaxploitation movie interlude. Jay-Z may talk about times being hard, but here he sounds easy, breezy and beautiful.

19. Andrew Bird – “Dark Matter”

A young Andrew Bird throws away all of his action figures and becomes infatuated with Operation. The adult Andrew Bird looks back and whistles.

18. Chromatics – “Running Up That Hill”

Chromatics strip-mine Kate Bush’s classic and leave nothing but the spooky otherworldliness. It’s all electro window-dressing, but vocalist Ruth Radelet sounds so detached and serene when she sings, “If I only could/ I’d make a deal with God/ And get him to swap our places,” you can almost hear God turn her down.

17. Einstürzende Neubauten – “Alles Wieder Offen”

The answers to your questions, in order: Yes. Yes. German. Yes, we do. Awesome. Your momma. No. Yes. Do it.

16. Vampire Weekend – “Ladies of Cambridge”

A borderline-ska song from possibly the most uncool, massively hyped band ever, “Ladies of Cambridge” also features a violin solo and the mindblowingly great line, “When you left my room to go to the kitchen/ I imagined that you were dead/ A morbid streak runs through the whole of my family/ But for you, I could put it to rest.” 

15. Grinderman – “Get In On”

Nestled against “No Pussy Blues” on the Grinderman album, “Get In On” falls a little into its brother’s shadow. But “Get In On” is an equally shredding valediction of the same persona Nick Cave portrays in “No Pussy Blues.” This time, instead of running around with perpetual blue balls, he drinks panther piss and fucks the girls you’re probably married to.

14. Kanye West featuring Lil’ Wayne – “Barry Bonds”

This track is drrrrrty. It’s not fair to call most of what Kanye does on Graduation “rapping.” Let’s call it… “toasting.” On “Barry Bonds”, though, he not only reminds us that he can legitimately handle the mic, he makes Lil’ Wayne—The Best Rapper Alive™--look like Kanye to his Jay-Z. Wrap your head around that.

13. Beirut– “Nantes”

The best singles-artist in indie rock, Beirut just hit the trifecta. After “Postcards From Italy” and “Elephant Gun,” “Nantes” proves Zach Condon’s knack for writing iconoclastic, worldly anthems is unmatched. More impressive is the feeling that he is actually creating nostalgia where there was none before.

12. Burial – “Ghost Hardware”

A standout on an album full of potential singles, “Ghost Hardware” sounds simultaneously close-up and far away—while the insistent drum track sounds like it’s ticking against the brain side of your inner ear, the rest of the song manages to aurally create a huge room with many corners. Every once in a while, a ghostly voice cries out, “I love you.” 

11. Modest Mouse – “Parting of the Sensory”

Modest Mouse takes five minutes to slowly build to a hand-clapping, knee-slapping, clicking, clacking, fiddling climax where Isaac Brock screams, "Someday you will die and somehow something's gonna steal your carbon."  Factually, he has a point.

-Marty Brown, 2008