Better Late Than Never, Associate Editor Steve’s LaBate’s Best of 2007 Mixes

If any of you want to burn yourselves the hands-down-greatest five-CD mix of killer tracks from 2007, here’s your guide. I spent hours painstakingly sequencing this, and it is truly breathtaking, if i do say so myself. My colleagues may disagree on some of the finer points, but, hey, this is my list, ese… get your own! Besides this thing gets personal, as I’ve included some obscure Atlanta/Athens bands (two of which are my own projects, but I figure out of 80-plus tracks, that’s a-OK).

Without further ado....

STEVE LABATE’S SUPER RIDICULOUSLY AWESOME BEST SONGS OF 2007 MEGAMIX:

DISC ONE: BA-ROCK ME OBAMA MIX (props to Marisa)

1. Intervention - Arcade Fire (Organ, Church, Family, War, Death - this one’s got it all)
2. Two - Ryan Adams
3. Rehab - Amy Winehouse
4. Girls - Eleni Mandell (I’m in love with this song)
5. Everyone Gets A Star - Albert Hammond, Jr.
6. Divin’ Me Wild - Common feat. Lily Allen
7. Civil Twilight - Weakerthans
8. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? - The Hold Steady
9. Friday Night at the Drive-in Bingo - Jens Lekman (Lookout Jonathan Richman!)
10. Int’l Player’s Anthem (I Choose You) - UGK feat. Outkast (ANDRE 3000 is a genius of wordplay - “Then I cc’d every girl that I’d see see ‘round town!” And let’s not forget Big Boi’s “parasol umbrella.")
11. Italian Dry Ice - Josh Rouse
12. A Love That’s Stronger Than Our Fear - Derek Webb
13. Ballad of a Thin Man - Stephen Malkmus & the Million Dollar Bashers (Hot damn this smokes!)
14. Soft Place to Land - Mary Gauthier (A worn, warm blanket for your soul)
15. Devil With a Fist - Warm in the Wake
16. What’s a Girl to Do? - Bat for Lashes
17. I See Who You Are - Björk
18 Starry Crown - Carolina Chocolate Drops

DISC TWO: HUCKABEE’S HUCKLEBUCK MIX

1. Either Way - Wilco
2. Heretics - Andrew Bird (Bird croons like Lou Reed/Stephen Malkmus over his insanely cool violin chops. An amazing song, too.)
3. To the Dogs or Whoever - Josh Ritter (The “Subterranean Homesick Blues” of the new millennium.)
4. Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again - Cat Power
5. Sweetheart - Ween (Sexy-smooth jam from the Kings of Silly)
6. Livin’ in the Future - Bruce Springsteen (Best Springsteen rocker since the ‘70s)
7. Give Me a Sad Song - Linda Thompson
8. Sinkin’ Soon - Norah Jones (Norah gets crafty and dips into the Tom Waits bag)
9. The Devil Never Sleeps - Iron & Wine (Only song I like on this album. Think Steve Miller if Steve Miller didn’t suck.)
10. Down in the Valley - The Broken West (One of the catchiest choruses of the year)
11. Paranoia on the 4th Fret - The Avett Brothers (If the Avetts had written this track in the ‘40s, ‘50s or ‘60s - Frank, Deano and every other crooner in America would’ve been clamoring for it. A modern standard if I’ve ever heard one.)
12. Flashlight Fight - The Go! Team feat. Chuck D
13. Strange Lights - Deerhunter
14. Gonna Break Into Your Heart - Earlimart
15. Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse - Of Montreal (More weirdly accessible shenanigans from these E6 graduates)
16. The Perfect Me - Deerhoof
17. White Chalk - PJ Harvey

DISC THREE: HI-STEPPIN’ HILLARY MIX

1. Fri/End - Thurston Moore (Possibly the best melody of any song Thurston’s ever written)
2. Threshold Apprehension - Black Francis (Pixies mastermind Chuck Thompson gets back to his hilariously edgy roots)
3. Scar That Never Heals - Jeremy Fisher (this strangely up-beat tune about kids who run guns could’ve come straight off of Paul Simon’s self-titled solo debut)
4. Paper Planes - M.I.A. (an appropriate follow-up to the Fisher track, this alternately chilling and infectious chorus features an unforgettable children’s chorus singing along to gunfire)
5. Smoke Detector - Rilo Kiley (also the only song I like on this album, but it’s got an amazingly sexy/catchy/fun hook.)
6. What They’re Saying - The Preakness (great new indie-rock trio from Atlanta)
7. The Story - Brandi Carlile
8. Jeff N Fess - DJ Jazzy Jeff feat. Rhymefest (Jazzy Jeff’s return is surprisingly triumphant)
9. 100 Days, 100 Nights - Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings (straight-up ‘50s/’60s R&B and soul tele-transported miraculously to modern times)
10. Young Folks - Peter Bjorn & John (the whistlingest ditty of the year - dare you not to get it stuck in your head)
11. Neil Armstrong - The Dexateens
12. Fourth Time Around - Yo La Tengo (Beautiful and sad-eyed)
13. Beautiful Bluebird - Neil Young
14. Never Again - The Sadies
15. Rising Star - Southern Bitch
16. Rain Don’t Stop the Trains - The Bearfoot Hookers (World’s Greatest Bar Band)

DISC FOUR: RAPPIN’ ROMNEY MIX

1. War - JJ Grey & Mofro (Sly & the Family Mofro brings the funk)
2. Been There All the Time - Dinosaur Jr. (Back and bad as ever!)
3. Diamond Ring - Joseph Arthur
4. We’re From Barcelona - I’m From Barcelona
5. A-Punk - Vampire Weekend (Afro-pop’s great white hopes)
6. West Coast - Coconut Records (Actor Jason Schwarztman proves his music can now hang with his movies)
7. Tiger’s Eye - Courtney Jaye (from her forthcoming album Queen of Sabotage, Jaye comes into her own on this record. Be sure to keep an eye out for it this year! This is my favorite track.)
8. Everything I Am - Kanye West
9. Frank & Ava - Suzanne Vega
10. Trouble - Over The Rhine
11. Señor (Tales of Yankee Power) - Willie Nelson & Calexico
12. Apartment Story - The National
13. If the Brakeman Turns My Way - Bright Eyes (Conor Oberst continues to impress with top-notch songs)
14. These Days Nothing But Sunshine - The Clientele (Wintry psychedelic bliss)
15. Safety Bricks - Broken Social Scene Presents Kevin Drew
16. Sunday Sounds - The Apples in Stereo
17. Identity Theft - Nellie McKay (funny, witty and moody as ever)
18. Running Away - The Polyphonic Spree
19. Old Questions - Hope For A Golden Summer (from the limited-edition Slowboat to Naxos EP) (The Campbell Sisters and their cohorts never fail to push the bounds of creative expression - and this vaudeville-esque piece feels plucked from some bizarro musical. Great lyrical concept, too.)
20. Can’t Leave Her Behind - Stephen Malkmus & Lee Ranaldo

DISC FIVE: NO PAIN, NO McCAIN MIX

1. Icky Thump - The White Stripes (Hands-down, my favorite lyric of the year - “Americans, what nothing better to do?  / Why don’t you kick yourself out, you’re an immigrant, too / Who’s using who, what should we do? / Well you can’t be a pimp and a prostitute, too")
2. Fluorescent Adolescent - Arctic Monkeys (my favorite Monkeys tune - killer riff, killer chorus)
3. 1234 - Feist (One word: Zeitgeist)
4. Bad Kids - The Black Lips (these Atlanta upstarts have apparently penned the theme song to my adolescent exploits)
5. Cops in Alley - Steve LaBate (Man, this guy is amazing!) (Thanks to Nick Worley, who made this possible, and David Barbe for mixing.)
6. Goin’ to Acupulco - Jim James & Calexico (This is so beautiful it almost hurts - easily better than the original)
7. Be Here Now - Silver Lakes
8. Missed the Boat - Modest Mouse
9. Take Me to the Riot - Stars
10. ‘Cuz I’m Here - Ruthie Foster
11. Saltbreakers - Laura Veirs (I have no idea what a Saltbreaker is, and I don’t care. This song rules.)
12. Angel in the Snow - Elliott Smith
13. Learning How to Live - Lucinda Williams (It’s about time, you’re over 50! Hmm… I shouldn’t talk, that’ll probably be me in 20 years. Hopefully I can write a song this affecting in my lifetime)
14. Diamond Heart - Marissa Nadler
15. Double Up - Lifesavas
16. Lover - Devendra Banhart (Charles Wright called, he wants his jam back! Even if it’s not the most original tune, this song is some pure-and-funky Prozac. I nominate for Party Jam of the Year, in Thunder Canyon and elsewhere.)

Hope you like these mixes! (Wait, what am I talking about? Of course you’ll like these—they’re unstoppable machine-gun volleys of unadulterated awesomeness!) And if anyone was searching for deeper meaning in the titles of the mixes, better luck next time - just wanted to remind everyone to vote their conscience this year.

And for all you folks who loved these playlists… scoop up the bits of brain from your freshly blown mind, and mosey on over to my MySpace site for a little web hoe-down, and check out 2006’s 4-disc best-of MegaMix. Just scroll down a few entries to Friday, December 29, 2006 - The Best Songs of 2006 (a 4-volume mixtape), and get ready for an instant party… in your ears. (Well, not that instant, since you have to find the songs and buy them. Sorry suckas - musicians gotta eat!)