Friday Hotness #29- Christmas Edition

Download: The Waitresses- Christmas Wrapping
(Buy)

Download: Paul McCartney- Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time
(Buy)

Download: Blink 182- I Won't Be Home For Christmas
(Buy)

Best of 2007: Pop

Everything Mark Ronson touched this year turned to gold. He produced tracks for Lily Allen's great debut Alright, Still, and produced and enlisted the Dap Tone horns to give Amy Winehouse's Back To Black a retro feel. Somehow he still found time to drop his own LP of cover songs Version, my favorite album of the year. Just last week he was nominated for a Grammy for "Producer of the Year."

Here are some pop gems from 2007, 3 of which Ronson had a hand in, one of which is just classic JT and Timbaland goodness.

Download: Lily Allen- Smile
From the album Alright, Still
(Buy)

Download: Amy Winehouse- Tears Dry on Their Own
From the album Back to Black
(Buy)

Download: Mark Ronson feat Daniel Merriweather- Stop Me
From the album Version
(Buy)

Download: Justin Timberlake feat TI- My Love
From the album Future Sex/Love Sounds
(Buy)

Friday Hotness #28

Download: Lily Allen- Mr. Blue Sky (ELO Cover)
(Buy)

Download: 4Hero- Les Fleur
(Buy)

Download: The Stranglers- Golden Brown
(Buy)

Download: Fields- If You Fail (Badlands Remix)
(Buy)

Best of 2007: Electronic

We will look back on 2007 as the year that House broke. Straight out of Paris, electro-house duo Justice led the charge with 2 massive hits - "We Are Your Friends" and "D.A.N.C.E." Their style of grimey noise coupled with pulsating bass, reverberated off many a dancefloor in 2007.

Brits Simian Mobile Disco and German group Digitalism also put out very excellent house-inspired albums this year. Veterans of the scene, LCD Soundsystem returned with a vengance with their disc Sound of Silver and an electrifying US Tour.

Download: LCD Soundsystem- All My Friends
From the album Sound of Silver
(Buy)

Download: Simian Mobile Disco- Hustler
From the album Attack Decay Sustain Release
(Buy)

Download: Digitalism- Zdarlight
From the album Idealism
(Buy)

Download: Justice- We Are Your Friends
From the album †
(Buy)

Best of 2007: Hip Hop

2007 was not a stellar year for Hip Hop, but any year that Kanye West puts out an album is a good year for music. His Graduation was a pleasant surprise amid most of the nonsense that clogged up the airwaves of rap radio. I would like to hope that we would hear the last of "Crank Dat Soulja Boy", "Walk It Out" and "Ay Bay Bay" when 2007 draws to a close, but I am afraid we will not be so lucky.

Acts like Wale, The Cool Kids and Kid Sister proved that there may be hope on the horizon by dropping albums that harked back to the glory days of the 80's and 90's. Wale in particular looks to be a prime candidate for Hip Hop's next superstar, some one sign this dude!

Download: Wale- Camp Lo
From the album 100 Miles and Running
(Buy)

Download: Kanye West- Big Brother
From the album Graduation
(Buy)

Download: The Cool Kids- 88
From the EP Totally Flossed Out
(Buy)

Download: UGK feat Outkast- International Players Anthem
From the album Underground Kingz
(Buy)

Download: Kid Sister- Pro Nails Remix ft Kanye West
From the Pro Nails EP
(Buy)

Friday Hotness #27

Download: Hot Chip-Ready For The Floor
(Buy)

Download: Peter, Bjorn and John- Up Against The Wall
(Buy)

Download: Bran Van 3000- Call Me (I'll Be Around Medley)
(Buy)

Download: Chromatics- Running Up That Hill (Kate Bush Cover)
(Buy)

Best of 2007: Indie Rock

Albeit very trite, I will be doing a year end "Best Of 2007" list with some of my favorite albums from the past year. In this first installment, I profile songs from five very solid Indie Rock releases from this past year. I'd have to say my favorite disc of the year is definitely Klaxons' Myths of the Near Future, followed closely by Mark Ronson's Version, which I will write more about in the days to come.

Download: Klaxons- Two Receivers
From the album Myths of the Near Future
(Buy)

Download: Band of Horses- No One's Gonna Love You
From the album Cease To Begin
(Buy)

Download: The National- Mistaken For Strangers
From the album Boxer
(Buy)

Download: Panda Bear- Bros (edit)
From the album Person Pitch
(Buy)

Download: Interpol- Rest My Chemsitry
From the album Interpol
(Buy)