As mentioned in today's column, I'm starting a new tradition of re-examining my favorite albums list, a year removed. And there aren't the same sorts of glaring discs that I missed like in '06, when I totally slept on The Hold Steady's "Boys & Girls in America," C.S.S.'s wildly fun "Cansei de Ser Sexy" and Meshuggah's "Catch Thirty-Three." Notably, Brandi Carlile's sophomore effort really grew on me, jumping several spots, as did John Vanderslice's "Emerald City" album, which cracked the top 10 as my appreciation for "Central Booking" and other cuts from disc grew.

Amended favorite albums of 2007

1. “Back to Black” Amy Winehouse
2. “The Story” Brandi Carlile
3. “In Rainbows” Radiohead
4. “Armchair Apocrypha” Andrew Bird
5. “Widow City” The Fiery Furnaces
6. “Kala” M.I.A.
7. “Wincing the Night Away” The Shins
8. “Year Zero” Nine Inch Nails
9. “Emerald City” John Vanderslice
10. “The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams” Me’Shell Ndegeocello

Well, Kurt Cobain made it. Ann Wilson, Chris Cornell, Eddie Vedder and Jerry Roslie, not so much. And all those guys are better singers than, say, Iggy Pop. (Sorry, Iggy, but we love you for reasons mostly unrelated to range and pitch.)

Many bands have represented Tacoma well over the years. You've got the Sonics, the Wailers and soon-to-be-Rock-Hall-of-famers, the Ventures. You've got Girl Trouble and Seaweed carryin' the torch for the alt-rock era. Hell, you could even go way back to Bing Crosby if you wanna. We've got a rich musical history here.

But who would be on your list of the absolutely, positively most definite Tacoma bands? And is there anyone holdin' it down now that you would say represents Tacoma more than the rest?

Leave your picks in the comments section -- as many as you want with arguments about what makes them "definitive" if you so choose. Cheers.

OK, I feel much better now, and I'm back to writing about stuff I liked this year. So, without further ado, here are ...

EJ's Best albums of 2007

1. “Back to Black” Amy Winehouse: The sounds of Motown updated for a new millennium. Winehouse is the most talented and refreshing soul singer to emerge in a while. Unfortunately, we now know she ain’t kiddin’ on that “Rehab” song. She’s the new Pete Doherty with weekly tabloid reminders of how much she needs to say “yes, yes, yes” to the whole detox thing. Here’s hoping she lives long enough to get her life together, let alone record another album.

Download: “Wake Up Alone,” “Love is a Losing Game,” “Rehab”

2. “In Rainbows” Radiohead: They got that techno bug out of their system for the most part, rooted through their vaults for some unfinished gems and ended up with their most focused effort since “OK Computer.” And what’s this? Thom Yorke forgoing dystopian angst long enough to – gasp – sing love songs? And not even the unrequited kind. The meds must be working.

Download: “Jigsaw Falling Into Place,” “House of Cards,” “All I Need” ("I'm an animal trapped in your hot car" ... I love that line.)

3. “Widow City” The Fiery Furnaces: Based on this album, siblings Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger – the brains behind the Fiery Furnaces - are good candidates for Ritalin. There’s something new every 30 seconds or so as tempo and style changes fly fast and furious. Blasts of fuzzy, ‘70s guitar rock relent to halcyon melody; cartoonish hip-hop is washed way by torrents of Sonic Youth-style noise rock. Think Mr. Bungle for context. And if anyone makes a movie based on the story line – a funny but disjointed plot involving zombie husbands, magical gurus and youth-restoring beer, as far as I can tell – I am so there.

Download: "Navy Nurse," "The Old Hag is Sleeping," "Automatic Husband"

4 “Armchair Apocrypha” Andrew Bird: Lush melodies, insightful lyrics and Bird’s considerable whistling skills make this one of the prettiest and most original rock records of 2007. This is a disc that will appeal to fans of Radiohead and Jeff Buckley alike.

Download: “Plasticities,” “Heretics,” “The Fiery Crash”

5. “I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead” El-P: With a little help from his homies in Nine Inch Nails, the Mars Volta and Cat Power, Def Jux label head Jaime Meline – aka El-Producto – brings us the best sci-fi hip-hop concept album since Detron’s “3030.” Quick, name three more sci-fi hip-hop concept albums.

Download: "Flyentology," "No Kings," "EMG"

6. “The Story” Brandi Carlile: Big congratulations are in order for Maple Valley’s Carlile and her twin collaborators, Tim and Phil Hanseroth, after a big, breakout year that saw them in heavy rotation on VH1. Carlile vocals are sweet and timeless in a way that recalls Patsy Cline on the ballads. And it breaks just the right when she takes it up to an anthemic roar on the title track.

Download: “Turpentine,” “Josephine,” “Have You Ever”

7. “Kala” M.I.A: Maya Arulpragasam pours heaping helpings of hip-hop, techno, disco, Bollywood film scores and even a bit of didgeridoo into the hippest and most adventurous dance album of 2007. And if she comes across as a female, British Chuck D as she sloganeers about “third world democracy.”

Download: “Paper Planes,” “Bamboo Banger,” “Mango Pickle Down River”

8. “Wincing the Night Away” The Shins: James Mercer and company take big risks here as they stray from the jangly pop that got them there in the first place for a dreamier approach. And while it took a spell for a few of the tracks to grow on me, “Phantom Limb” and “Sea Legs” were sublime from first listen.

Download: “Sea Legs,” “Phantom Limb” “Turn On Me”

9. “Year Zero” Nine Inch Nails: Trent Reznor skews a bit too far towards abrasive, industrial noise on some tracks. And there’s a disturbing moment at the beginning of “Capital G” where you think he’s about to cover Michael Jackson’s “The Way You Make Me Feel.” But our man remains at the top of his game for most of this dystopian odyssey, which chronicles man’s final days.

Dowload: “Survivalism,” Me, I’m Not,” “In This Twilight”

10. “The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams” Me’Shell Ndegeocello: You never know what you’ll get with the daring, talented and occasionally confounding Ndegeocello. Will it be artsy, hip-hop inflused R&B? A collection of dreary anti-love songs? A fusion jazz album with no lyrics? Her latest, genre-blurring effort is best described as phantasmagoric funk as Ndegeocello takes a spiritual journey through love, lust and religious fanaticism.

Download: “Headline,” “Article 3,” “Lovely, Lovely”

If there's anything more fun than rattling off your favorite albums and concerts at the end of the year, it's making fun of the songs that you absolutely HATE, HATE HATE! So along those lines I'm taking an informal survey of the most annoying and played out songs of '07. You know, the stuff that should be band for '08.

I'll even kick it off with the Shop Boyz "Party Like a Rockstar." What? That's all it takes to parlay in 2007? Mumbling a bunch of cliches over a generic beat? It's this year's "Who Let the Dogs Out?" And I move that it henceforth and forever more be banned from every club, radio station and car stereo in Puget Sound. If I have to hear that track or see that video one more time, I will personally show at the next Shop Boyz concert and pelt them with full cans of Rockstar (TM) until they are unconscious.

Oh no! Now it's stuck in my head again! Raaaaarrrrggggghhh! HULK SMASH!!!

[Editor's disclaimer: Our legal representation has advised us to point out that EJ is joking and not prone to actual violent outbursts (we think.) And furthermore, we do not suggest that anyone else assault the Shop Boyz, their friends, relatives and acquaintances. Stop the violence. That is all.]

Anyway, there it is. Who else wants to vent?

OK, I went through that 50 albums, 50 artists list I posted the other day and narrowed it down to my 10 favorite songs for 2007. Well, more like 11. Those Shins songs are equally awesome, and I tend to play them back to back, anyway. So, without further ado, here they are:

1. (tie) “Sea Legs” and “Phantom Limb” The Shins: Portland’s indie-pop heroes take chances on their third album and come up with the two dreamiest tracks of their career.

2. “Wake Up Alone” Amy Winehouse: Pain and yearning ooze from Winehouse’s vocals on this spellbinding soul number.

3. “Young Folks” Peter Bjorn and John: This song has hooks for days, most notably whistling that gets in your head and hangs around like Thanksgiving leftovers.

4. “Turpentine” Brandi Carlile: The Maple Valley singer-songwriter delivers a heartbreaker that’ll make you yearn for long lost friends.

5. “Plasticities” Andrew Bird: Lush melodies with great, existential lyrics. And Peter Bjorn and John aren’t the only indie rockers that have mad whistling skills.

6. “In This Twilight” Nine Inch Nails: Soothing riffs wash over ugly mechanical rhythms and digital shrieks as Trent Reznor contemplates man’s final hours. (This fan video is kinda cool until you recognize the movie clips he's ripping off.)

7. “Hard Back (Industry)” Dizzee Rascal: Britain’s fiercest MC lays out a blueprint for hip-hop prosperity over a beat that’s hard as granite.

8. “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” Radiohead: There are shades of “Paranoid Android” without the dystopian angst.

9. “Poison Dart” The Bug feat. Warrior Queen: You’ll need a lyric sheet to decipher Warrior Queen’s thick, Caribbean patois. But there’s no doubt. This dub step track is a monster.

10. “Paper Planes” M.I.A.: Maya Arulpragasam spits sing-song rhymes over gun blasts and an ethereal Clash sample; gangsta rap for the third world.

This year, I didn’t break ‘em, down by individual performances as in the past. Otherwise, Sasquatch would have accounted for the bulk of my top 5.

1. Stevie Wonder (Aug. 31, Chateau Ste Michele, Woodinville): The living legend hadn’t played the Seattle market for more than two decades, and it felt like seeing the Beatles must have. I literally got goose bumps during “Living for the City.” But seeing Burberry-clad yuppies shaking their money makers with the wild abandon of Soul Train dancers was a bit weird, though.

2. Sasquatch Festival (May 26 to 28, Gorge Amphitheatre, George): The Beastie Boys and Bjork would have vied for top performance in a Wonder-less year. The Arcade Fire’s set was quite a rush, too, especially during a life-affirming sing-along to “Wake Up.” But one of the most enduring images for me was seeing Seattle singer-songwriter Jesse Sykes strum her way through melancholy numbers from her moving, new album “Like, Love, Lust & the Open Halls of the Soul” as blustery winds whipped through her raven-black tresses.

3. Chris Cornell (Oct. 3, Paramount Theatre, Seattle): Recently liberated from Audioslavery, Cornell was free to serve up the heaping helping of grunge goodness that his fans have been craving all these years. “Outshined” and “Jesus Christ Pose” were chock full of stoner metal goodness, while “Seasons” was the prettiest ballad I heard all year. His solo stuff wasn’t bad, either. But about that Soundgarden reunion tour; exactly why hasn’t that happened, again?

4. The Roots (Feb. 3, The Showbox, Seattle): I already knew to expect a few curves from hip-hop’s greatest live band, a group that’s thrown covers of Guns N’ Roses and Nirvana into its set in the past. But I wasn’t prepared me for a weird but ultimately satisfying arrangement of Bob Dylan’s “Master of War” that featured guitar, drums and tuba, and guitarist Kirk Douglas (yes, that’s his name) singing lead. A mid-set tribute to the late, great James Brown was just icing on the cake.

5. Bumbershoot 2007 (Sept. 1 to 3, Seattle Center): The Wu-Tang Clan showed up something like 80 deep on the main stage. But the real action was on the smaller stages where Andrew Bird , Lyrics Born and the Diesel Truckers stood out, among others. And the recently reunited Seaweed rocked Experience Music Project.

6. Queens of the Stone Age (Dec. 18, Paramount Theatre): The most consistently awesome band of the last decade didn’t disappoint with a set that showcased stripped down sounds from this year’s “Era Vulgaris.” I was especially happy that they included “You Think I Ain’t Worth a Dollar, But I Feel Like a Millionaire” in their set, a song that had been shelved for a while since the departure of the band’s lead screamer, Nick Oliveri.

7. M.I.A. (Nov. 15, Roseland Theatre, Portland): I was out of town for the Seattle show, but made a point to catch M.I.A. down in Stumptown. You never know when pop provocateur Maya Arulpragasam, the group’s leader, will be denied her next U.S. work visa, the downfall of several U.S. shows already. And from the booming bass of opener “Bamboo Banger” to a death defying leap into the balcony for “Bucky Done Gun,” M.I.A. put on one hell of a show.

8. The Hold Steady, Art Brut (Nov. 4, University of Washington HUB Ballroom): My most embarrassing omission from my best albums omission of 2006 list was the Hold Steady’s “Boys & Girls in America.” But I’ve loved these guys since I got on board last spring. And the sterile venue aside, they lived up to the hype. The best part: They treated fans to two new songs, “Magazines” and “Joke about Jamaica.”

9. Justin Timberlake (Sept. 8, Tacoma Dome): There have been several contenders for the title of King of Pop since Michael Jackson went all bat-crap crazy on us. And if this show wasn’t proof of who the frontrunner is, I don’t know what would be. As an added bonus, he performed that song from "Saturday Night Live." You know, the one.

10. Devo (Sept. 21, Puyallup Fair & Events Center): Did Devo sell out by playing the fair, or did it fit in with their master plan of exposing “de-evolution” in all its forms? Maybe a little bit of both:

“How many people tonight think that de-evolution is real?” lead singer Mark Mothersbaugh inquired at one point. “You don’t have to look far for the evidence.”

“Gut Feeling” and “Jocko Homo” were highlights. And Mothersbaugh donned that creepy Booji Boy outfit for “Beautiful World,” pausing to acknowledge the aroma of krusty pups wafting over the crowd.- “that’s good American cooking,” he said, in falsetto - before he reached into his pants and hurling what seemed like hundreds of super balls into the crowd.

According to unconfirmed rumor, band members reportedly dropped in for an after party at the Varsity Grill but were largely ignored by fans that apparently didn’t recognize them, sans energy domes. Funny.

Coming soon: Best albums.

Rolling Stone’s 100 best songs of 2007 list list lost all credibility the moment they included Avril Lavigne’s “Girlfriend.” What? Have they not heard Mickey? Or the Rubinoos “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend,” two songs Avril clearly ripped off – allegedly? This is a travesty!

So I thought I’d come up with my own list and ask for some of your favorite songs. But I thought I’d do something a little different from a straightforward best songs list, which would feature multiple entries from all of my top albums, anyway. Boring. Instead, I mentally filed through all the tracks I liked this year to come up with …

50 essential downloads from 50 artists for 2007 (in no particular order)

1. “Sea Legs” The Shins
2. “Wake Up Alone” Amy Winehouse
3. “Hard Back (Industry)” Dizzee Rascal
4. “Plasticities” Andrew Bird
5. “Paper Planes” M.I.A.
6. “Yeah, I Love You” Earl Greyhound
7. “Poison Dart” The Bug feat. Warrior Queen (a sick dub plate, hard to find in the U.S.; try the Ninja Tune site.)
8. “Umbrella” Rihanna
9. “9 Samurai” Kode 9 & the Space Ape
10. “Make It Witchu” (new “Era Vulgaris” version) Queens of the Stone Age
11. “The Old Hag Is Sleeping” The Fiery Furnaces
12. “Gasolina” Bonde Do Role
13. “Tasmanian Pain Coaster” El-P feat. The Mars Volta
14. “Central Booking” John Vanderslice
15. “Young Folks” Peter Bjorn and John
16. “Believe E.S.P.” Deerfhoof
17. ”Scale” Interpol
18. “The Good, the Bad & the Queen” The Good, the Bad & the Queen
19. “Peggy Lee” Kristin Hersh
20. “Paragraphs Relentless” Dalek
21. “Turpentine” Brandi Carlile
22. “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” Radiohead
23. “Me, I’m Not” Nine Inch Nails
24. “Hard Sun” Eddie Vedder
25. “Headline” Me’Shell Ndegeocello
26. “LDN” Lily Allen
27. “Fire It Up” Modest Mouse
28. “Genesis” Justice
29. “You Don’t Know What Love Is (You Just Do What You’re Told)” The White Stripes
30. “Teenagers” My Chemical Romance
31. “Hilo” Antibalas
32. “You Me and the Devil Makes Three” Marilyn Manson
33. “No Cars Go” Arcade Fire
34. “Myth Takes” !!!
35. “What Goes Around … Comes Around” Justin Timberlake
36. “They Don’t Know” Anthony Hamilton
37. “It’s Me, Bitches” Swizz Beats
38. “Down at McDonaldz” Electric Six (Hilarious! Think “Flight of the Conchords”)
39. “Song for Clay (Disappear Here)” Bloc Party
40. “The Air Is Thin” Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter
41. “The Revolution (Will Not Be Televised on Channel U)” Klashnekoff
42. “Sister Rosetta (Capture the Spirit)” Noisettes
43. “Give It to Me” Timbaland feat. Nelly Furtado & Justin Timberlake
44. “1234” Feist
45. “Luxury of Infancy” Omar Rodriguez-Lopez feat. Cedric Bixler Zavala (yeah, basically a Mars Volta song)
46. “The Game” Common
47. “Timebomb” Beck
48. “Innocence” Bjork
49. “The Underdog” Spoon
50. “Radio Nowhere” Bruce Springsteen (sounding kinda Pearl Jammy)

Jay-Z's "American Gangster" tops Blender's best albums list. Paste is going with the National's "Boxer" to top its list. "Untrue" by British dubstep act Burial tops Metacritic.com's list (which often has little, if anything, to do with what the average person actually listens to.) And that all goes to remind me that I need to quick slackin' finalize my '07 picks. Stay tuned over the next couple of weeks.