A 2007 mixtape: All the tracks that fit

Used to be, I'd labor in front of the stereo for several nights at the end of every year, making friends a cassette tape with my favorite songs. Now it takes me a half-hour in front of the computer. But the same amount of love goes into it. Here's the mix I'm burning to CD this year (shhh, don't tell the RIAA). • "North American Scum," LCD Soundsystem

• "Been There All the Time," Dinosaur Jr.

• "Young Folks," Peter Bjorn and John

• "For the Girl," the Fratellis

• "Stronger," Kanye West

• "Apartment Story," the National

• "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi," Radiohead

• "Hip Hop Is Dead," Nas

• "Borne on the FM Waves of the Heart," Against Me! (with Tegan Quin)

• "Is There a Ghost," Band of Horses

• "Direct Hit," Art Brut

• "Sugar," Dan Wilson

• "Back to Black," Amy Winehouse

• "Paper Planes," M.I.A.

• "(Antichrist Television Blues)," the Arcade Fire

• "Killing the Blues," Robert Plant and Alison Krauss