One of the reasons I was most excited about this year’s Idolator Pop package was that my bosses gave me enough rope to hang myself with allowed me to pursue a project that enhanced the poll proper. Back when I edited a music section, for Seattle Weekly, I eschewed year-end Top 10s and asked a handful of writers to write and annotate a single-CD-length mix at the end of every year. The results were always illuminating, and I thought it might be cool to do that again this year–and given the scope of the poll, to ask a whole bunch of writers we admired to participate. That many of them said yes was even better–at least, we think so. So we present 2007 in the Mix, a series of write-ups we’ll add to each of the remaining days this week.

First up: a baker’s dozen that takes in everything from Joshua Alston’s year in slow jamz, Jon Caramanica’s roundup of posse-cut hip-hop remixes, and Chuck Eddy’s all-over-the-place selection to Tim Finney’s salute to the nu-Balearica, Matt Goldenberg’s survey of the year in metal, and a blog-house extravaganza from Eric Grandy.

2007 in the Mix, Part One [Idolator Pop]