2007: it’s slipping right between our fingers. These handful of days between the frenzy of Christmas and the drunken surrender to 2008 are lost times, typically marked by decreased concentration, increase in returns of ill-fitting or otherwise unsuitable gifts, the temporary but nevertheless inconvenient closings of favorite restaurants (what’s up, Maroush?) and other trivial follies. But, it is also a time of reflection on the copious gifts of 2007, especially those that didn’t get their comeuppance by the typical tabulators.

For the next few days, we’ll be paying tribute to those hidden gems — favorite releases, concerts and sudden revelations, some of which had little to do with 2007 but still count as lively sparks on the great musical continuum. Calendar years are so 2006 anyway. And yes, that sentence only boggles the mind the more you read it.

Anyway, I’ll start with a few slept-on albums:

Bill Callahan, “Woke on a Whaleheart” (Drag City): This poor bastard. Will he ever get a break? Will the masses ever listen? Finally, after 456 sad sack records, dude goes and falls in love with Joanna Newsom, hooks up (artistically!) with a gospel singer and makes the first genuinely happy, uplifting record in his career. No one cared, which sort of makes sense in the world of Callahan, formerly known as Smog. He’s the hapless troubadour circling the lands with wise songs — we, as the fools of the Earth, aren’t supposed to listen to this kind of wisdom until he’s dead or immortalized by the Todd Haynes of 2207.

The Field, From Here We Go Sublime (Kompact) and Field Music, Tones of Town (Memphis Industries): These albums have nothing in common besides an obvious love for the word field but it’s fun to compare. On one side, we have the Field, aka Axel Willner, whose publicity picture features a wispish, red-haired Swede in a fantastic, multi-colored t-shirt. His music — gorgeously icy but supple waves of electronica — is similarly concerned with heat and light, chill and energy. And don’t even get me started on that Lionel Richie sample that resonates throughout then blooms at the end of “A Paw in the Face” like some dirty, delicious weed. On the other side, there’s Field Music’s “Tones of Town,” released in the leaden month of February, seemingly to a handful of critics who either fell in love with this smart set of ticking, racing songs or who never cracked the jewel case. Sometimes these English fops can be a little tea-time restrained but at their best, Field Music makes pop-music geometry, elegant proofs to soothe your jagged heart.

OK, more of these coming on Monday. Stand ready with your champagne. I recommend Freixenet. So underrated.

–Margaret Wappler