1. Novos Baianos, "Tinindo Trincando" (from After Tropicalia, Soul Jazz; c. early '70s)
2, J. Walter Negro and the Loose Jointz, "Shoot the Pump" (from New York Latin Hustle, Soul Jazz; 1981)
3. Punkin' Machine, "I Need You Tonight" (from FabricLive 36: James Murphy & Pat Mahoney, Fabric; 1981)
4. J. Dilla, "Shouts" (from Ruff Draft, Stones Throw; 2002)
5. Foster Sylvers, "Misdemeanor" (from Ultimate Breaks & Beats: The Complete Collection, Street Beat; 1973)
6. Los Hijos Del Sol, "Si Me Quieres" (from The Roots of Chicha: Psychedelic Cumbias from Peru, Barbés; c. early '70s)
7. Tabu Ley Rochereau, "Likambo Ya Mokando" (from The Voice of Lightness: Congo Classics 1961-1977, Stern's; 1977)
8. Bokoor Band, "Yeah Yeah ku Yeah" (from Bokoor Beats, Otrabanda; c. early '80s)
9. Charlie Aldrich, "Kinsey's Book" (from Griddle Greasin' Daddies and Dirty Cowboys, Jasmine; c. early '50s)
10. The Wedding Present, "Take Me (Peel Session, 24 May, 1988)" (from The Complete BBC Sessions, Sanctuary)
11. Grant McLennan, "Haven't I Been a Fool" (from Intermission, Beggars; 1991)
12. Bob Dylan & the Band, "I'm Not There" (from I'm Not There soundtrack, Columbia/Sony Music Soundtrax; 1967)
13. Johnny Osbourne ft. Bunny Brown, "Love Makes the World Go Round" (from Summer Records Anthology 1974-1988, Light in the Attic; 1974)
14. The Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet, "Go Where I Send Thee" (from Rock My Soul, Living Era; 1937)
15. Ennio Morricone, "Le Fotografie from Verushka" (from Delirium of the Senses: Psychedelia in Italian Cinema, Cherry Red; 1971)
16. Miles Davis, "On the Corner (Unedited Master)" (from The Complete On the Corner Sessions, Columbia/Legacy; 1972)

"No reissues." That's what everyone else contributing to this part of our year-end survey was instructed. But since there's a much longer actual-2007 mix with my name on it coming up in this morass of love and data, and because those of us who think about music for a living configure the past as passionately as we do the present, and as constantly, I totally cheated.

For this all-reissues mix, I chose songs I was either unfamiliar with or that hit me in a new way over the past 12 months. With "Misdemeanor," that simply meant "hit me all over again"—a decade after encountering it, the track remains equally confounding and entrancing, its rhythms so slippery it's a wonder it holds together. Must be that great kid-soul vocal. The elusiveness that remains the calling card of "I'm Not There" is a blessing in another year saturated with yet more Dylan pondering. The Grant McLennan song always sounded good, but hearing it lead off his half of a joint solo best-of with fellow Go-Between Robert Forster clicked it into place, hard. As for Miles Davis, his ridiculously over the top, stupid-expensive reissue of the year (says me, whether the electorate agrees or not) laid open an era I already revered to reveal more depth, whimsy, grandeur, chaos, and sheer magnitude than even a fan like me could have imagined. This selection ends where the box begins—as a gateway into so much more.

Sometimes I avoided "more": see the J Dilla and Ennio Morricone cuts, snippets I couldn't resist that together total under two minutes. But more often I embraced it: see Tabu Ley Rochereau, who for 9:40 threads through three separate grooves, the second of which may be simultaneously the most audacious and subtlest James Brown takeoff I've ever heard, from horns to beat to the singer's expert vocal punches between the horns' dip-dip-dives; and the Wedding Present, who hammer three jittery chords into the ground for eight transported minutes. Early '70s Brazilians Novos Baianos out-rock the Wedding Present, flaunting congas even funkier than Rochereau's trap kit—though not as funky as J. Walter Negro's Latin-R&B-disco-rap ode to jacking into the city's water supply, or Canadians Punkin' Machine, whose bluntly libidinal bass-guitar tandem was dug up from the crates by LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy and Pat Mahoney for my favorite DJ mix (and album) of the year. Los Hijos Del Sol and Charlie Aldrich groove a little, too, though the former is here for its tune and the latter because it's funny, as is most of the wonderful comp from which it, er, springs.

Then there are the cuts that beguile for their golden-aura haze. "Love Makes the World Go Round" is the most minimalist selection here: falsetto harmonies, timekeeping kit, sub-sea-level bass, and that's all, folks. But rather than bringing everything into severe focus, the results are as elusive—and arresting—as the smeared Dylan track. Ditto Bokoor Band, whose loping groove sounds like it's perpetually coming at you from the middle distance, without actually getting any closer, even when a mixed-high harmonica whines its simple, simple refrain. And the harmonies of the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet's a cappella gospel hymn are so trickily laid out they can be repeated for ages while just barely eluding the listener's grasp. It makes you want to go back—back to the beginning of the song, back to when this stuff was made—to see what else you missed. In another decade, I wager I'll still feel that way about this entire mix.

Michaelangelo Matos is Idolator Pop 2007's editor.