Keith's latest post reminds me that I've been really lax about keeping track of singles/songs this year--or at the very least, about ranking them. Which is sort of odd considering that I started the CD-R column specifically to help me keep track of fave songs/singles. Instead of focusing me in that direction, though, it's had the opposite effect, making me hear those songs in a way that defies ranking--they're cogs in a free-floating machine, and if they don't work one week, they will another. Release date becomes part of the pattern as well--I have 45 minutes' worth of songs picked out for the fourth of my installments (if you're not familiar w/the column, it rotates between myself and other writers, with me doing one, it now looks like, once every three weeks), and I haven't even finalized no. 3 yet. The reason for that is that most of the ones I'm putting on no. 4 won't be out till that one's scheduled to run. Obviously, general busy-ness of the kind I've noted here previously has plenty to do with this as well; so does the fact that the year is early yet, though I don't seem to be having any trouble quantifying the albums I hear. But note that I haven't touched the singles list on that link in weeks. Better get cracking, eh?