My Christmas Playlist
Right now I see a lot of “Christmas” music posts. But is the music featured, really something you would want to play on Christmas day? Is The Flaming Lips really suitable for the festive period? I think not, so here is my Christmas playlist for when I see the rest of the family.
Thanks to Elyce Feliz for the picture.
I will be back soon, I just have felt a lack in passion on what to write about recently…
Is This Christmas // The Wombats
Frosty The Snowman // The Beach Boys
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! // Dean Martin
Christmas TV // Slow Club
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer // Jack Johnson
Little Saint Nick // The Beach Boys
Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree // Brenda Lee
Silver Bells // Bright Eyes
Winter Wonderland // Dean Martin
Fairytale Of New York // The Pogues Feat. Kirsty MacColl
Happy Christmas (War is Over) // The Polyphonic Spree
Merry Christmas!
Best Albums of 2008
These “best of the year” lists, should be done after the year has past. Unfortunately, Hype Machine has forced me to do it early and so I am stuck with a list, which is not finished and only contains nine albums. Do not worry, I will post the final one next year when I have finished making my mind up. Leave a comment if you disagree, or if I missed one out, so I can see if I want to include it in the final version. Enjoy!
Flight of the Conchords has been a bit of an addiction since I discovered their TV series. I basically downloaded anything I could find from their rather huge collection of music. Of course, I decided to buy their debut. It’s just a shame how it’s not very different from their TV show material. They are at their best when they perform live and since the album is mainly ripped straight from the TV show, I didn’t put it any higher on the list. Still, their material is both funny and musically interesting. Using styles ranging from David Bowie to Shaggie, Flight of the Conchords’ album is well worth listening to.
The Most Beautiful Girl (In The Room)
Peaceful, The World Lies Me Down, is an interesting take on folk music. It has both witty and clever lyrics, produced by a very unlikely kind of vocalist. It has the beautiful voice of Laura Marling and it has some really nice instrumental work, the violins are particularly memorable. Though, I did not enjoy the slow sections of the album, finding them slightly dull, it is the faster paced tracks, like 2 Atoms In A Molecule and Rocks And Daggers that make Noah and the Whale’s first album truly great.
MGMT don’t prove the formula ”quality of quantity”. With ten tracks on the album, only three proved to be amazingly epic (Time to Pretend, Electric Feel, Kids). The rest is just not very interesting. You can argue it’s all experimental, which is fine, but don’t put it on the album then. It’s a shame, because if they had kept up the standard of those three, MGMT’s debut would be the best album of the year.
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Tokyo Police Club produced a pretty amazing EP last year, and their debut was a bit more gritty, but did not disappoint. Their sound is very Strokes-esque, but with a less harsh (Candian) vocalist and distorted synthesisers, which produces a faster sound, something which might be heard on a dancefloor somewhere.
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The Blood Red Shoes’ album is short, but ferocious, simple, but still fascinating. With just a guitarist and a drummer, it seems like their music might be dull, but this is where you start listening to their impressive debut. Hard and fast drumming, relentless guitar strumming and the interesting interwoven vocals from Laura and Steven create a great rock record.
Dark and strange, Alex Turner’s side project, The Last Shadow Puppets, did not really spark my interest initially. But after a couple of months, I can really appreciate it. Age Of The Understatement sounds like an album made of Bond theme songs, but with a lot more depth It manages to keep all the grandness even with the slow, acoustic songs. I can’t wait to see what Alex Turner will do next.
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A flawed, but great album from Foals. It’s a real shame they missed out on Astronauts and All and Hummer, for Heavy Water and Big Big Love (fig. 2). The rest is perfect. In the last three months they have creeped into my Last.fm’s 8th most listened to artists. Battling guitars, addictive bass lines and unbelievable drum patterns make an album which everyone should try. Red Socks Pugie is definitely one of my favourite tracks ever. They also managed to prove themselves as the best band I have seen live.
Lightspeed Champion’s first album is stunning to listen to. With it’s incredibly beautiful melodies, violent and open lyrics, Dev Hynes has created an album where every song is a masterfully created sensation. Would have got my album of the year, if not for Salty Water. I don’t need to describe it anyway, because you should already be rushing to get this from the shops or be downloading it right now.
Just an incredibly well-rounded album. There are no flaws, it’s just a barrage of incredible songs. And with a completely different sound, to anything right now, they have a winning formula. From the opening bangs of Mansford Roof, to the simple melody of Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa, to the final clash of Walcott, Vampire Weekend’s debut, is a thrill to listen to. You’ve got it anyway, haven’t you?
Foals – Rarities 2
Still addicted to Foals, and I managed to find a fantastic website with tons of great mp3s. Thanks Mr. Anonymous Web Site Maker!
I have to say that I was not quite into the vocalist from the original band, but both Try This On Your Piano and Look At My Furrows Of Worry are still quite good. If you like The Edmund Fitzgerald, you’ll like these. There is lots of super fast guitar melodies, which come together spectacularly, insanely fast drum sections and screaming like something off a Fall Of Troy record.
For the more lighter Foals stuff, we have Olympic Airways (an early demo) and Red Socks Pugie (live). Both tracks are slightly different from the album versions, but both are arguably better. Olympic Airways, is nearly completely different, except for the bass riff (even that has been made faster) and the lyrics. Red Socks Pugie is just a tweaked version from the studio track. All those small changes add to their best song, and somehow make it even more incredible.
Time To Pretend – Gareth Pearson
An absolutely beautiful cover of MGMT’s Time To Pretend. It’s just instrumental and really quite amazing to listen to.
Thanks to Music Slut for the mp3!
Late of the Pier
Somehow, I wasn’t quite impressed with these guys at first, but after sitting on my hard drive for a couple of months now, they have entered vigorous rotation.
“Suicide is in my blood, It always was. But it doesn’t evaporate in the light any more!” sneers Sam, as the funky, Gary Numan keyboards pulse in the background through Space And The Woods. The breakdown is an awesome drum solo, gurgling synths and Sam stumbling through, “I’m not gonna cry ‘cos I don’t care”. Easy to dance to and it’s easy to sing to. What else do you need?
Broken starts off with a solo reminiscent of classic rock, as it sweeps into another incredibly catchy riff mixed with a hard bass line. Everything stops as Sam sings to a spluttery, echo buzz “Didn’t sleep last night, Couldn’t calm down!” Pretty much the moto of all their songs, just one continues party. At the end comes another amazing solo, which would be not out of place in the 70s.
Like MGMT, but they can write more than three great songs and they are more majestic, imaginative and epic. Late of the Pier’s electronica-mixed-with-rock debut is definitely on my Christmas wish-list.
