It’s now less than two weeks to Christmas, amazingly.
And I still have yet to write a single Christmas card. Hey ho. But I’ve been working on these posts -and this arrived a few days ago. It’s by Birmingham band Johnny Foreigner, and I must admit I’m now going to go and buy their albums when I have some more cash.
Despite its’ aggressive sounding title, ‘Santa Fucking Claus’ is actually a very sweet sounding song.
Meanwhile, in their own words: “This year we wanted to offer a bonus MP3. It’s called “Little Wrapped Gift.” It’s sung by Toby Weiss and performed by us, Rough Shop. Fans of the Florida garage rock or the Nuggets anthologies will recognize it as a
revision of the Nightcrawlers’ song “Little Black Egg.” The lyrics were rewritten by Toby Weiss and Matt Benz.”
1. eagleowl ‘No Conjunction.’
2. M.I.A. ‘Born Free.’
3. Zola Jesus ‘Sea Talk.’
4. Kid Canaveral ‘You Only Went Out To Get Drunk Last Night.’
5. Meursault ‘Crank Resolutions.’
6. She’s Hit ‘RE:PEATER’
7. The Suzan ‘Home.’
8. Broken Records with Jill Sullivan ‘Dia dos Mamorados!’
9. Viv Albertine ‘Never Come.’
10. Blur ‘Fool’s Day.’
11. The Futureheads ‘Heartbeat Song.’
12. The Burns Unit ‘Send Them Kids To War.’
13. Dum Dum Girls ‘Jail La La.’
14. Mitchell Museum ‘Warning Bells.’
15. Kid Canaveral ‘Good Morning.’
16. Tokyo Knife Attack ‘Cool Kids.’
17. Aberfeldy ‘In Denial.’
18. The Vaselines ‘I Hate The 80s.’
19. Kylie Minogue ‘All the Lovers.’
20. Come On Gang! ‘Fortune Favours The Brave.’
21. Yusuf Azak ‘Eastern Sun.’
22. Admiral Fallow ‘Subbuteo.’
23. Konono N°1 ‘Wumbanzanga.’
24. LCD Soundsystem ‘Drunk Girls.’
25. Underworld ‘Scribble.’
26. Panico ‘Reverberation Mambo.’
27. Crystal Castles featuring Robert Smith ‘Not In Love.’
28. Stornoway ‘Zorbing.’
29. Yeasayer ‘Ambling Alp.’
30. Elf Power ‘Stranger In The Window.’
31. Twilight Sad ‘The Wrong Car.’
32. Scottish Enlightenment ‘Little Sleep.’
33. Antony and the Johnsons featuring Bjork ‘Flétta.’
34. Funeral Club ‘Whiskey and Clyde.’
35. The Dawn Chorus ‘Carnivalesque’
36. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti ‘Round & Round.’
37. Twin Shadow ‘Slow.’
38. Call To Mind ‘A9’
39. eagleowl ‘Into The Fold.’
40. Esben and the Witch ‘Marching Song.’
41. Veronica Falls ‘Beachy Head.’
42. The Unwinding Hours ‘Knut.’
43. Cancel The Astronauts ‘Funny For A Girl’
44. Penguins Kill Polar Bears ‘Homebound’
45. Twin Shadow -‘Tyrant Destroyed
46. Vacuum Spasm Babies ‘Chemical Burns.’
47. Scottish Enlightenment ‘Pascal.’
48. Sparrow and the Workshop ‘The Gun.’
49. Yeasayer ‘O.N.E.’
50. Stanley Odd ‘Think Of A Number.’
Stream the eagleowl EP ‘Into the Fold’ containing no.1 ‘No Conjunction’ and ‘Into The Fold Below’:
In answer of the accusations:
Let’s face it, every year it’s the same. It’s all indie, indie, indie…
Really? M.I.A., Konono N°1, Underworld, Kylie Minogue, Stanley Odd, Yeasayer…
It’s all men with guitars…
Given that women were responsible either in part or whole for eight out of the ten tracks in the top ten alone, I suggest you check it again.
…And it’s all Scottish.
Right… This is despite the appearance of Chile’s Panico, Konono N°1 hailing from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, M.I.A. being from Sri Lanka, Bjork is Icelandic, and the Suzan are Japanese. Added to which the appearance of people from the US, Canada, Northern Ireland and England…get yourself a better atlas! Oh, and Kylie’s Australian.
You broke the bloggers code! Why aren’t the National in there? And Arcade Fire? It’s the rule!
Says you. I like the Arcade Fire’s latest, but found the National’s album to be as overrated as Grizzly Bear were last year.
I know I post these every year…but what the heck, I love these two covers.
Originally released as a two-track single entitled Snow not long after their penultimate studio album Four Calendar Cafe, these two tracks attained the stuff of legend. I’m still kicking myself for not buying that single when I had the chance.
Ah well.
Cocteau Twins -‘Winter Wonderland.’ mp3
Cocteau Twins -‘Frosty The Snowman.’ mp3
And tomorrow, I will publish my annual Festive Fifty…
Hopefully the thaw will continue. In the meantime, a couple of tracks from a 1994 session that Elastica recorded for John Peel (RIP). Both these tracks took well known Christmas carols as their basis and became new songs in the hand of Justine Frischmann and her merry band:
Elastica -‘All For Gloria (Peel session).’ mp3
Elastica -‘I Wanna Be A King Of Orient Aah (Peel session).’ mp3
I’ve long associated Belle and Sebastian with Christmas. Not necessarily to do with these songs, so much as the Christmas of 1996, when I returned home from my first term at university with a recording of their then recently released second album If You’re Feeling Sinister, and my brother and I listened to it repeatedly during that holiday. As the years went by, I fell more in love with the band’s music and a romanticised idea of them. Still, I have met both Stevie Jackson and Stuart Murdoch and they were lovely folk.
Apologies to whichever member I drunkenly harangued in a pub in Glasgow circa 2004. ‘Oi, mate, you know that last track [‘Stay Loose’] off your last album [Dear Catastrophe Waitress]…you fuckin’ taking the piss out of Elvis Costello, or what?!?!’
There is a reason I don’t drink any more…
I don’t know much about how the following tracks came into being (all information gratefully received etc. etc.) but I hope you enjoy them as part of the latest installment of my Christmas posts, which you seem to be enjoying. Mostly…
Belle and Sebastian -‘O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.’ mp3
Belle and Sebastian -‘Are You Coming Over For Christmas?’ mp3
Belle and Sebastian -‘Christmas time is Here.’ mp3
‘Nature’s Glorious Rage’ was the song above all others that convinced me we had to sign The Last Battle to 17 Seconds Records. I went around singing the song for days, until my wife begged me to stop. When I played them to other people the line’we will grow majestic with rage’ was picked up on and praised.
And so here it is – a FREE download, coupled with two excellent new songs, ‘Once Upon A Boxing Day’ and ‘243’; the latter may very well be the best song Scott has written. They didn’t want to release two ‘pay for’ songs from Heart of the land, soul of the sea, so here it is!
Not only that, but the band are out on their first ever tour starting tomorrow, which will call at: Glasgow, Aviemore, Aberdeen, Hull, Leeds and London, before they return to play Kid Canaveral’s Xmas Baubles at the Lot in Edinburgh and the 3rd annual Christmas songwriters at Leith Dockers. The dates and places can be found here on their myspace
