The answer is lots, and I will post them here. It's one of my favourite Christmas songs because it somehow manages to be upbeat and festive whilst being fundamentally downbeat and being lyrically comprised of loneliness and despair. Overlook that and enjoy its brilliant melody instead. Merry Christmas!
And finally, my own version, featured on my Charity Christmas Album, which is...oh yeah! Now available to download on a pay what you want basis from my Bandcamp page!
The first five songs on my ipod's shuffle, as of 21/12/2010:
Ben Folds - The Luckiest
The Housemartins - Sheep
Crooked Mountain, Crooked Mountain - Like Mice In The Cellar
The Replacements - Androgynous
Allison Weiss - From You To Me
So I said I'd post the first five songs on my ipod's shuffle every day but I got a bit sidetracked with recording my Christmas album and stuff. Here's ten to catch up and a promise I'll get back to daily real soon.
Johnny Flynn - Shore to Shore
Sloan - The Dogs
Roddy Woomble - If I Could Name Any Name
Explosions In The Sky - With Tired Eyes, Tired Minds, Tired Souls, We Slept
The Get Up Kids - Stay Gone
Future of The Left - Wrigley Scott
Yo La Tengo - Gentle Hours
DJ Scotch Egg - Scotch Bach II
The American Analog Set - Choir Vandals
The Reversibles - Newton Told Me
Hello. I'm aware that I haven't blogged in a while and said I would blog a Christmas song every day, but I've just not had time what with working, catching up with family, recording my own Christmas album, y'know, all the usual festive fare. So apologies. I'm just going to blog when I can for the time being. Is that alright with you, O mighty blogosphere?
My Christmas album, incidentally, is nearly finished and should be done by the end of the week, at which point I'll be e-mailing everyone to donate to Roald Dahl's Marvellous Children's Charity. There'll be ten songs all in all, including two I've written in the past couple of weeks. Five are up already so check out this widget for a taste of festive cheer, sweeter than a Greggs mince pie and headier than a Marks and Spencers Christmas pudding.
So, without further ado, my top ten albums of 2010. I have put them in order but I reserve my right to change my mind later.
10. Frightened Rabbit - The Winter of Mixed Drinks
I've been a fan of these lovely Scottish lads for a while and was glad to see this album propel them from cult heroes to NME cover stars. I think it was largely on the strength of the single 'Swim Until You Can't See Land', their most upbeat and accessible effort to date, but this doesn't detract from what is one of the most eclectic, unpretentiously alternative rock albums of this year.
9. The Walkmen - Lisbon
This was an album that really took me by surprise, as I've always been fairly indifferent to the Walkmen. I'd listened to their previous album, 'Bows and Arrows', occasionally and enjoyed it, but never quite clicked with it. Thanks to this album, however, I'm now converted, and can't get enough. They have amazing guitar tone and some of the best use of brass in modern indie music, as well as a charming love for vintage upright pianos, which is never a bad thing.
8. The Weepies - Be My Thrill
I was introduced to the married folkie-pop duo The Weepies this summer by my girlfriend, who has an amazing talent for discovering exactly the kind of overly sentimental twee love-pop which pushes my buttons. This is a lovely album with some very tender moments and sweet, luscious harmonies. One for the softies out there.
7. Yeasayer - Odd Blood
I'd mistakenly excluded this album, thinking it had come out in late 2009 because that was when 'Ambling Alp' entered my DJ playlist at Lofi Hifi, but it did in fact come out in 2010. It's an incredibly original effort, a formidable blending of bizarre synth sounds, epic vocals and big melodies. I find it difficult to pin Yeasayer down to a style or compare them to anyone; you hear them, you know it's them, and there are very few bands you can say that of these days. Well done to them.
6. Mates of State - Crushes
These guys have been mentioned on this blog, along with The Weepies, as part of the married couple special. This is something of a wild card as it's a covers album, and these can often go either way. This one, however, works on all the right levels for such an album - great song choices, not too self-indulgent (though some would disagree on account of their young children providing backing vocals), faithful versions of the songs which still sound distinctively like Mates of State. Here's hoping they do a UK tour soon.
5. Ben Folds & Nick Hornby - Lonely Avenue
I think my love for Ben Folds is such that I'll enjoy any record he cares to guff out (although I thought this was the case with Weezer...more on that later), but this a very special and well crafted album. Hornby's lyrics, unsurprisingly, tell stories in a way that Folds always hinted he was capable of, but had perhaps never gone too deeply into. He was too busy being a snappy, sharp lyrical genius. It's a mature effort but outshines much of Folds' recent work and varies its pace and style expertly. The lead single, 'From Above' hit me hard, I think partly because I was half asleep when I heard it the first time on BBC 6Music earlier this year, but it's a stunning, thought provoking modern pop song. This animated video is ace too. I'll be seeing Ben at Hammersmith in Feb and you should be too.
4. The New Pornographers - Together
What would a year be without a stunning, punchy powerpop record? Everyone's favourite Canadian supergroup, featuring the stunning Neko Case on vocals, continue to go from strength to strength, and have produced what is possibly the album of their career, laden with upbeat hymns to alternative culture and joie de vivre. They've never sounded bigger and never been better.
3. Standard Fare - The Noyelle Beat
Johnny Foreigner have been my favourite boy/girl power trio for a long time but have nearly had their crown pinched by these cheeky newcomers. Their vocal split is well crafted, as are their songs, all of which climax in the right places and hint at emo whilst circumventing it entirely and staying cool and calm in their delivery of some incredibly telling lyrics, which become more poignant on the second, third and fourth listen. Definitely one to watch for 2011. It will be their year for sure.
2. Anamanaguchi - Scott Pilgrim: The Game OST
It's perhaps controversial to have such an album at number 2 I know, but this has been my commuting to work soundtrack for the past few months and has helped me no end, as well as being a breakthrough in modern 8 bit music and how it is perceived and used. These guys have been going for a few years now and I'm really glad that they've been granted a lot of mainstream attention through the greatest comic book series in the world. They deserve it, again because their music is totally original and they work damn hard at it. But most importantly, they have a sense of melody unparalleled by any modern instrumental group. I think it's personal to me because I grew up loving 8 bit music on my game boy and mega drive, but I think anyone can get into it, unless you believe that video games are stealing our children's brains or whatever the latest rubbish news report is saying about them.
1. Jukebox The Ghost - Everything Under The Sun
Two weeks ago I hadn't heard Jukebox The Ghost at all. I'd heard the name but wasn't really aware of their work. I was in Stockport recording a session for Pure FM with my dad and he played the song 'Hold It In' from their first album, which I thought was cool, so I checked them out when I got home and was immediately hooked. I bought both their albums and have had them on repeat ever since, especially the new record, released this year, which is a phenomenal, idiosyncratic piano-pop power-trio's explosion from boys into men. It has big, epic moments, tender moments, complex yet accessible piano lines, distinctive vocals, thoughtful lyrical content. All the components of a great pop record and more, which is why it's my personal favourite album of 2010.
So there you have it. Send me links to your own top tens so I can see if I'm on trend or just a loser with terrible taste. A couple of other mentions before I sign off:
Atrocity of the year - 'Hurley' by Weezer
I've already blogged at length about this but I just thought I'd remind everyone how rubbish it is and how silly they're being now when they have the capability to make the greatest pop-rock record of all time. Sort it out, Rivers.
Honourable mentions:
Beach House - Teen Dream
Allo, Darlin' - Allo, Darlin'
Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
Bad Books - Bad Books
Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record
Beck and Metric's songs for the Scott Pilgrim vs. The World Soundtrack
The Xcerts - Scatterbrain
So after yesterday's pondering I thought I'd drop in one from the band with my favourite name of all time, Half Man Half Biscuit, which has a extremely apt title. It speaks for itself, so no more introductory blather required. Here it is.
The first five songs on my ipod's shuffle, 6/12/2010:
The Boy Least Likely To - I'm Glad I Hitched My Apple Wagon To Your Star
The King Blues - I Got Love
Jimmy Eat World - Half Right
Anamanaguchi - Scott Pilgrim Anthem
Ed Sheeran - Move On
Again with the slightly downbeat Christmas fare I'm afraid, but a nonetheless lovely song which hints at the true meaning of Christmas and does still evoke images of family, friendship etc and oozes compassion despite its inherent ill feeling toward the season of goodwill. Give it a listen and download Luke's albums and donate - he deserves your time and your dollar.
The first five songs on my ipod's shuffle, 5/12/2010:
New Found Glory - I Don't Wanna Know
The Walkmen - Angela Surf City
Weezer - Possibilities
Into It. Over It. - Sebadon't
Something Corporate - Bad Days
A lot of the best Christmas songs are sad ones, unfortunately, and ones which tell of loneliness or, in this case, maybe just being alone and dealing with it. This one's by a brilliant band whose singer always dresses impeccably. I promise there'll be happy ones soon.
Slow Club put out a whole EP of Christmas songs last year so they might get a repeat this month because it's all amazing (and includes a fantastic cover of the Phil Spector classic 'Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)' which retains the soul of the original) but this song in particular is an absolute gem, as is this live performance I hadn't seen until today.
The first five songs on shuffle on my ipod, as of 3/12/2010:
The Get Up Kids - Mass Pike
The Jesus and Mary Chain - It's So Hard
Imogen Heap - Loose Ends
Biffy Clyro - Stress on the Sky
R.E.M. - Half A World Away
Now one of my earliest blogs on this page expressed my distaste at Weezer's current output and that still stands, but they are still one of the greatest bands around and this was a b-side from the Green Album era which is poignant but still somehow optimistic. Ahh. They've also covered a load of traditionals which are all on youtube if you do some digging. I've also recorded a cover of this and am currently tweaking it slightly so watch this space for that, and see my bedroom rendition below. Merry Advent!
The first five songs on shuffle on my ipod, on 02/12/2010:
Manchester Orchestra - Wolves at Night
Rivers Cuomo - Wanda (You're My Only Love)
The New Pornographers - Your Hands (Together)
Paddy Johnston & The Love Explosion - Days of Summer
Future of the Left - Fuck The Countryside Alliance
I'm going to blog a Christmas song every day from now until the magic day. Think of it as the Harmony, Counterpoint and Sarcasm Advent Calendar. First up is one I wasn't actually aware of until about ten minutes ago when it popped up on my news feed on facebook. I was aware of the Blink-182 original, of course, but I never thought of putting Mark Hoppus and Ben Folds in the same room. The result is joyous, and also bawdy. Not safe for work! Happy holidays.
I'm now going to do every shuffle as a separate thing I think. So it'll follow this format every day. The first five songs on my ipod's shuffle on 01/12/2010:
The Pixies - Hey
Winter Fires - Interlaken
The Duckworth Lewis Method - The Coin Toss
The Offspring - Change The World
Pinback - BB Tone
That's the first time any of my own music has crept in. Woops.
