6 – “The Mother We Share” – CHVRCHES
At first listen, these Scots sound cotton candy light, an updated take on Nu Shooz, straight out of 1986. But there is weight behind the layers of keyboards and synthesizers. There is depth to Lauren Mayberry’s voice that surprises upon repeated listens. And, good Lord, that hook! Great bands spend their entire careers attempting to come up with a hook like this, and CHVRCHES do it on their very first song.
The countdown continues next week.
A couple articles about Christmas music to share.
First, the Legend himself, Darryl McDaniels, aka DMC, talks about the surprising RUN-DMC holiday classic, “Christmas In Hollis.” I say surprising because an awful lot of people scoffed when it appeared on the first A Very Special Christmas album next to songs by Madonna, Springsteen, Mellencamp, U2, and Whitney. “That’s not Christmas music!” Au contraire!
And I think the importance of food is a big part of the reason why that song was able to touch so many people—Asian people; Hispanic people; Italian people; Catholics and Buddhists and Muslims. People could relate to that video, because what do you do during holidays and celebratory times? You sit down with your family and share that special meal. So not only does that record touch black people in the hood. It touches Jewish people, German people. It touches people all over the world.
Mom’s Cookin’ Chicken and Collard Greens
Second, why are there no new classic songs? In the last 30 years there have been what, three new classics? “Christmas In Hollis,” “Do They Know It’s Christmas,” and “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” At Salon, Chris Klimen argues that’s another consequence of the digital music revolution.
It’s a shame that A Mary Christmas, like an increasing number of holiday albums, doesn’t bother to submit any new songs for our consideration. Since consumers can simply cherry-pick the songs they want, why make the effort?
I do agree that Kelly Clarkson’s “Underneath the Tree” is solid. Good enough to enter the canon? I guess we’ll see if anyone remembers it in five years.
I also think part of the problem is some of the better recent songs are not necessarily safe for radio. The Pogues’ “Fairytale Of New York” is an all-time great holiday song. But you don’t want to be playing it between songs about the baby Jesus. Same for John Legend’s “Nutmeg,” which appears on Stephen Colbert’s holiday album.
7 – “Royals” – Lorde
What a run. I first heard of Lorde late last year (iTunes tells me I added “Royals” to my library on Jan. 26, 2013). Then, the novelty of a sixteen-year-old New Zealander making interesting music was enough to get her some attention. By spring all the cool music websites were in love with her. Come mid-summer, the smart people station in Bloomington had her in heavy rotation. And now, of course, she’s inescapable. Oh, and there’s the matter of the song being inspired by an old picture of George Brett.
Which isn’t a bad thing. While “Royals” has no doubt been over-played, her album, Pure Heroine, is fantastic, start-to-finish. Let’s hope she doesn’t fall prey to the many perils of fame. If she’s this good as a teenager, there’s no telling what she has in store as she gets older, wiser, and more worldly.
Deep into the holiday season, are we. The DVR has gone from about 30% full to nearly 70% of capacity thanks to all the holiday shows we’ve recorded. The pantry is full of the dry ingredients for our annual Christmas cookies, which we’ll make soon. I’m beginning to run out of new places to put Elf on the Shelf each night.
But our holidays got a jolt of newness Saturday when L. lost her first tooth. I didn’t realize her tooth was even close to coming out, but Saturday she had S. take a look at it, and with a quick yank she had a gap in her bottom row. She was very happy, and wondered aloud how much money the Tooth Fairy would bring her. Which set off an argument when S. said she got $5 for a front tooth and M. insisted she didn’t get that much when she lost her front teeth. I honestly couldn’t remember, and didn’t bother to look it up, but I think that’s right. Regardless, L. got $5.
I’ve always been pretty proud of my Tooth Fairy performance. Each effort has come without incident. The closest call came once with C., when I stepped on a Zhou Zhou pet that was lying on the floor and set it off. Luckily neither she nor L. woke up before I tossed it out into the hallway1. And once I forgot to make the switch until morning. But it was C. again, and being our deepest sleeper, I had no problem slipping in and making the last-minute switch before I roused her for breakfast.
All this went through my mind Saturday night after I slid the money under L.’s pillow. So naturally, in the dark of a 7:00 AM December morning, she kept coming into our room and telling us she couldn’t find her loot. When she left the room, S. would whisper to me, “Where’d you put it?” “UNDER HER PILLOW!” I’d whisper back then flip over and hide my head under the pillow, trying to squeeze in a few more minutes of sleep. Fortunately, with some help from the sisters, L. found it. Apparently it had worked its way from her beneath pillow to the space between her bed frame and her mattress. But there it was, thankfully, and she was ready to go to Target or anywhere, really, where she could spend it.
That wasn’t her only excitement. Her class has been practicing their songs for the school Christmas program for a couple weeks. The Pre-K fills the special role of acting out the first Christmas. Parts were handed out Monday and she nabbed the plum role of Mary. No lines, she just has to dress up and hold a doll. But this is a Catholic preschool, so Mary is about as big a role as you can get!
Her sisters are busy practicing for their programs as well. M.’s class is putting on a Christmas mystery of sorts. She has a lot of lines, in the role of Mistletoe the FBI inspector. FBI stands for something festive and funny, but she left her lines at school and I can’t remember what that is. C. is an angel in the first grade’s living nativity scene next week. She has four lines and gets to help hold the star that guides the wise men.
So pretty heady times for the girls. Drama camp can’t be too far off in the future if they nail these performances.
8 – “Diane Young” – Vampire Weekend
Modern Vampires of the City is getting a lot of Album Of The Year run. While I liked it a lot, too, I may be one of the few who liked their last album, Contra, more. It was tough to pick a favorite track from this fine collection. But this song’s frenetic tempo grabbed me the most.
There is a danger in completing your Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving: the kids change their minds. L. made a brand-new Christmas list yesterday. Luckily one thing on it is up in the attic, so she won’t be totally disappointed.
I know many of you saw this last week, but it was absolutely worth making sure no one missed it. Enjoy Deadspin’s Drew Magary ripping apart his seven-year-old daughter’s Christmas list. Long-time friend of the blog Stacey B. said it looked like something I would do. I am both honored with the comparison and upset I didn’t do it first. But my girls aren’t nearly as ridiculous as his daughter is.
“1,000 bucks.” This is Christmas, not an Italian wedding. Uncle Vito isn’t gonna slip you an envelope in between stints at the raw bar. We put thought into our gifts here. You want cash? Clear the spiders out of the attic. I’ll give you three bucks for it. A thousand dollars. Jesus Christ. I’m sorry, but you cannot have this.
9 – “I Don’t Know How” – Best Coast
As I wrote when I first shared the video for this song last month, singer Bethany Cosentino drives some critics nuts with her repetitive lyrics. But I love her.
And I love how this song begins as a droning, (indie rock) torch song and then gains (false?) confidence through the middle third. And that final third? Oh man, that’s pure greatness. “You see me everywhere, you walk around without a care,” is a wonderful, devastating lyric, and when contrasted with the jubilant, almost defiant music, it’s a brilliant combination.
The critics can suck it.
Here we go. The top 10, one per day for the next two weeks. Enjoy.
10 – “Amsterdam” – Gregory Alan Isakov.
Most gorgeous song of the year. That final verse, “Oh churches and trains…” Mercy!
You can have your Mumford and Sons. I’ll take Isakov for beautiful, warm, country-tinged neo-folk.
My Favorite Songs Lists are always works in progess. Each January I start a new list in iTunes called XX Favs, where XX = that year. As I listen to music over the next 11 months or so, I toss my favorites into it. A few times during the year I’ll scan the list, delete songs that no longer delight and put some thought into how they would line up if the year ended that day. So when October rolls around, and I begin considering the final order, I’ve already got nine solid months of thoughts about it.
Each year I evaluate songs a little differently. This year, after a period in November where I considered using the Top 10 + 10 unordered Honorable Mentions, I’m sticking with a true Top 20.
There was a complication. Long-time readers know I have the rule of only one song per artist. Well, this year I had the hardest damn time with one band in particular. It just happens to be my favorite current band, who put out my favorite album of the year. I struggled mightily to choose between two songs for what turns out to be my favorite song of the year. For a couple weeks I even considered having co-#1’s. But after many extra listens and some more thought, I finally picked one.
I’ll kick off the list with songs 11-20 today. Next week, I’ll share a song each day until we get to #1. Links will take you to Soundcloud or YouTube versions so you can sample on your own. I hope you find something new to enjoy here.
20 – “Colorful Kids” – Ha Ha Tonka
19 – “In The Morning” – Jon Hardy & The Public
We kick it off with two Missouri bands, one from West Plains, in south-central Missouri, the other from St. Louis.
Ha Ha Tonka sounds like an Ozarks Vampire Weekend. Jon Hardy is crowdsourcing funds to get his next album recorded, mixed, and pressed. Based on the songs I’ve heard, he’s worth the investment.
18 – “Perennials” – Widowspeak
I’m not ready to go all-in with the bearded, flanneled, neo-hippy, modern folk movement. But this is a beautiful song.
17 – “Honey & I” – Haim
One of the big, manufactured music controversies of the year that didn’t involve Kanye or Miley was whether Haim is “indie” or not. It doesn’t matter. Their music, which is more Sunny SoCal pop mixed with early 90s R&B, is damn good regardless of the label slapped upon it by others.
16 – “Confidence” – The Dodos
They remind me a lot of the Helio Sequence, a band that cracked my top 20 a year ago. I love the progression of this song, from gentle ballad to thumping scorcher.
15 – “Master Of My Craft” – Parquet Courts
They’re originally from Texas, but in their time in New York they’ve managed to soak up, and repurpose, all the best elements of classic NYC punk. You can hear the smart, arty rock of Talking Heads, the sneering snobbery of early Beastie Boys, and the pure silliness of the Ramones. And this has one of my absolute favorite lyrics of the year, “Socrates died in the fucking gutter!”
14 – “This Ladder Is Ours” – The Joy Formidable
Another fantastic song by my sister and brothers from Wales.
13 – “Weight” – Mikal Cronin
Take classic power pop, crank it up to 11, and you get Mikal Cronin.
12 – “Sea Of Love” – The National
They’ve reached Modern Masters status, and a new album pretty much guarantees they’ll make my year end favorites list. This isn’t quite as good as “Mistaken For Strangers” or “England,” but it’s still pretty great. Bonus points for a positively oddball video.
11 – “History Eraser” – Courtney Barnett
There are two young, mellow, incredibly talented, female artists from the southern hemisphere in my Top 20. Ms. Barnett has a very different artistic and visual aesthetic than Lorde, but she’s no less great. Her style is deceptive. Behind the pot haze and rambling vocals are some amazing lyrics. It just takes a few listens to realize it.
The era of cheap and easy streaming music makes it easy for anyone to assemble a pretty nifty playlist for the holidays. However, you need to go beyond just your favorite songs. You need to dive into Christmas albums and build sets that can be spun for hours as the soundtrack for your parties, dinners, and Christmas morning celebrations.
The core of these selections should be built around the holiday music of Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, and Dean Martin.1 But to do it right, you need to go beyond those legends. So, as my holiday gift to you, here are some fine albums that should be in the collection (virtual or real) of every discriminating holiday entertainer.
Ella Wishes You a Swingin Christmas – Ella Fitzgerald
Merry Christmas From Lena Horne – Lena Horne
Two albums filled with the lightness of the season and wonderful vocal performances. Fitzgerald is more technically pure where Horne bounces along in a jazzy style. Fitzgerald’s “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?” is the perfect song to end the holiday season with.
A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector – Various
The Wall of Sound comes to Christmas. The Ronettes, The Crystals, and the greatest pop Christmas song ever.
The Nutcracker Suite – Duke Ellington and His Orchestra.
Jazzy takes on the holiday magic that is The Nutcracker? Yes, please!
Ultra-Lounge/Christmas Cocktails – Various
Christmas Remixed – Holiday Classics Re-Grooved – Various
A fine way to spice up the season with classic tunes by the original performers reimagined through new backing music. The Ultra-Lounge set makes each song sound straight out of 1960s Las Vegas. While Remixed puts the originals over beats crafted by modern DJs. Both albums are fantastic and perfect for the uptempo portion of the night.
The Ultimate Classical Christmas Album Of All Time – Various
And here we find the balance to the swingin’ tunes. Beautiful songs for late in the evening, when the lights are dimmed and you can enjoy one last drink while admiring the tree. Forty-three tracks, so best when trimmed to fit your preferences.
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