3-4-FREE in its entirety

Hi everyone,
sorry for the lack of blogs recently - a mixture of the holiday season and illness in the family has put paid to some of my plans for these couple of weeks. Anywho one of said plans was to collate all the tracks from the 3-4-FREE feature from my radio show, The Cellar Door. Basically each week on the show I tell you how to get hold of 3 tracks absolutely free and legally. So here is this semester's entire collection along with all the links you need to get hold of them -

1. Butcher Boy - Carve A Pattern - http://www.box.net/shared/f5qavojved
2. Fenech Soler - I Need Your Love - http://www.myspace.com/fenechsoler (you need to sign up to the mailing list to get this one)
3. Riz MC - Sour Times - email 911blues@gmail.com for 13 free tracks
4. Harlem Shakes - Strictly Game - http://harlemshakes.com/?p=21
5. Gideon Conn - State of the Nation - http://www.friendsofmine.com/Gideon_Conn/
6. Au Revoir Simone - Shadows (Teenagers Remix) - http://www.clashmusic.com/feature/exclusive-au-revoir-simone-download
7. Solange - Stillness is the Move - http://stereogum.com/archives/mp3/solange_covers_dirty_projectors_100771.html
8. Port O'Brien - Leap Year - http://www.clashmusic.com/republic-of-music-download (this track is part of a free 16 track album available at this link)
9. Yeasayer - Ambling Alp - http://www.amblingalp.com/
10. Mumford & Sons - Sister - http://tinyurl.com/MumSons
11. Penguin Prison - A Funny Thing - http://tinyurl.com/PPrison
12. Metermaids - Jacksonville, or, A Letter Sent To Yourself in a Back to the Future Type Steez - http://www.metermaidsnyc.com/illinoise/
13. Magic Numbers - Hurt So Good - http://tinyurl.com/Mnumbers
14. Bedroom Walls - Hey! (Live) - http://www.bedroomwalls.com/mp3.html
15. Shy Child - Criss Cross - http://www.shychild.com/
16. Beach House - Norway - http://www.beachhousebaltimore.com/
17. The Futureheads - Struck Dumb - http://www.thefutureheads.com/
18. The Joy Formidable - Cradle - http://tinyurl.com/JFcradle

Sorry I'm not clever enough to put all the MP3s into a zip file or whatnot but I do hope you enjoy all this wonderful free music nonetheless! Listen to The Cellar Door next semester for even more tracks!

Christmas Music - the Good Kind!

This is being written on a packed train somewhere near Durham as I am whisked away to my hometown of Ipswich to spend a couple of weeks eating and drinking too much with my friends and family. Yes, Christmas is a mere week away and so shops and radio stations are awash with the same old Christmas songs being played ad nauseum until you lose whatever Christmas spirit the credit crunch, Joe McElderry and the general suckiness of humanity had left you with.

But fortunately not all Christmas songs make you want to give up on living, there are in fact some rather good alternative ones. So what makes an ‘alternative’ Christmas song? As far as I can see they fall into a few categories –

Songs about things going wrong at Christmas

Examples include I Won’t Be Home For Christmas by Blink-182, a heart-warming tale of a gentleman being driven somewhat insane by Christmas carollers and setting about them with a baseball bat. Which is actually fairly reasonable behaviour in a lot of people’s opinions. Also in this category is Seasick Steve’s Xmas Prison Blues which, as the name suggests, describes the experience of being locked up and experiencing the festivities behind bars. The Kinks are responsible for probably the finest example of this category with Father Christmas. In the song Ray Davies talks of the experience of being mugged by middle class kids when dressed as old St Nick. Well, we’ve all been there. Finally, Billy Idol tells a tale of a drunken father yelling at the needle-moulting symbol of goodwill in the living room in Yellin’ at the Christmas Tree.

Songs about relationships going sour at Christmas

The classic format for an alternative Christmas song, most notably of course in Fairytale of New York by the Pogues featuring Kirsty McCall. Whilst this is the one track on this list that is famous and played everywhere by everyone at this time of year it still deserves recognition for its sheer quality and the pure nastiness of the second verse. Other angry Christmas face offs include the bizarre combination of The Hives and Cyndi Lauper in A Christmas Duel and It’s Christmas (and I Hate You) by Josh Weller and Paloma Faith.  Merry lines from these songs include “I bought no gift this year and I slept with your sister” and the slightly predictable “You’re a ho ho ho”. Christmas TV by Slow Club takes a different route, focussing on a relationship that is falling apart rather than imploding. This is a beautiful and touching song of how one person misses another and wants them there at Christmas despite all the bad things that have happened. But not all Christmas songs about relationships are entirely negative – as witnessed by The Ramones’ conciliatory Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight).

Sweet but not Saccharine

There are also some very positive alternative Christmas songs such as The Magic of Christmas which was released this year to raise money for the RSPCA. Featuring indiepop stars such as Slow Club, Los Campesinos!, Sky Larkin and Copy Haho in hideous jumpers and Santa hats singing about how everything is awesome at Christmas the track brings a smile even to the face of the cynic. Sufjan Stevens has a whole album of excellent Christmas songs in the form of the 5-disc collection Songs for Christmas. The stand out track though is Come On Let’s All Boogie To the Elf Dance! where he sings about all the things going on around his house and neighbourhood as Christmas draws near before concluding with a rendition of Away in a Manger.

Miscellaneous

Finally there are those Christmas songs that defy categorisation. For example the somewhat bizarre Christmas at the Zoo by The Flaming Lips in which Wayne Coyne goes all PETA and attempts to free the animals at the zoo on Christmas Eve only to find them less than keen to vacate their cages. Kidnap the Sandy Claws is probably the best track from Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas and tells of the evil Ooogie-Boogie’s henchmen making plans to capture Father Christmas and hand him over to their devious master. The Raveonettes’ The Christmas Song is a mixture of happy and sad as the protagonist sings of not being able to spend December 25^th with a lover as the Christmas lights come on. Mew’s beautiful, Sigur Ros style She Came Home for Christmas which tells of uneasy feelings and emotions being dredged up by a woman’s return home for the holiday season. The ambiguity in the haunting vocal makes this far more difficult to categorise than it is to recommend.

So there you have it, a list of rather ace Christmas music that will give you some alternative listening over the holidays. What's more they're all handily compiled in a Spotify playlist which is located right here - Alternative Xmas Playlist

I hope you enjoy it and have a merry Christmas!

Live Review: The Cribs, Los Campesinos! and Sky Larkin

Last Sunday Edinburgh’s Corn Exchange played host to one of the most solid 3 band line-ups I’ve ever seen – The Cribs supported by their Wichita label-mates Los Campesinos! and Sky Larkin.

           

The first band on stage were up-and-coming Leeds-based trio Sky Larkin (8/10) who have recently been highlighted alongside The XX, Memory Tapes and Florence & The Machine in the iTunes Picks of 2009. Imagine a tighter, slightly more mature Kabeedies and you’re not far wrong. The band kicked off their set with Antibodies - the stand out track from their debut album Golden Spike, released earlier this year. The song is 3 and a half minutes of toe-tapping indie with a ridiculously catchy chorus that is still stuck in my head many days later. Other highlights include Matador, a wonderful indie-pop track, the main guitar riff and cymbal heavy drum-line effortlessly conjuring up the image of lazy summer evenings. Featuring the most determined looking drummer possibly ever and a charismatic lead singer who already shows she knows how to command a situation with ease Sky Larkin are a band who will only get bigger and better in 2010.

           

Next to perform were possibly the best live band in the country at the moment – Los Campesinos! (9/10) The twee English 7-piece took to the stage as the venue began to fill up properly and handled the crowd with far more assurance than you would expect from a support band, particularly one quite musically different from the headline act. It does of course help that in Gareth Campesinos! they have one of the great British front-men of the last decade and that their music is earnest, heartfelt and fun. Despite a slightly shaky start the band soon get on track and take songs from both of their first two albums, getting the crowd worked up with fan favourites You! Me! Dancing!, Miserabilia and My Year in Lists amongst others. Perhaps most impressive were the two tracks from new album Romance is Boring, due out in the UK in February of next year. The Sea is a Good Place to Think About the Future in particular takes the band in a darker, more atmospheric direction and the relatively sweeping vastness of the song is emphasised even more when performed live, which is quite a feat. The set is concluded with the stomping, raucous Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks part of which is played with Gareth singing from the middle of the crowd which is now totally and utterly on his side. Los Campesinos! tour the UK again in February, returning to Edinburgh on the 17^th to play the far more intimate Bongo Club, an experience which can not be recommended highly enough.

The final, headline act of the night were The Cribs (7.5/10) a band who have come a long way since the last time I saw them live, supporting The Ordinary Boys nearly 5 years ago. As well as adding an all-time legend of music to their ranks in the shape of Johnny Marr they have had a top 10 album in Ignore the Ignorant and a top 20 single with 2007’s Men’s Needs. They’ve also got a tighter, better developed stage presence, even if Johnny Marr does seem to do his best to play despite of, rather than for, the crowd of adoring fans below him. The development of their performance The Cribs has been coupled with the build up of a quite formidable back catalogue including hits such as Hey Scenesters!, Cheat on Me and You Were Always The One which get the nearly full Corn Exchange bouncing and yelling along. The chemistry and energy of The Cribs live performance is undeniable and transfers to the crowd, who are highly receptive to it, becoming a heaving jumping mass. Whilst there was something of a lull about 2/3 of the way through their set as the mellower and newer songs got rolled the band took it to a strong finish that included the quite outstanding Mirror Kissers.

The Cellar Door Christmas Special (8/12/09) and Top 10 albums of 2009

So on Tuesday (December 8th) from 2:30-4pm the Cellar Door Christmas Special 2009 was broadcast on Fresh Air. It was also the last show of 2009 so it seemed fitting to include songs from my 10 favourite albums of the year. And guess what? This is one list where Animal Collective are nowhere to be seen! The show also included a few decent Christmas songs from the likes of The Flaming Lips, HUNKS and The Pogues, 3 tracks available for absolutely free in 3-4-FREE and the first radio play of Selfish and Unreasonable by Life and Times Of... So anyways, here is the playlist from the show -

Life and Times Of... - Selfish and Unreasonable

The Flaming Lips - Christmas at the Zoo

The Mummers - March of the Dawn

Slow Club - It Doesn't Have To Be Beautiful (Unless It's Beautiful)

Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard - If Life Exists (?)

Tim Minchin - The Good Book

Jamie T - Emily's Heart

Cats on Fire - Fabric

Florence & The Machine - My Boy Builds Coffins

Sufjan Stevens - Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois

Butcher Boy - This Kiss Will Marry Us

HUNKS - The Magic of Christmas

Broken Records - If Eilert Loevborg Wrote A Song It Would Sound Like This

3-4-FREE

Beach House - Norway (http://www.beachhousebaltimore.com)

The Futureheads - Struck Dumb (http://www.clashmusic.com/feature/futureheads-download-exclusive)

The Joy Formidable - Cradle (http://www.myspace.com/thejoyformidable)

The Boy Least Likely To - When Life Gives Me Lemons I Make Lemonade

Airborne Toxic Event - Gasoline

The Pogues feat. Kirsty MacCool - Fairytale of New York

CELLAR DOOR LIVE TRACK FACE OFF THING WINNER -

Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah (live)

So what were those top 10 albums of 2009?  -

10. The Mummers - Tale To Tell

9. Florence & The Machine - Lungs

8. Broken Records - Until The Earth Begins To Part

7. The Boy Least Likely To - Law of the Playground

6. Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard - Em Are I

5. Jamie T - Kings & Queens

4. Cats on Fire - Our Temperance Movement

3. Airborne Toxic Event - Airborne Toxic Event

2. Butcher Boy - React or Die

1. Slow Club - Yeah, So

For those of you who have Spotify here is a playlist of 7 of the top 10 albums (the Boy Least Likely To, Cats on Fire and Slow Club albums aren't on Spotify. Lame.) - Cellar Door Top Albums of 2009

Expect more bloggage soon... 

Top 10 Albums of 00's

Yes, yes, I know everyone is doing these end of decade lists right now but I thought I'd weigh in anyways. So below are my personal Top Ten albums released between January 1st 2000 and today (December 4th 2009). Note these are not what I consider the most influential or most technically skillful or most ambitious, forward thinking albums but the ones that I would choose if I were only ever allowed to listen to 10 albums from this decade until I die. My personal favourites basically. So, without any further ado...

10. THE ARCTIC MONKEYS - WHATEVER PEOPLE SAY I AM, THAT'S WHAT I'M NOT (2006)

An absolute sensation when it came out in 2006, its release getting pushed forward a week due to the high demand that had built up since the first demos had made their way onto the internet in 2004. The record did not disappoint and promptly became the fastest selling debut album in UK history. It's not hard to see why - the tunes and guitar riffs often grab you round the throat and demand your attention and Alex Turner has a wonderful talent for turning the most mundane, normal events into poetic, witty stories. Whether it be a drunken taxi ride, seeing an awful band in a small venue or eyeing up a girl on the dancefloor The Arctic Monkeys frontman can turn it into a 2-3 minute experience from the frontline of youth culture at the time. Whilst the band have produced two excellent albums since this they have yet to top it.

Stand Out Track: Fake Tales of San Francisco


9. DAN LE SAC VS. SCROOBIUS PIP - ANGLES (2008)

An album that managed to dispel two popular myths about hip-hop - firstly that it's all about guns, bitches and bling and secondly that Americans do it best. With a delivery that is as much spoken word as rap and backed up with some brilliant manipulation of beats by Dan Le Sac this duo turned UK hip-hop on its head. Whilst most people would have been drawn to Angles by the #30 hit and Zane Lowe favourite Thou Shalt Always Kill the album has incredible depth. This depth is most obvious on the darker tracks such as Tommy C and, most of all, the self-harm inspired Magician's Assistant - a track which literally had me standing there with my mouth open when I first heard it. But these guys also know how to have fun as the bouncy Beat That My Heart Skipped and Fixed (which samples Dizzee Rascal's Fix Up Look Sharp) amply prove.

Stand Out Track: Magician's Assistant

8. JEFFREY LEWIS - THE LAST TIME I DID ACID I WENT INSANE AND OTHER FAVOURITES (2001)

 

The debut album of singer-songwriter and comic book artist Jeffrey Lewis was an excellent example of the anti-folk movement that was growing in New York at the time. Although overshadowed by his friends The Moldy Peaches and their self-titled debut album released in the same year Lewis' neurotic, self-analysing songs of heartbreak and bad luck provide a more compelling view of the human condition. The intimate, lo-fi style of his songs provide the perfect backing to showcase his touching and sometimes brutally honest lyrics. If it were not for a couple of weak links (in the form of Amanda is a Scalape and The Man With The Golden Arm) this album could've been much higher in the list. Luckily these tracks are outnumbered by quality songs such as the perky Life, the garage rock style Another Girl and the beautifully gentle Chelsea Hotel Oral Sex Song.

Stand Out Track: The Chelsea Hotel Oral Sex Song

7. VAMPIRE WEEKEND - VAMPIRE WEEKEND (2008)

A debut album of such confidence and assurance it was hard to believe Vampire Weekend had been together little over 18 months when they made it. The fusion of classical music with African popular music was so different from everything that was around at the time that you couldn't help but sit up and listen and A-Punk quickly established itself as one of the biggest anthems of 2008. The rest of the album backed up the promise of that single with a group of songs all definitely by Vampire Weekend but all distinctly different. From the loping The Kids Don't Stand A Chance to the sweeping I Stand Corrected and the punchy, aforementioned A-Punk this album did many different things and did them very very well.

Stand Out Track: A-Punk

6. DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS - PLEASE DESCRIBE YOURSELF (2004)

An album that proved a great name was not all Dogs Die In Hot Cars had going for them. A fun, bouncy sideways look at mid 2000's Britain Please Describe Yourself was based around urgent drums and a fantastic interplay between the band's two guitars and single keyboard and topped with Craig Macintosh's Andy Partridge-style vocals. With songs that commented on obsession with celebrity culture, alternative health fads and CCTV Please Describe Yourself  was very much of its time but nevertheless still has the power today to raise a smile and make you want to dance like a loon.

Stand Out Track: Pasttimes & Lifestyles

5. BLOC PARTY - SILENT ALARM (2005)

 

Coming in 2005, Silent Alarm offered a new take on indie music - suddenly it could be expansive, political and genre-bending. From start to finish the album is an intense, riveting combination of Kele Okereke's terse, urgent vocals, synths and lyrics of alienation and anger. From anthems you can jump and sing along to (like Helicopter) to political commentaries on George Bush Jr.'s actions in the Middle East and views on black people (like err... Helicopter) Silent Alarm offers energy by the bucketful. All 13 tracks on this album are top notch and the range of topics tackled with such skill and encased in such high quality music is quite breath-taking. Like the Arctic Monkeys Bloc Party have followed their debut with some fantastic albums that come close but never quite beat their first.


Stand Out Track: Helicopter

4. Los Campesinos! - We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed (2008)

The second album from Los Campesinos! showed a more mature sound than their debut Hold On Now, Youngster... even though it was released a mere 33 weeks later. This increase in maturity fortunately did not equate to a loss of  the energy, enthusiasm and romanticism that made their debut album so impressive and caused it to teeter on the edge of this particular top 10 run-down. The most noticeable thing about Los Campesinos! has always been their lyricism and this album continues and improves upon this tradition, particularly on the violin-laden title track. These original, sometimes bizarre, sometimes touching lyrics are set against a somewhat frenzied backdrop of guitar, drums, glockenspiel and violin to tremendous effect, creating an album that speaks of the young people on the fringes of mainstream society.

Stand Out Track: Documented Minor Emotional Breakdown #1

3. JJ72 - JJ72 (2000)

                                                 

The oldest album in the top 10, JJ72 is a truly underrated piece of indie-rock genius. It is an album that is packed with emotion and anguish without ever becoming a cliche and what made this achievement even more remarkable was the youth of the three band members - all were just 20 when they recorded this. All the songs within have a real sense of atmosphere and pack a powerful emotional punch, frequently teamed with immense string sections. This is a record that just has that indescribable mystery element that sends shivers through you and has the power to stop you in your tracks.

Stand Out Track: Not Like You

2. KIMYA DAWSON - HIDDEN VAGENDA (2004)

The most striking thing about Kimya Dawson's 4th solo album is the incredible intimacy of it. Whilst this has always been a feature of her songwriting since leaving the Moldy Peaches it is taken to the Nth degree on Hidden Vagenda. Songs deal with the death of loved ones, her brother's battle for custody of his child and her mother's health problems as well as broader topics such as consumerism, capitalism and domestic abuse. Whilst this is a particularly dark album, which can be discomforting at times due to the very personal nature of it, Hidden Vagenda does have more positive notes and you never doubt that Kimya will come out of the experiences stronger. All in all, this is an album that offers an unparalled insight into a performer's life whilst still commenting on emotions and situations that nearly all people will experience. For being both incredibly intimate and yet universal Hidden Vagenda came very close to being my number 1 choice for album of the decade.

Stand Out Track: I Will Never Forget

And so finally we come to the number 1 - my favourite album of the last ten years. It's...

1. SUFJAN STEVENS - COME ON FEEL THE ILLINOISE (2005)

This is a quite remarkable record that ranks as one of the greatest albums ever, let alone of this decade. It is an epic, orchestral piece of beautiful indie music that superbly compliments Steven's quavering, delicate voice. One of the best qualities of the record is that it is a proper album which should be listened to start to finish, rather than a collection of songs. Whilst individual tracks such as Chicago (used in Little Miss Sunshine), The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades is Out to Get Us! and the tragic, haunting John Wayne Gacy Jr. are absolutely excellent it is when the album comes together as a whole it becomes truly remarkable. There really aren't enough superlatives in the language to describe this album, all I can do is recommend that you buy this album (available for £9 or less in most places), sit down and listen to it. You will not be at all disappointed.

So there you go - the top ten albums, in my opinion, of the 00s. Here are some random facts about the list -

• 2008 was the year with the most albums in the list (3) while 2002, 2003, 2007 and 2009 didn't have any.
• 5 of the acts were from the UK, 4 came from the USA and 1 was from Ireland.
• There are 26 males and 6 females in the list (although the split in the top 4 is only 7:5).
  
• 3 of the acts are solo artists whilst 7 are bands.

Thus concludes my first blog post. Hopefully I'll be updating this at least once a week.


Take care,


Chris