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Latest Vinyl Releases #4

Mike — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 18:05:24 +0000

New Releases:

Arcade Fire – Suburbs $26.97

Best Coast – Crazy for You $16.97

Books – The Way Out $19.97

Budos Band – III $16.97

Crowded House – Intriguer $19.97

Cut Chemist – Sound of the Police $18.97

Department of Eagles – Archive 03-06 $17.97

El-P – Weareallgoingtoburninhellmixxx3 $24.97

Endless Boogie – Full House Head $19.97

Brandon Flowers(Killers) – Crossfire(picture 10″) $6.97

Four Tet – Angel Echoes Remix $9.97

Herbie Hancock – Imagine Project $27.97

Jaill – That’s How We Know $15.97

Seu Jorge – Almaz $18.97

Lady Gaga – Remix $17.97

Lost in the Trees – All Alone in an Empty House $16.97

Love Language – Libraries $17.97

The McGarrigle Hour $18.97

Menomena – Mines $19.97

School of Seven Bells – Disconnect From Desire $24.97

Stars - Five Ghosts $19.97

Torche/Boris – Chapter Ahead $15.97

Next Stop Soweto Vol 3 – 24.97

Versus – On the Ones & Threes $24.97

Wolf Parade – Expo 86 $19.97

Recent Releases that finally got issued or we finally got in:

Big Boi – Sir Luscious Left Foot $15.97

Devo – Something For Everybody $22.97

Eminem – Recovery $15.97

Gogol Bordello – Trans-Continental Hustle $21.97

Indian Jewelry – Totaled $15.97

JJ – N 2 $16.97

LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening $19.97

Meshuggah – Alive $24.97

Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More $15.97

Matt Pond PA – Dark Leaves $17.97

Punch Brothers – Antifogmatic $24.97

Robert Randolph – We Walk This Road $26.97

Sleigh Bells – Treats $19.97

Surfer Blood – Astro Coast $14.97

Rokia Traore – Tchamatche $28.97

Reggae Gold 2010 $17.97

Reissues:

Hawkwind – Hawkwind $17.97

Michael Hurley – First Songs $17.97

Metallica – Reload $29.97

National – Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers $18.97

Radio Birdman – Radios Appear $17.97

Santana/John McLaughlin – Love Devotion Surrender $24.97

Robin Trower – Bridge of Sighs $24.97

Tom Waits/Crystal Gayle – One From the Heart Sdtk. $19.97

So the links send you to our download site, thinkindie.com, so you can sample and/or download.

World Cup Songs: The Good, the Bad, the *&#@ing Atrocious.

Tanner — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 18:22:51 +0000

It’s world cup time… and if you’re reading this post from somewhere in the United States, their is a good chance you don’t give a shit. But for the rest of us, and the world -- this is a big deal. Like the Olympics, but with more swagger and focused excitement. And like any proper world class event, sporting or otherwise, it comes with assortment of officially recognized merchandise, memorabilia, product tie-ins, and of course songs.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRpeEdMmmQ0

This year’s Official offering is from Shakira (and ostensibly, Fozzie Bear.) “Waka Waka” A colorful and frankly goofy song that bounces around to a tribally 2-step rhyme while Shakira does what she does best; shake her ass and belt out asinine lyrics like…

You’re a good soldier
Choosing your battles
Pick yourself up
And dust yourself off
And back in the saddle

(If i didn’t know better, I’d say she was positioning this track to be the official song of the US Occupation of Afghanistan… too soon?)

Ok. All things considered, not too bad… not to good, but lets see what else we can find…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=urgL8uyzM2M

Get on your Boots -- U2.

The only nice thing i can say about this one is that the remix they did for the world cup featuring the Soweto Gospel Choir mercifully pulls out much of the original tracks elements and replaces them with Africany sounding stuff. You know what i mean, you’ve all listened to Graceland. It’s like that, but guileless and with 100% more Bono. Ewwww…

Oh so we need a “Good” entry now in order to make this post true to the title… Why don’t you, dear readers, post your favorite World Cup Songs. I’ve exhausted my good will from repeated viewings of World in Motion…

Kon & Amir – Off Track Vol. III: Brooklyn

Amelia — Thu, 20 May 2010 20:47:52 +0000

Let me start off by saying that every time we’ve played this number in the store, someone immediately wants to purchase it. You just can’t beat that kind of market research. Now for my bit:

This compilation of “Pure Ghetto Disco, Funk and African Boogie” from Brooklyn is the third offering in Kon & Amir’s series of city themed adventures in rare 45′s. Once described by Lord Finesse as “two of the most extraordinary but underrated beat diggers in the game,” the duo split up over two discs to share choice cuts from their expansive collecti0n. Kon takes the first disc, laying out a continuous mix of tracks, layering a bit here and there to stitch together funk and soul. Highlights include the soaring bass groove of slamming opening track “From the Heart” (Kon’s Multi Remix) by Donny McCollough, the temperature raising “Burnin’ Up” (Kon’s Edit) by S.F.B., and self titled track “E.O.D.” by prison band Edge of Darkness. In fact, the Edge of Darkness sums up the unfortunate situation that made most of the artists on this compilation underexposed. Bands with raw and unique talent from the ghetto were underfunded and under-appreciated, while bands with a more marketable sound soared on labels like Motown.

Amir’s disc guides the focus to Fela influenced African boogie and disco. This side represents the global ghetto underground melting pot of the album’s dedicated burrough. As a youngster with a fantastical vision of the sparkling 70′s, these jams make me envision a period of nightclubs blasting off into outer space to party in the funkosphere to the likes of “Galaxy” by Galaxy. “Saturday Night Raps” by Dizzy K is a dance floor stomper that would work just as well as a block party thumper. Picture yourself in the prime of your youth, doing the bump with a hot dog in one hand and a 40oz . in the other, that’s what this sounds like. My only complaint about this release is the severely shortened content of the LP version, but a full vinyl release would probably be out of the average browser’s price range anyway. Make it your summer soundtrack.

Record Store Dayin (grainy, faux-polaroid style) Photos

Tanner — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 18:45:11 +0000

Record Store Day Update-People Get Ready

Pure Pop — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 23:53:25 +0000

We’re a little over a week away from Record Store Day 2010. The last two were a lot of fun, so we’re pretty excited. There are a ton of titles this year on all formats, including exclusives, reissues, live material and all sorts of other neat stuff. In addition to all the Record Store Day releases, we’re going to be running some cool sales and putting out a ton of cheap used cd’s and lp’s.

This year we have an extra-special treat. We will proudly be hosting Grace Potter and some of her band-mates from The Nocturnals. They are going to come in to sign albums and meet fans. As if that wasn’t enough, Grace will also be DJing at the store for the final hours of the event. One can imagine a high-calibar songstress like herself having great taste! They should be arriving around 7pm.

Feel free to call the store with any questions you may have. Please take note of a few details before you do:

-Store Hours on Record Store Day will be 10am-9pm

-All of our orders for Record Store Day titles are in. We tried to get just about everything. Given the limited nature of these releases, we’re not sure exactly how much we’ll be getting of anything.

-We will not be reserving any of the event’s exclusive titles for customers. No exceptions. All items are first come first serve. If you really want that Magnetic Fields “69 Love Songs” Vinyl box set, come at ten o’clock.

-More information can be found at the event’s official website.

-Here is a fairly comprehensive list of Record Store Day releases:

LP’s:

Joan Baez – “Joan Baez”

Band of Skulls – “Live at Fingerprints”

Jeff Beck – “Emotion & Commotion”

Bird and the Bee – “Interpreting the Masters vol 1″

Black Moth Super Rainbow – “Eating Us”

Neko Case – “Middle Cyclone”

Elvis Costello – “Live at Hollywood High”

Cypress Hill – “Rise Up”

Da – “Exclamation Point”

Deerhoof – “Apple O”

Devo – “Duty Now for the Future”

John Fahey – “Yellow Princess”

Flaming Lips – “Dark Side of the Moon”

Goldfrapp – “Head First”

Buddy Guy – “A Man and the Blues”

Taylor Hawkins – “Red Light Fever”

Jimi Hendrix – “Live at Clark University”

Hold Steady – “Heaven is Whenever”

Japandroids – “Post Nothing”

Joe Strummer – “Global a Go-Go” & “Streetcore”

Magnetic Fields – “69 Love Songs”

Manchester Orchestra – “Live at Park Ave”

Mastadon – “Blood Mountain”

Mississippi John Hurt – “Today”

Modest Mouse – “Moon & Antarctic”

Monsters of Folk – “Monsters of Folk”

Pantera – “Cowboys From Hell” “Far Beyond Driven” & “Vulgar Display of Power”

Plants & Animals – “La La Land”

Ramones – “Ramones Mania”

REM – “Chronic Town”

Josh Ritter – “So Runs the World Away”

Omar Rodriguez Lopez – “Solar Gambling”

Roky Erickson & Okkervil River – “True Love Cast Out All Evil”

Rolling Stones – “Plundered My Soul”

Sex Pistols – “Great Rock n Roll Swindle”

Sonic Youth – “Confusion is Sex” “Evol” & “Hits are for Squares”

Tutu & The Pirates – “Sub-Urban Insult for the Anti-Lectual”

TV on the Radio – “Dear Science”

Velvet Underground – “Live Vol 1″ & “Love Vol 2″

Tom Waits – “Mule Variations”

Doc Watson – “Doc Watson”

Wilco – “Kicking Television”

Various – “Battle of the Bands”

Various – “Radio Galaxia”

12″s:

Album Leaf – “There is a Wind”

Asteroids Galaxy – “Fruit”

Avenged Sevenfold – “Unholy Confessions”

Beach House – “Zebra”

Black Keys – “Tighten Up/Howlin for You”

Deerhoof – “Green Cosmos”

Devo – “Fresh/What We Do”

Gorillaz – “White Flag”

Infected Mushroom – “Killing Time Remix”

Fela Kuti – “Fela Kuti Ep”

LCD Soundsystem – “Pow Pow”

MGMT – “Siberian Breaks”

Phoenix – “Fences”

Queens of the Stone Age – “Feel Good Hit of the Summer”

Royce Da 59 – “Street Hop”

Sea Wolf – “Get to the River”

Them Crooked Vultures – “Mind Eraser No Chaser”

Yeasayer – “O.N.E.”

Various – “Bird Songs”

Various – “It Happened Here”

7″s:

Against Me – “I Was a Teenage Anarchist”

Built to Spill – “Water Sleepers”

Julian Casablancas – “11th Dimension”

Coco Rosie – “Lemonade”

Coconut Records – “Bored to Death Theme Song”

Coheed and Cambria – “Guns of Summer”

Deftones – “Rocketskates”

Doors – “People Are Strange”

Drive by Truckers – “Your Woman is a Living Thing”

Dum Dum Girls/Male Bonding – “Pay for Me/Before It’s Gone”

Jakob Dylan – “See You in the Spring”

Fanfarlo – “You Are One of the Few”

Flogging Molly – “Devil’s Dance Floor”

Peter Gabriel – “Book of Love”

Charlotte Gainbourg – “Heaven Can Wait”

Godsmack – “Godsmack”

Gogol Bordello – “We Comin Rougher”

Ha Ha Tonka – “Walking on the Devil’s Backbone”

Happy Birthday – “Shampoo”

Bon Iver/Peter Gabriel – “Come Talk to Me”

Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey – “Sensation of See”

Juicehead – “Rotting From the Inside”

La Roux – “Bulletproof Live”

Lacuna Coil – “Shallow Live”

John Lennon – “Singles Bag”

Let’s Wrestle/Love Language – “I’m So Lazy/Brittany’s Back”

Mary Onettes – “Night Before the Funeral”

Dave Matthews/Tim Reynolds – “Squirm”

Of Montreal – “Back to School”

One A.M. Radio – “Credible Threats”

Owl City – “Owl City”

Passion Pit – “Little Secrets”

Elvis Presley – “That’s All Right”

Rodriguez – “Inner City Blues”

Seasick Steve – “Diddley Bo”

Soft Pack – “The Soft Pack”

Soundgarden – “Hunted Down”

Bruce Springsteen – “Wrecking Ball”

Steel Train – “Like a Ghost on the Turnpike”

Superchunk – “Misfits and Mistakes”

Tegan & Sara – “AOL Sessions”

Telekinesis – “Dirty Thing”

Thermals/Cribs – “Record Store Day 7″

White Rabbits & Antlers – “Live From Daytrotter”

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Skeletons”

Dan Zanes – “Hello Dolly”

CD’s:

Cage the Elephant – “Live at Grimeys”

Citizen Cope – “Rainwater LP” & “Side A”

Devo – “Duty Now For the Future”

Ani Difranco – “Live at Bull Moose”

Dios – “We Are Dios”

Fun – “Fun Presents…”

Alan Gerber – “Imp”

Great Lake Swimmer – “Legion Sessions”

Mason Jennings – “Fingerprints”

Manchester Orchestra – “Live at Park Ave”

Nada Surf – “If I Had a Hi-Fi”

Nutuni Paolo – “Live at Preservation Hall”

One Eskimo – “Live EP”

Grace Potter & The Nocturnals – “Live in Skowhegan”

RX Bandits – “Live at Park Ave”

Shooter Jennings – “Don’t Feed the Animals”

Sick Puppies – “Live & Unplugged”

Steve Vai – “Where the Other Wild Things Are”

Weezer – “Raditude Happy RSD”

White Lies – “Remix EP”

Various – “On the Radar”

Various – “SP20: Casual Nostalgia Fest”

DVD’s:

I Need That Record to Death

Nonpoint – “Miracle”

We Fun: Atlanta, GA Inside

Book ‘Em, Dan-O

Herb — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 19:01:49 +0000

So we’ve diversified our portfolio. Pure Pop now carries a small selection of books; some novels, some comics and a few non-fiction gems. If you’re interested in ordering anything through the store, we’ll happily do that for you. The best part? Special ordering a book at Pure Pop will get you 20% off the retail price. We’re sort of feeling it out as far as selection goes. Feel free to stop by and berate us for our pitiful selection, or commend us for a job well done. (Preferably the latter.)

Some of my favorites among the titles we’re offering include Don DeLillo’s White Noise, Charles Burns’ Black Hole and Irvine Welsh’s The Bedroom Secrets of Master Chefs.

…but there’s plenty more. Come on down and check it out.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ybnsxCGg6E

Tanner’s Top 5 Albums of 2009

Tanner — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 22:25:33 +0000

5. “Chill-Wave”

I’m not going to list a single element of this year’s preferred blog friendly genre – not because they’re homogeneous or bland, i won’t make that claim – over the year I’ve found chill-wave to pull from an assortment of the music collective unconscious, from early 90′s hip hop, to 70′s am radio, and genre’s as disparate as hardcore and smooth jazz. While the end products are similar enough to comfortably align under the same stretchy star – they stay unique to themselves.

Pitchfork bands like Neon Indian, Memory Tapes, Ducktails, Toro Y Moi, Washed Out, and CFCF (just to name a handful.) have occupied the recently played list on my iTunes consistently this year – maybe I’ve needed a little more escapism than usual, or perhaps i’m just getting lazy in my musical relationships, but these bands have had me nodding my head and raising my eyebrows to their production choices; washes of nostalgic synth, bouncy white-boy funk, reverb drenched space-vocals – You know, actually it’s probably just because i’ve loved New Order and The Cocteau Twins for so long i’m just happy to hear their distant echoes reconstituted and re-imagined.

Some of my favorite moments in music this year are off of these albums, Neon Indian‘s 6669 (I Don’t Know If You Know) throws you into the drivers seat of your beat up K car, complete with ancient-tape-deck-as-unreliable-narrator production, driving somewhere late at night, (probably BK) just really really stoned. Washed Out and CFCF are picking up were Air France and The Tough Alliance left off last year, albeit filtered through more overt american tropes of hip hop and suburbia, and tell us their dreams of warm climates, dance parties and unending romantic love with an impossibly beautiful stranger. The last two minutes of Memory Tapes‘ Bicycle alone was a early contender for #1 – it just didn’t get that much better for me this year, and that makes me think,

As our economy and environment continues to eat shit and die and Obama’s promises are slowly crushed under the jackboot of reality, this kind of escapism feels so necessary just to maintain my sanity, when the day or week is over, there’s Ol’ Nick Cave or Antony, maybe some Oldham or Songs Ohia, John Cale or Judy Sill - frankly, staring me down – sure, this misery loves company, but lately I’ve leaned towards forgetting my sorrows instead of my usual preference of drowning (in) them (with them.) These bands make for perfect companions for a night of revelry, though – like the morning after any great night of catharsis, your often left thinking to yourself, “I did what?!” and while it’s too early in the long night of my discontent to know, i don’t doubt that even a few months from now i’ll be saying “I listened to what?!” But until then i’m glad to have such great distractions, sometimes it’s just what the doctor ordered.

4. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Phoenix have likely made the album of their career with this one – everything has come together into such a perfectly compact and muscular pit bull of pop rock. Every hook and bridge, every place where they could have placed a drum fill but didn’t, ever lyrical snippet, like a sniper’s bullet right to your happy spot. It’s telling that the subsequent remix album could do nothing to improve upon any of these songs – but these facts alone would not get them on my list, they’ve made some spot on pop music in the past, the fact that the album is completely consistent back to front is a big factor, the deciding element however, is the subtle way Mars and Co. inject each track with nostalgia and longing – memories (or wishes?) for long distant Roman sunsets, the promise of returned love, the nostalgia of youth (“Do you remember when 21 years was old?”). It’s this juxtaposition of airtight pop and river walk rumination that makes Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix one of the best of the year, and the best of their career to date.

3. The xx – The xx

If it weren’t for the fact that I’ve only been listening to this album for a month, it may have placed at #1. The xx have made the album that I’ve been wanting to make myself, for two years – actually, they’ve made the album i wish I’d had to the ability to even conceive of imagining, let alone producing… i digress. If music is a body than the xx is music stripped down to it’s smoldering, bleeding heart, and it’s all the better for it’s lack of that other stuff. What we’re left with is sentiment beyond their years, and style that both speaks to the past (Young Marble Giants, Interpol, Burial), and the future of music – (don’t be surprised if we see a new wave of dark minimalism in British bands this coming year.) Skeletal beats, verb heavy guitar and bass, quietly whirring synths and the back and forth girl/boy ruminations on love, lust, and longing. These are the ventricles, aorta, and the blood being pushed rhythmically and meditatively back and forth. It’s easily one of the most simply engaging pieces of music I’ve ever heard, this year or any.

2. Fever Ray – Fever Ray

sounds sort of like this picture looks – but creepier and more personal.

1. Amesoeurs – Amesoeurs

The french have been turning out genre bending music for decades, most recently with with it’s own take on Black Metal – adding elements of Post Rock, folk, and that distinctly french je ne sais qua that makes you immediately think, “are these guys french or something?” Bands like Alcest, and Pest Noir (both fronted by a guy who goes by the name of Neige) take what by now has become a homogenized black metal sound, and take it to new extremes, or mellow it out and expose it’s emo roots.

Amesoeurs, is in this vein – and then so much more. In short it’s a Frankenstein monster of almost every genre of music i’ve been listening to for the past 5 years; Black Metal, Shoegaze, post-punk, new-wave, and just a touch of classic, SST period alternative punk. If you think this sounds absolutely horrid on paper, trust me i thought the same thing. As a rule (that deserves to be broken.) i’m not a fan of bands that attempt to graft genre’s on to sub genres, and hop around playfully between influences – where some might find this entertaining, more often than not I just find it disingenuous.

What makes Amesoeurs such an incredible, absolutely astonishing success is the way, track after track after track, they take these disparate elements, and with incredible confidence, graft walls of shoegaze with black metal blast and shriek, cure-esque bass and drum figures and sultry female francais, seamlessly. I was reading the liner notes to the Eagle’s greatest hits double disc compilation recently (long car ride to Mississippi, the only CD in the rental car was… yep.) and one of the dudes, (probably wasn’t Joe Walsh..) was talking about the most difficult and important thing for a songwriter to do when songwriting, is to make it seem like it wasn’t pieced together over time, that it was thrown off, that you have to remove all seams and stitches.

Amesoeurs is just that. Seamless, as if Dr. Frankenstein has created Neitzche’s Superman (Hyperbolic much?) – instead of that big drooling goober with the flattop. An immense undertaking that if my research is correct, took a few years to complete, an incredible amount of time and struggle, and ended with the band dissolving and returning to their various other music projects after playing only a handful of shows. A shame i’ll never get to see them, but that this album was ever created is incredible. That it’s the best album I’ve heard all year – completely astounding.

Guest Lists: Josh Riggs

Tanner — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:17:50 +0000

Hi! i’m josh riggs and most of this stuff was invented, conceived, produced etc before the 09, but in this the year of our lord eco=-crash (and/or) recovery year of 2009 i was clumsy enough in all the right ways to stumble over these(my) annual choice pleasures!

1.Urs Fischer: Marguerite de Ponty @ New Museum (NYC) -- 3 floors of rot, wood, eats, blobs, sheetrock, chains, surreal installations by an artist that is my big time in the 09! Made me feel like peeing on something inanimate.

http://www.newmuseum.org/exhibitions/417/urs_fischermarguerite_de_ponty

2.Sun Araw -- Horse Steppin’ on YouTube -- hazed out sleep junkie surfs up! YouTube has replaced the MTV basshead in all of us…even though it was released in the 08′ -- i’m a late bloomer!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-u70hXTJqgM

3.Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey -- In 7th grade I chugged a bottle of this stuff with some of my degenerate friends. It seemed like a good idea at the time and made my high as a georgia pine until I puked my guts out and vowed never to touch the stuff again. 15ish years later 1 sip changed my direction in adult libations-will be sippin’ for many years to come!

4.Men With No IQ’s -- 80′s BLACK metal 4 realz ya’ll! Insane Mississippi brutal rock afro-oddball scene I wish I was a part of. Obscure-only thing I have found is 2 songs on this Myspace site. Oh Myspace…what happened to you in 2009???????????

http://www.myspace.com/menwithnoiqs

5.Hotel Gault/Chez L’Epicier/Zone Orange -- 3 choice spots on my annual Montreal tour de force! Made my 2009 trip one of the best ever! Lux!

http://www.hotelgault.com/
http://www.chezlepicier.com/
http://www.galeriezoneorange.com/

6.Dylan Nyoukis Live @ No Fun Stockholm 2009 -- vox art to the fucking maximum voltage! Wish I could have seen it in the flesh…mope…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-FNALYQ3dM

7.Richard Kern -- I’m not sure why it took me this long to find him considering I am such a huge Terry Richardson fan? In my opinion his work is better and it makes me tingle-ROAR!Patrick Tsai runner up!!!!!(PHOTO DUDES!)

http://www.richardkern.com/
http://www.hellopatpat.com/mldd_e.html

8.Eating sushi for hours alone at Sakura in BVT = Pure Bliss!

9.The Sinful Dwarf (1973) -- Orlof, the creepy dwarf in the skuzz pit slum of London keeps kidnapped girls in the basement nice an high on smack for his mommies pimp rough trade! GRINDHAUS shit with a killer soundtrack and somewhat watchable if yr into that kinda thang!(sorry JOSH i saw it 1st!) I also saw Daisies and that totally blew my noggin”! Sedmikrasky!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AWiOy2D9RQ

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZLUbvBv4i8

10.Black Beauty -- My band w/ amigo Josh! We can clear a room in 1/2 a song! Gives me yet another excuse to drink beer on Thursday night! THIS IS GOING TO BE SUCKS! -- a hopeful 2010 release (avail @ Pure Pop!) maybe’zzzzzzz~! shameless self promo’!

11.Listening to Oneohtrix Point Never, Blood Stereo, Omar Soulyman, Areski & Brigitte Fontaine, Endless Boogie, WaVVes, The JACK Quartet/Iannis Xenakis, The Clash, Brainbombs, Sensational, A&E, The Legendary Stardust Cowboy, Kito Mizukumi Rouber, Mozart, The Beatles, GAS, Preggy Peggy & the Lonely Babymakers, Borful Tang and of course Justin Bieber! (I prob left out about 70 others but…)

Guest List: Adrienne Perry

Tanner — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 22:13:19 +0000

Sometime ago I was a DJ on WRUV and decided to host a 9 am to noon radio show on Christmas Day. I didn’t really have anything better to do than eat Chinese food and go to the movies with the rest of the non-Christian contingent, anyway. That really marked the beginning of my exploration of Christmas music. Generally, I, like many others, clutch my head to keep my ears from bleeding as I walk past yet another retail outlet that is piping the dogs barking Jingle Bells into the great outdoors for all to enjoy. That is why I’m so glad that bands are still writing original Christmas tunes. To paraphrase the director John Waters (who, by the way, has his own fascinating Christmas album), you can pick your own way to celebrate this season: you can make it a cynical celebration, a sad celebration, a hysterical celebration. But you have to pick, because as much as some of us might like to, this a season which just can’t be ignored. What I really love about most of these songs is that while they acknowledge how the holidays (no matter what denomination you subscribe to) are always difficult in so many different ways, they never lose that essential cheer.

1. Candy Canes – The Physics Club

They’re local, they love Christmas, and they’re almost dangerously fun. In fact, they only put out Christmas albums. You can also check out The Physics Club Half Hour Radio Hour on the Radiator Tuesdays 6-8 pm (don’t worry – it’s not just holiday music). Every song is a gem; another favorite is Holiday Family Time.

2. Always Winter Never Christmas – XTC

Actually XTC has several great Christmas tunes, including Thanks for Christmas, played by their alter ego The Three Wise Men. This one captures that feeling of being a kid and having to wait through that so, so, so long night on the eve of the holidays.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=doW5qKxbjy0

3. Christmas Isn’t Safe for the Animals – Of Montreal

After getting revved up with the first two tunes I gotta mellow it out with this warning about how our winged and/ or furry friends might be feeling during these holidays. Plus, I really enjoy the little consumerism montage in the middle.

4. Christmas Wrapping – The Waitresses

This song is a classic I would never want to go through a Christmas season without. This perfectly wraps up (chuckle, sssh) the dichotomy I am always looking for in a holiday tune. It’s song about trying to skip Christmas, and yet it’s so catchy it’s apt to make you more joyous than angsty.

5. Christmas Reindeer – The Knife

This one verges on annoying, but it also gets me oh so ready for the dance party. Time to get sloshed with Santa, or at least so woozy on holiday spirit that you could be swaying in the corner to this tune, hair in your face, totally not caring what your relatives and/or friends think.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0cnOVMwmYA

6. A Change at Christmas Time (Say it isn’t so) – The Flaming Lips

I think of this song as The Flaming Lips’ response to Lennon’s Happy Christmas (War is Over). Not only do they both have parenthetical subtitles, but they are both also calls to action that make me so hopeful I just wanna curl up on the couch and cry a little whilst smiling.

7. Xmas in February – Lou Reed

This is the song I put on to stop the happy crying (like a sun shower)… and start some other kind of crying. You don’t want your guests just drifting off into lala land on too much egg nog and good cheer.

8. Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto – James Brown

James Brown’s Christmas album is definitely one of my favorite holiday discs. This song re-starts up the dance party.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6n7NraDy18A

9. Beatnik’s Wish – Patsy Raye & The Beatniks

If you sample no other song on this list, please lend an ear to this one. It’s so swinging. It’ll have you beret clad and snapping your fingers in no time.

10. Santa’s Beard – They Might be Giants

Keeping the weird sexuality associated with Santa alive.

11. Silent Night/Xmas Card from a Hooker – Tom Waits

Waits is a master storyteller, and so here’s a tale for those times when you find yourself pregnant, again, and living in Minneapolis over a dirty bookstore.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=12qBoy2rhVw

12. To Hell with Poverty! – Gang of Four

This is the song I have to finish any Christmas mix tape off with. While Christmas is not explicitly mentioned, this adds the moral I want any Christmas cd I give to have. This is my sincerest holiday wish. Instead of racing around to stores spending money we don’t really have on presents we’re not really sure people will really like, let’s all just get together, maybe indulge in a group hug, and instead of making this holiday a capitalist affair we’ll just say, “to hell with poverty, let’s get drunk on cheap wine!”