Time to nominate for the CP Festive 50

Tags

Elbow, Festive 50, Fleet Foxes, MGMT, mp3, Music, Okkervil River, Vampire Weekend

A missive from Tim over at the Contrast Podcast:

November is upon us again, so it’s time to think about the Contrast Podcast Festive 50. This year it will be on episodes 194, 195 & 196 from the 15th to the 29th of December. So here is what I need you, your friends, the readers of your blog, your milkman and anyone else you know to do:
1. Choose up to 50 (yes fifty) songs that were released in 2009 that you like. If you can only think of 10 .. don’t worry .. I’d still like to know what they are.

2. Send the list to me at contrast.podcast@gmail.com starting with your favourite track at number 1.

3. Do this by Sunday 15th November at the latest .. and try to get other people to vote too .. please!!

4. I will compile a short list of the top 100 songs which we will vote on to be in the top 50 and then start inviting people to record introductions.

5. Any questions? …. good … get thinking!

Last year’s Festive 50 was a ton of fun to participate in, and it’s not limited to bloggers – anyone can contribute. Today I started to compile my 2009 list, though it will require some serious re-listening in order to complete the agonising process of actually ranking each track.

Here are the top 5 tracks from last year:

5. Oxford Comma – Vampire Weekend

4. Lost Coastlines – Okkervil River

3. Grounds for Divorce – Elbow

2. Time to Pretend (Radio Version) – MGMT

1. White Winter Hymnal – Fleet Foxes

What will the Festive 50 look like this year? It’s up to you!

Anything You Want (I Got It)

Tags

Chris Garneau, Daft Punk, Meat Puppets, MGMT, mp3, Music, People Press Play, Roy Orbison, The Silver Seas, Voxhaul Broadcast

Want melancholy piano based anguish with haunting double bass backup? I got it.

Not Nice – Chris Garneau

Want a mashup that actually sounds alright? I got it.

One More Time To Pretend – MGMT vs Daft Punk (Immuzikation Remix)

Want some fruit that’s past its use by date but still has some serious juice? I got it.

Rotten Apples – Voxhual Broadcast

Want a self-belittling instrumental? I got it.

I’m A Mindless Idiot – Meat Puppets

Want dreamy silky vocals and smooth electronica? I got it.

These Days – People Press Play

Want a catchy gem that you were silly enough to miss the first time I posted it? I got it.

Imaginary Girl – The Silver Seas

Want a classic tune from a rock and roll pioneer? You got it.

Anything You Want (You Got It) – Roy Orbison

What an awesome wake up call

Tags

Leftovers, MGMT, mp3, Music

So for the last few mornings when my alarm has gone off I’ve woken up to the sounds of alternative radio station Triple J. The breakky show hosts have been flogging MGMT lately, and the last three days I’ve heard them either talking about Oracular Spectacular, advertising the album, or playing a song from it. Today it was a combination – a quick plug of the album again, plus a listen to ‘The Youth’, which I promptly downloaded and added to my Ipod while I was getting ready for the day. I played it several times in the car on the way to work and consequently had it floating around my head for the rest of the day.

And that’s exactly the right word for it – ‘floating’. It’s a dreamy track, lush and fresh and so damn catchy. Get it, hear it, love it.

This is a call of arms to live and love and sleep together
We could flood the streets with love or light or heat whatever
Lock the parents out, cut a rug, twist and shout
Wave your hands
Make it rain
For stars will rise again

The Youth – MGMT

Brought To You By The Letter H

Tags

Brought To You By, Favourite Sons, Guided By Voices, Jeremy Kay, Lee Moses, MGMT, Mitch Grainger, mp3, Music, Red Jezebel, The Velvet Underground, Van Morrison

It’s a simple idea, where I post songs that all have one thing in common – the letter that they begin with. Original? Not at all. Pointless? Probably.

Having said that though, every song is highly recommended and should be checked out by your good self immediately!

 

The Handshake – MGMT These guys keep kicking goals all over the blogosphere

Hang On, Girl – Favourite Sons Indie rock from Brooklyn

Have It All – Jeremy Kay Environmentally aware singer-songwriter whose music has featured in ‘Scrubs’

Head Held High – The Velvet Underground 1970 track that clocks in just under 3 minutes

Healing Game – Van Morrison One from the master

Heart In The Sun (Acoustic) – Red Jezebel Aussie indie rock group who get their name from an evacuation codeword used at the supermarket some of the band members used to work at

Help Is On It’s Way – Mitch Grainger Aussie singer-songwriter whose music featured on ‘December Boys’

Hey Joe – Lee Moses Soul track from a mystery man

Hold on Hope – Guided By Voices Indie rock circa 1999

Check out the rest of the alphabet here.

Song Titles of the Quirky Persuasion

Tags

Antony & The Johnsons, Camera Obscura, Freddie Stevenson, Madame Blavatski Overdrive, MGMT, mp3, Music, New Radicals, Okkervil River, Pelle Carlberg, Regina Spektor

I love artists that are not afraid to give their songs weird names – in fact I think some of them may deliberately go out of their way to make them as strange as possible.

Here are some wacky titles for your listening pleasure.

Cripple and the Starfish – Antony and The Johnsons

Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear – Okkervil River

Ghost of Corporate Future – Regina Spektor

Lloyd, I’m Ready To Be Heartbroken – Camera Obscura

I Love You, You Imbecile – Pelle Carlberg

If An Alien Astronomer Could See Us From Afar – Freddie Stevenson

Of Moons, Birds and Monsters – MGMT

Jehovah Made This Whole Joint For You – New Radicals

And kicking goals in both the Quirky Song Titles AND Quirky Band Names Categories we have… 

Idiot Jones Will Have His Day – Madame Blavatski Overdrive

Self Replicating Machine Elves – Madame Blavatski Overdrive

Fave Find – MGMT/Martin Sexton

Tags

Fave Find, Martin Sexton, MGMT, mp3, Music

I’ve discovered loads of great stuff this week – here’s two of my fave finds.

MGMT – Time To Pretend

These guys are from New York and their music has been described as ‘psychedelic pop’, whatever that means. I came across a video of their performance of ‘Time To Pretend’ on the Letterman show last week and instantly fell for their catchy sound.

Martin Sexton – Diner

This song also belongs in the catchy category. I’d never heard of Martin Sexton before but he’s been around since the early 90’s and his music is probably best described as folk, with blues/jazz/rock/country influences. So a bit of everything I guess!

The video for ‘Diner’ is really cute too, you can check it out here on Chris Farnsworth’s blog.

Enjoy!