Merry Christmas from me @B3ARSK1LL and all the #bearmusic collaborators throughout the year, with special thanks going out to @I_Blame_Kate, @N_C_R, @YourLastRolo, @LewisKelly and @Ambershade for all our feedback and suggestions over the blogs first year. Here is a little festive treat in honor of you, a 5 day advent countdown featuring the coolest Christmas songs to listen to this holiday season!
The Kills' otherwise known as Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince performed this beautiful rendition of the classic Christmas carol, telling the tale of the pivotal part from the nativity. This track was recorded especially for the Queen of Indie Radio DJ, Miss Lauren Laverne and her BBC Radio 6 Music Show and it is available as a free download here, relax and enjoy....
The genius front man of the Super Furry Animals,Gruff Rhys has released a special 12 track EP for Christmas cunningly entitled 'the Aetheist Xmas'. Featuring a song about Christmas suicide its a parallel universe to the rest of the overly happy tripe out there, truly brilliant stuff. The stand out track for me however is the first track, and slightly more upbeat than the aforementioned, 'Post Apocolypse Christmas' - need i say more? Wrap your ears around this....
OK, I admit it, I am one of the many that say and have said on this very blog "never touch the Smith's" but on the grounds I'm in a festive mood, I will grant this the same exception I granted Mark Ronson for his efforts. Both my idols Morrisey and Johnny Marr have publicly said they love it, so if its ok by them, its ok by me. The track features on the John Lewis Christmas advert and subsequent compilation album (can you hear the *KERCHING!*?) and to be honest any excuse to shoehorn in the Smiths into my blog its fine by me. This is the gorgeous, 29 year old, Liverpool born singer/songwriter Amelia Warner's, better known as Slow Moving Millie's beautifully haunting cover of 'Please, Please, Please Let me get what I want', which lets be honest is way better than Muse's attempt a decade ago in 2001...
The Black Keys are in my opinion the greatest band around of the moment; to read more of my love for them click here. Even better live than on record I get a chance to see them again in early February and I literally cannot wait! I hope for your sake if you don't already own their latest masterpiece, the bands 7th album 'El Camino' released at the start of December, its either top of your Christmas list or your spending your vouchers on it come Boxing Day. Taken from this, 'Hell of Season' is one of the stand out tracks and also very apt for the holiday season, because "in this hell of a season, gives me more of a reason to be with you..."
No alternative Christmas chart rundown would be complete without the ultimate Christmas duet. When king of cool, the musical demi-god that is David Bowie collaborated with possibly the greatest crooner of all time Bing Crosby an all time classic was born, you all know it, you all love it, "Little Drummer Boy/ Peace on Earth"...Merry Christmas everyone!!!
#bearmusic Christmas Special, Same format; an old song that's back in the charts, an old song that'll be new to most of you, a brand spanking new cover of an old song and a truly blue track that always brings a smile to my face...
Something Old...
Not really much needs to be said about this track as it is not only my opinion but the opinion of many including those that make frequently make it feature in Channel 4, VH1 and BBC Radio poll’s for not only top 10 Christmas tracks but also the top 10 tracks of all time. Since its original release, it has been covered by numerous artists from Sinead O’Connor, Dropkick Murphys and more recently Florence Welsh and Billy Bragg.
Never actually being Christmas number 1 in the UK (it was however in Ireland) and as will undoubtedly happen again tomorrow when the official UK Christmas number 1 is revealed, the track will almost certainly re-chart thanks to downloads. In 2009, a group was set up with the express intention of getting the single to Christmas number one. This was in response to a growing trend of X Factor finalists dominating the Christmas singles market, a parallel campaign to get RATM’s ‘Killing in the Name’ succeeded in reaching #1. ‘Fairytale of New York’, for those who havn’t already guessed is song from 1987 by the Irish group the Pogues and British singer Kirsty MacColl, who sadly passed away a few years ago in a horrible water-ski accident whilst rescuing her child. The song itself takes the form of a drunken Irish immigrant man's Christmas Eve reverie about holidays past while sleeping off a binge in New York City. After an inebriated old man also incarcerated in the jail cell sings a passage from an Irish drinking ballad. MacColl's melodious singing contrasts with the harshness of MacGowan's voice, and the lyrics are sometimes bittersweet—sometimes purely bitter: "Happy Christmas your arse / I pray God it's our last"... Something New...
Jape are not new to everyone but they are to me and I guess the vast majority of the UK. Irish electro rock band from Dublin that were formed as a side project by Richie Egan whilst part of Redneck Manifesto. They have released four albums to date from ‘Cosmophere’ in 2003 through to ‘Ocean of Frequency’ earlier this year.
Contrary to what the band’s name suggests Jape is in fact a solo project by singer songwriter Egan but he didn’t want wish to be considered as such in the over saturated market. I got my first chance to see him last week in Manchester whilst he supported the better half of Damien Rice’s Juniper and coincidently my favorite Irish band Bell X1. Guitarist Dave Flaherty and the lyrical genius that is Paul Noonan have a habit of selecting brilliant support acts and Jape can now add Bell X1 to a list that includes the Flaming Lips, CSS, Friendly Fires and MGMT. Jape has also taken to stage at many big European festivals including Electric Picnic, Lovebox and Glastonbury and also had an attempt foiled to get his track ‘Phil Lynnot’, dedicated to the demi-god that was Thin Lizzy’s front man to Ireland's Christmas No.1 back in 2008.
Jape's second album ‘The Monkeys in Zoo have more fun than me’ gave Egan his biggest success and contains the well-known single ‘Floating’, which enjoyed much play on late night alternative radio, and famously attracted the attention of the legendry Brendon Benson during a visit to Dublin. Benson now covers the track whilst performing live with his band the Raconteurs, as do Belgium’s finest 2manyDJs. The video for track was also nominated for Best Budget Video at the UK Music Video Awards in 08, relax and enjoy....
Something Borrowed...
The final week of 2011 will see possibly the best movie of the year released. Boxing day brings us a late present in the form of Steig Larson’s book ‘The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo’ making its high profile big budget, Hollywood movie release in UK cinemas. The movie itself is the second film based on the Swedish novel of the same name (Originally "Män som hatar kvinnor", for my scandanavian readers, meaning "Men who hate women", for those who aren’t). In essence, the film follows a man's quest to find a girl who has been missing for 40 years and may have been murdered; starring James Bond himself, Chester’s finest Daniel Craig and soon to be a huge star, NYC’s Rooney Mara in the lead roles. With a movie of such epicness the soundtrack was always going to be something special and has produced one of, if not the greatest cover of the year. Normally I would say (and hav said so many a time) to NEVER touch a Led Zep track but this pair are most definitely on the exceptions list. The amazing, coolest women in music, better known as the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Karen O has collaborated with the genius that is Nine Inch Nails’ himself Trent Reznor to produce a master cover of ‘the Immigrant Song’...
Something Blue...
Scotland’s finest Malcolm Middleton, best known for his work with post-folk indie band Arab Strap as well as his solo career writing and producing. To date, Middleton has released five solo studio albums, with his most recent ‘Waxing Gibbous’ in 2009. His solo work was initially a side project, releasing a hand full of solo album until Arab Strap split in 2006, the album ‘A Brighter Beat’ was released the following year. The first song on the album ‘We're All Going To Die’ reiterates exactly why I include the Something Blue... feature in my blog each week. Released as a single on 17 December it started off with odds of 1000-1 against becoming the Christmas number one - reportedly the highest odds ever quoted. But after support from social networking websites and from my teenage hero BBC Radio 1 DJ (now turned face of MOTD2) Colin Murray; the odds dropped to 9-1. Middleton was 4th favorite for Christmas number one behind Katie Melua with Eva Cassidy, Leona Lewis off of the X Factor and some other terrible X Factor winner from that year that don’t care to remember. The publicity around the single gave Middleton significant mainstream exposure for the first time in his career.
Murray started supporting the song as a response to repeated Christmas chart domination by manufactured pop acts churned out by the likes of the above. The song was, unfortunately, beaten to the top spot and only reached number 31 in the UK singles chart, with the UK Christmas number one being a cover of some tripe that was originally by Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston. Middleton has said that, despite the song's negative-sounding title, he feels the song perfectly sums up the spirit of Christmas - the need to make the most of life while we have it...
The Black Keys are otherwise known as US blues rock duo vocalist/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer/producer Pat Carney. The band formed in Ohio in 2001 and as of 2011 have sold over 3 million albums. The latest album ‘El Camino’ dropped this Monday so this week’s blog is in honour of the pair...
Big Come Up/ Thickfreakness:
The band released their debut album ‘The Big Come Up’ in early 2002. The album was very successful for a new independent rock band and along with their second album, it was recorded entirely in Pat's basement on an 8-track tape recorder from the early 1980s. The band went on to release their debut album ‘Thickfreakness’ in 2003, again recorded in Carney's basement in 14 hours. The album was favoured by critics and spawning some classics including ‘Midnight in her eyes’, ‘Set You Free’, ‘Hurt Like Mine’ and an absolutely brilliant cover of Richard Berry’s ‘Have Love, Will Travel’, all of which have featured in TV series and movies from I Love you Man to School of Rock.
Rubber Factory:
The band's third album, released in 2004, by now the band gained recognition and popularity, boosting their career. Rubber Factory was recorded in abandoned factory and keep that raw blues sound. The album features singles ‘10AM Automatic’, ‘Til I Get My Way’ and the brilliant ‘Girl is on my mind’...
Magic Potion:
In 2006 their fourth album dropped; the bands first album recorded in a real studio but still keeps that familiar raw energy that won them so much plaudits. Featuring the singles ‘Strange Desire’, ‘Just got to be’ and the truly awesome riffage of ‘Your Touch’ which later featured on to the zom/com classic Zombieland
Attack & Release:
The bands fifth album, produced by the legendry Danger Mouse it was leaked onto the net prior to release but still charted in top 10 upon its 2008 release. The album is still very blues but begins to make the bridge into a more commercial sound and thus a wider audience, but yet still remaining truly brilliant. Stand out tracks from the album ‘Strange Times’, ‘Lies’ and possibly the best song of that year ‘I Got Mine’...
Brothers:
Released in 2010, featured15 track listing was a further push to a wider audience the album got the band nominated for 5 Grammys, including Best Rock Song and Best Alternative Album, winning 2. Featuring the amazing ‘Next Girl’ and ‘Howlin' for You’ which an cool as chuff Rodrigues/ Desperado inspired vid. The track I'm gonna pick though is the truly blissful ‘Tighten Up’ which yet another brilliant video...
El Camino:
The Black Keys began recording for their seventh studio album in March this year, reportedly recorded in Dan's new studio in Nashville, Tennessee. Stand out tracks from the album have got to be the lead single ‘Lonely Boy’ alongside, ‘Little Black Submarines’, 'Run Right Back' and the fantastic ‘Dead and Gone', bringing us full circle. Roll on February next year when me and the mrs get to see them live again and taste that sweet sweet live blues in our ears...
*RANDOM FACT ALERT*
The bands name comes from a schizophrenic artist Alfred McMoore that the pair knew; he would leave incoherent messages on their answering machines referring to their fathers as "black keys" such as "D flat" when he was upset with them.
