12 Days Of Christmas – New Year’s Eve

It is that time of the year again. You’ll spend way too much money on getting in to a club/bar/pub/whatever only to be ripped off for drinks and listen to music you don’t like with a bunch of douchebags bumping in to you. Yup, New Year’s Eve. If you’re thinking I don’t like it, you’d actually be wrong. I’ve had some cracking NYE’s and tonight should be as good as any. But before I go out, I’ll be listening to today’s song. It’s from Australian dance duo Bag Raiders and they released this all the way back in 2009. The hook sounds like it was played on one of those mini Casio keyboards (I mean the really mini ones!) and it’s infectiously good. Cue crappy dancing and spilling drinks everywhere…

12 Days Of Christmas – 30th December

Here’s a slightly different one for you. Up until now it’s always been a song for each of the twelve days. Today, it’s a short film. If that doesn’t sound like your thing, then hold on. It’s actually pretty good. The film is called Rose Boy & Friends and I was lucky enough to be invited to see it at the Raindance Film Festival in London back in October. The name comes that kid who tried to give Megan Fox a rose (see here), and he is one of the ‘stars’ of the film. His name is Harvii (yes, really) and along with tattoo-man Steve, Mel C fan Danilo and a couple of other oddballs we get to see how the celeb-obsessed live. It’s on part funny, two parts weird and a whole lot of sad (of the boo-hoo and lame variety) on top of that. You’re never quite sure whether to laugh or cringe but in spite of that it is a pretty good watch.

Below we’ve got the first part of the film embedded and if you enjoy it then head over to Vice.com to see the second half.

12 Days Of Christmas – 29th December

After yesterday’s song by The Black Keys and the good reception it’s had, I thought I’d keep things similar. The Calimocho Club are a two man garage/blues rock duo from Salford. They make an absolute racket, and from what I hear their live shows are something to be seen. I spoke to guitarist/singer Gary L Hope about one gig they played…

“We once unwittingly played a show in an establishment ran by militants. All had The Red Hand of Ulster stitched into their jackets – now there’s an argument that says this symbol has been misappropriated, but in this case…you’ve seen the scene in The Blues Brothers where they play behind chicken-wire fencing? Yeah, like that.”

12 Days Of Christmas – 28th December

Good afternoon. If you’re lucky like me, you’ve got another week off until you’re back at work again. Which is great, but it also feels like a countdown now. Before you think I’m going to post that classic by Europe, I’m not. Instead it’s the forthcoming second single from The Black Keys’ 2011 release, called ‘Run Right Back’. Much has been made of the way that they’ve moved away from the blues influences a little and are sliding towards the 60’s and 70’s, so I shan’t go on about it. This song has got a riff that crunches its way through the uptempo song, with their distinctively compressed voices occasionally breaking into a fun falsetto on the chorus. It’s a song that I can’t wait to see live.

12 Days Of Christmas – 27th December

Hello again. Another day, another song. Rather than go for one which has existed since time immemorial (or the 80’s, whichever you want to call it) today it is the turn of one of my favourite bands from my time at Uni. No, it’s not The Shins or Death Cab, but The Maccabees. Their new album called Into The Wild is due out right at the start of January (the 9th, on Fiction, for those of you who are interested) and this is the single they let lose last month. We’ve opted against doing a round up of the year in favour of writing some bits about artist we’re looking forward to hearing from over the coming months. Check back for some thoughts on these guys, but for now just enjoy.

12 Days Of Christmas – 26th December

Day two of our little feature starts with a question… When do the 12 days actually start?! I’ve taken it as Christmas Day, but I hear it could be Christmas Eve and as far as Apple’s giveaway app is concerned it starts today. So, anyone who’s down with their Christian folklore, please let me know. Moving on to the music, today’s is another golden oldie, this time from Queen. I can’t say I’m their biggest fan (that said, Under Pressure is one hell of a song!) but this feels like an appropriate song for this time of the year. Enjoy the bombastic guitars, 80’s synths and Freddy’s awesome voice.

12 Days Of Christmas – 25th December

Hello again. First things first, Merry Christmas. This time of year is traditionally when everyone gets together, eats too much, drinks too much and ends up arguing over who does the washing up (among other things) and I thought it might be a good distraction for me and maybe for you to have something else to do.

As it was last year, the songs over the next twelve days will not be particularly festive. This is mostly because I’m a grumpy git, but also because I have yet to hear any christmas songs that I have genuinely enjoyed. (If you know of any good ones please do let me know)