The Oedipus Project
“A Forest” is one of my favorite songs by The Cure.
Tomorrow we will post an exclusive never-seen-before video of the band performing this song in Boston in 1980 on Robert Smith’s 21st birthday.
To view it you will need a password.
Join the Oedipus Project on the left and we’ll send it to you.
This Wednesday we’ll present the world premier video of The Cure performing “A Forest” on Robert Smith’s 21st birthday!
Yes, that’s from 1980, archived by the inestimable videographer Jan Crocker.
You’ll need a password to view it.
Join the The Oedipus Project on the left for free and we will send it to you.
In December I was asked to put together a compilation of Boston artists as a soundtrack for the Boston Music Awards’ celebration.
While no means comprehensive (there are some noticeable absences), it is a cross-section of some of Boston’s finest if not quirkiest musicians over the years, and includes some of the best songs to emanate from this fair city.
As we await the release of new music in 2011, hear the diversified talent that is Boston.
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Boston Music Awards
The world of music is cyclical and goes into hiatus a few weeks before Christmas and into the new year. Slowly new music is released in January and gains momentum later in the winter flowing into the spring.
Bands that enthralled me last year included Arcade Fire, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Avi Buffalo, Badly Drawn Boy, Beach House, Belle & Sebastian, Best Coast, Blonde Redhead, Delorean, The Drums, Dum Dum Girls, Eminem, Girl Talk, Glasser, Gorillaz, Janelle Monáe, Joanna Newsom, Karen Elson, Laura Marling, Lykke Li, Matt & Kim, Mumford & Sons, The National, No Age, Perfume Genius, Phoenix, School of Seven Bells, She & Him, Shearwater, Sleigh Bells, Stars, Titus Andronicus and Warpaint.
And The xx continued to give me great pleasure.
Here you will hear the best new music as it becomes available.
Next week we will have an exclusive Cure video.
Happy New Year indeed.
Join me Friday for my annual Christmas Eve broadcast from 6 pm-Midnight EST on WFNX, 101.7 FM in Boston, 92.1 FM in New Hampshire and WFNX.com.
A commercial free radio holiday extravaganza featuring Christmas music from around the world, new & old, drawn from many genres and heard virtually nowhere else. The soundtrack for your Christmas.
Here is a taste:
Badly Drawn Boy-“Donna and Blitzen”
Captain Sensible-“One Christmas Catalogue”
DJ BC-“You Shook Me All Noel”
The Idea-“It’s About that Time”
Low-“Just Like Christmas”
Suicide-“Hey Lord”
Ron Sexsmith-“Maybe This Christmas”
O Positive-“Ho Ho Ho”
Rufus Wainwright-“Spotlight on Christmas”
Wednesday Week-“Christmas Here (Could Never Be Like That)”
Brett Dennen-“The Holidays Are Here (and We Are Still at War)”
Elvis Costello-“Peace, Love and Understanding”
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The Joy Formidable, a three-piece from North Wales, will release their debut album The Big Roar in January.
Over the past few years the trio has only issued singles including this amazingly intense Christmas song.
Released last year as a free download, it only recently came to my attention and is one of my favorite new Christmas song this year.
From a variation on a quote from poet/writer Charles Bukowski “”my beerdrunk soul is sadder than all the dead christmas trees of the world”, the band has entitled this song “My Beerdrunk Soul is Sadder Than a Hundred Dead Christmas Trees”.
You make my spirit.
More free Christmas music, this time from Amazon, America’s largest online retailer. The website is offering 25 days of free holiday music, a song a day.
Thus far we have songs from Fleet Foxes, Superchunk, and Shelby Lynn among others, plus this lovely little treasure from Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan. “Time of the Season” is from their album Hawk released earlier this year.
The season in this song is Christmas.
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“Time of the Season” by Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan
The Superions is a Fred Schneider side project. The B-52s frontman teamed with friends Noah Brodie and Dan Marshall out of Orlando to record the album Destination…Christmas!
Fruitcake, the most-ridiculed of all Christmas desserts, receives a bouncy tongue-in-cheek double entendre homage from The Superions and becomes the Christmas Song of the Day.
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“Fruitcake” by The Superions
“Splitting Up Christmas” is a paean to love from Kevin Devine, the Brooklyn singer/songwriter. Originally on the album Make the Clocks Move from 2003, this out-of-print record has been re-released this year.
The song itself is a free download and is our Christmas Song of the Day.
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“Splitting Up Christmas” by Kevin Devine
Among many musics, I also collect Christmas songs. For years I have hosted a live annual Christmas Eve show on the radio in Boston, commercial-free, and this year is no exception. This Christmas Eve, from 6:00 pm—Midnight, I will once again be on-the-air on WFNX (101.7 FM) and WFNX.com.
Every year I listen to hundreds of new Christmas songs and new cover versions of Christmas classics searching for a few gems. Most of these songs are derivative, dumb, downright dreadful or combination of all three. But there are always a few that rise above the drivel and should be heard.
This year I was presently surprised that Target has put together a Christmas compilation of new songs called The Christmas Gig and is giving it away for free on their website.
Listen now to “Got Something for You” performed by Best Coast and Wavves, two artists that we have featured individually here in the past and “Get Down for the Holidays” by Jenny O., a singer/songwriter from LA.
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“Got Something For You” by Best Coast and the Wavves
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“Get Down for the Holidays” by Jenny O.
X-Ray Spex, one of the early punk bands out of London in the 70’s, is best known for the classic song “Oh Bondage Up Yours” and their only studio album from that era, Germ Free Adolescents.
The band briefly reformed in the 90’s.
Poly Styrene, the lead singer, plans to release a solo album in March and has also recorded a Christmas song.
According to her website, “Black Christmas was written by Poly and her daughter Celeste who features on the recording and was inspired by news about a killer in Los Angeles dressing up as Santa Claus”.
“Black Christmas” is a free download and is the first of a number of Christmas songs to be featured here in the days ahead.
“Black Christmas” by Poly Styrene
As we approach the end of Hanukkah our musical tribute finishes here with an internet sensation. Although the music is outside of the range of what we usually feature on this site, the song is so clever that we just had to include it.
The Maccabeats, an all-male a cappela group from Yeshiva University in New York City, have changed the lyrics of the Taio Cruz hit “Dynamite” to “Candlelight” to celebrate the holiday. The video has well-over two million hits in less than eight days!
With music from Matisyahu and the Maccabeats, the Festival of Lights has never been so much fun.
Matisyahu has given us one of the best Hanukkah songs in years (featured here yesterday). In keeping with the spirit of the holiday here is an amusing song from 2005 by The LeeVees. The band was formed by Adam Gardner from Guster and Dave Schneider of the all-hockey band The Zambonis. From the album Hanukkah Rocks, they ask the question “How Do You Spell Channukkahh?”
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“How Do You Spell Channukkahh?” by The LeeVees
Hanukkah is early this year. Today is the 5th day. During this time of year Hanukkah songs are not nearly as ubiquitous as Christmas songs, but we do hear our fair share. (OK, just a few.) But this year there is an entrancing new song to add to the Festival of Lights celebration from our favorite Jewish reggae musician, Matisyahu. “Miracle” is the song to sing after lighting the Menorah. Happy Hanukkah!
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“Miracle” by Matisyahu
