Santa's Little Helpers

If you're into XTC/The Dukes of Stratosphear, early Pink Floyd and some of the more inspired works of The Beatles, this is thee band for you: The Virgineers, a phantom pair of psychedelic popsters - allegedly hailing from Antarctica, but more likely being stationed somewhere on the West Coast of the United States - whose masterful 2000 debut album went by largely unnoticed and ranks high - very high, in fact - on my list of all-time faves. Unfortunately, the record is "extinct", as the band's website states, and unless you're willing to shell out a cool 130 EUR for a copy, you'll very probably have trouble tracking the damn thing down (but wait - there's one available for $ 17,50 here). For some unfathomable reason, Bruce and Ken have been largely inactive for the past six years, so it might be a while until we hear from them again. Till then, here's the two Christmas songs they made available for download on their site in 2003 and 2004, respectively.