Observer readers' alternative Christmas playlist

By -
Quite an honour, to contribute to the Observer Readers' Alternative Playlist in The Observer newspaper. With a link to the blog. Hello new readers! In that list, songs by Miles Davis, The Fall, Tom Waits, Paul Kelly, Shane McGowan (nope, not that one) and, as you can see below, the only song from this year, by Telekinesis:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Happy 2025!

By -
Image
From us here at CAGG headquarters, we wish you the bestest 2025. Thanks for visiting, commenting and sending nice music. We'll be back in November. Until then: stay safe. And remember, there's always nèxt year to have a happy new year: Happy New Year EP by Violent Femmes
Read more

Pondertone, in spite of it all

By -
Image
CAGG Team loves to feature Dutch artists making Christmas music - Clean Pete , The Heck , Rick Buur , Non-Traditionals , Fay Lovsky ...and that's just a handful of fellow Dutchies that shone on this blog. We posted a lot of Pondertone (Americana from the city of Utrecht) on CAGG. The songs have depth and a clear message. For these dark days, we were kinda hopin' that Patrick & the guys would release a new addition to their impressive Xmas discography. But no. Instead there is a compilation of all seasonal songs. Patrick Tersteeg (= Mr Pondertone) wrote an extensive blogpost about the ins and outs of his tracks, and leaves us a not so cheerful message: "Anyone hoping for a new Pondertone Christmas song this year will be disappointed. I'm sorry, I don't have anything to say this year that I haven't said before. Pondertone's 'new' Christmas album is literally old wine in a new bottle. For the artwork I used sketches that I found too depres...
Read more

Pitchfork's 50 Best Christmas Songs

By -
Image
Read it and weep HERE . Sure, one of the perks of making a Best Of-list is that someone else can disagree with it. But this Pitchfork-list is so, as CU tweeted, uninspired it's getting me nauseous. There are non-Christmassongs in the list. Songs that are overplayed. Two versions of the same song. And Low's Little Drummer Boy instead of Just Like Christmas? Really? REALLY? Let's get a few things straight. When making a Best Christmas Songs-list, you need to set ground rules. Do hymns (O Come, O Come Emmanuel), traditional Christmassongs (O Tannenbaum) and pop songs compete with each other? Do you choose original versions or best versions? And, maybe the most important thing, what does your (play)list achieve; to heighten spirits, to have plain fun? Pitchfork's list just f's around, there's no real idea behind it. So, whatabout us, CAGG-team and you, readers, make an alternative Best Of-list? Songs that are criminally overlooked by Pitchfork. Pop songs, rock ...
Read more