New Year’s Eve Mix : Put Some Dance In Your Pants !

December 31, 2007 by · 3 Comments
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Hey’s it’s New Years Eve so here’s a funky little mini mix to put some dance in your pants as you party your way out of 2007 and on into 2008. Go ahead, shake it like a polaroid picture !

Mark Ronson – God Put A Smile On Your Face (w/The Daptone Horns)
Buy Version
MIA – Come Around
Buy Kala
James Brown – There It Is
Buy Star Time
Stevie Wonder – You Haven’t Done Nothin’
Buy Fulfillingness’ First Finale
Ryan Shaw – Do The 45
Buy This Is Ryan Shaw
Sharon Jones And The Dap Kings – Nobody’s Baby
Buy 100 Days, 100 Nights
Amy Winehouse – Rehab
Buy Back To Black
Gorillaz – Feel Good Inc
Buy Demon Days
LCD Soundsystem – North American Scum (Dunproofin’s Not From England Either Mix)
Get Sounds Like Silver – LCD Remixed
White Rabbits – Kid On My Shoulders
Buy Fort Nightly

[PHOTO]

It’s A Listravaganza !

December 28, 2007 by · Leave a Comment
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Addicted to those year end lists that are everywhere this time of year ? Stop on by my friends Light In The Attic Records blog for their Year End Extravaganza. A different twist on the year end list and one of the few places where my list gets to comingle with people like Robert Christgau, Greg Dulli and more.

5 On A Friday : Where Does The Time Go ?

December 28, 2007 by · 1 Comment
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toothpaste for dinner
toothpastefordinner.com

Man, where does the time go ? It’s already the last weekend of the year with 2008 just over the horizon.

1:Cousteau – Last Good Day Of The Year
Buy Cousteau
2:Frank Sinatra – It Was Very Good Year
Buy Reprise: The Very Good Years
3:John Wesley Harding – The End Of Something
Buy Pett Levels : The Summer EP
4: Nada Surf – End Credits
Buy Let Go
5: The Replacements – The Last
Buy All Shook Down

Random Mix Of The Day

December 27, 2007 by · 1 Comment
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The random mix of the day went over really well the last time I put one up so I thought I’d do it again. A small reprieve from all of the year end craziness that’s been going on in the blogosphere and in the shopping malls. A mix of new and old and in between.

Jason Isbell – Brand New Kind Of Actress
Buy Sirens Of The Ditch
Blue Rodeo – Til I Am Myself Again
Buy Casino
Bush-Difonzo – Meet The Beatles
Buy Good Intentions
Klark Kent – Don’t Care [wiki]
Buy Kollected Works
Ray Davies – In A Moment

Buy Working Man’s Cafe
Bishop Allen – Click, Click, Click, Click
Buy The Broken String
Rilo Kiley – Silver Lining
Buy Under The Blacklight
Brinsley Schwarz – Funk Angel
Buy Brinsley Schwarz/Despite It All
Neil Young – Harvest
Buy Harvest
Big Star – Motel Blues
Buy Big Star Live

Holiday Cd Giveaway Contest Winners

December 25, 2007 by · Leave a Comment
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Thanks everyone for all of the great comments and emails on the Christmas Song Of The Day series. I had a lot of fun doing it and I hope you all enjoyed it as well. As promised, I drew three names at random this morning to win copies of the Mad Dragon Records Holiday Sampler. The Swimmers song we posted on day 2 is included on this disc as are songs from other excellent Mad Dragon artists Andrew Lipke,Ian D.G. Bennett and Matt Duke.

Thanks to everyone who entered, and congratulations to the winners : Lil’ Leah from the UK, Nicole from Canada, and Mark Rowan.

In case you missed some,here’s a recap of each day’s featured songs for you:
1 Pearl Jam – Let Me Sleep
2 The Swimmers – The Christmas Sound
3 Deanna Kirk – You’re A Mean One Mr Grinch
4 Robert Earl Keen – Merry Christmas From The Family
5 Everything But The Girl – 25th December
6 Vince Guaraldi Trio – Linus And Lucy
7 The Beach Boys -Little Saint Nick(alternate version)
8 John Lennon – Happpy Xmas(War Is Over)
9 Ryan Adams – Hey Parker It’s Christmas

10 Elvis Presley – Merry Christmas Baby
11 Big Star- Jesus Christ
12 Blind Boys Of Alabama w/ Tom Waits – Go Tell It On The Mountain
13 Rilo Kiley – Xmas Cake
14 The Fire Apes – Last Christmas
15A Death Cab For Cutie – Christmas(Baby Please Come Home)
15B Darlene Love – Christmas(Baby Please Come Home)

15C U2- Christmas – Christmas(Baby Please Come Home)
16A Freedy Johnston – Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
16B Victoria Williams – Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
17 Desmond Reed – December 25th
18 The Smithereens – Christmastime All Over The World
19 Liz Phair – Winter Wonderland
20 Spinal Tap – Christmas With The Devil
21 (Fruit)cake – White Beard, Red Jacket
22 Fountains Of Wayne – I Want An Alien For Christmas
23 The Kinks – Father Christmas
24A Chris Isaak- Blue Christmas
24B Elvis Presley – Blue Christmas
25A James Brown – Christmas In Heaven
25B-James Brown – Soul Christmas
25C James Brown – Please Come Home For Christmas
25D James Brown – Signs Of Christmas
25E James Brown – Santa Claus. Santa Claus

Christmas Song Of The Day 25

December 25, 2007 by · Leave a Comment
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Wrapping up this year’s daily Christmas song series with a tribute to mark the one year anniversay of the sad passing of the legendary James Brown. Instead of just one song today I’m giving you five, done up Godfather Of Soul style.

Day 25-A: James Brown – Christmas In Heaven

Day 25-B: James Brown – Soul Christmas

Day 25-C: James Brown – Please Come Home For Christmas

Day25-D: James Brown – Signs Of Christmas

Day25-E: James Brown – Santa Claus, Santa Claus
Buy James Brown

The winners of the holiday cd giveaway coming up a little bit later today. THANKS SO MUCH to everyone who left comments and sent emails. Happy Holidays !

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Christmas Song Of The Day 24

December 24, 2007 by · 1 Comment
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Another freedom of choice edition today, a couple versions of Blue Christmas. California style from Chris Isaak and the classic version from Elvis Presley. Good luck with any last minute shopping you may have to do today.

Day 24-A: Chris Isaak – Blue Christmas
Buy Christmas
Day 24-B: Elvis Presley – Blue Christmas
Buy Elvis Presley Collection : Christmas

LAST DAY to enter the holiday cd giveaway. THANKS SO MUCH to everyone who’s left comments and sent emails so far I’ll be picking winner tomorrow morning. Just comment or send me an email to bagofsongs@gmail.com with “Xmas Contest” in the subject to enter. Happy Holidays !

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The Top 25 Albums Of 2007 – 1 to 10 And A Giveaway !

December 23, 2007 by · Leave a Comment
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Okay here it is the grand finale, my top ten of the year. The albums I listened to and enjoyed most this year. There was so much great music this year that a short list of twenty five doesn’t nearly it do it all justice. There’s obviously way more omitted than included.

And, as I promised I have giveaways. A copy of The SwimmersFighting Trees that most of you will need to wait until it’s March release to get your hands on, but I have it for you now, and a copy of The Broken West‘s I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On autographed by the whole band(Thanks Ross!)

Once again I’ll make it easy to win just leave a comment or send me an email to
bagofsongs@gmail.com with “Top 25 Contest” in the subject line.
You don’t have to, but feel free to get creative in the comments – your top albums, what I missed, etc. If you leave a comment make sure you leave an email or some way to get in touch if you win. I’ll pick 2 winners at random on New Year’s Day from all the entries. Good Luck !

1:The Swimmers – Fighting Trees
Back in January of this year when I received a rather unassuming email from Steve Yutzy-Burkey, not so unlike a lot of other emails I receive everyday from bands, letting me know they had shows upcoming and that their new album Fighting Trees was
streaming from their website if I wanted to give it a listen. What I found at the end of the link was a record I would unabashedly call one of the first truly important releases of 2007. Now nearly a year later, I’ve seen the band live more than a dozen times and there is no single album I listened to or enjoyed more this year. It’s the perfect balance of catchy hooks,vocal harmonies and intelligent lyrics that I just can’t seem to get enough of. The record saw a limited Philadelphia area CD release this fall on Mad Dragon Records, who signed the band and will officially release their record to the rest of the world in March 2008. Watch out for it.

MP3: The Swimmers – Pocketful Of Gold
[MYSPACE] [WEBSITE]

2:The Broken West – I Can’t Go On I’ll Go On
Guitar driven, smart, power pop. Reference points of Big Star,The Beatles,Cheap Trick and more come to mind but the sound ends up undeniably all The Broken West. A dozen songs here and each one could be a single in it’s own right, no filler here just great music.

MP3: The Broken West – Down In The Valley
Buy I Can’t Go On I’ll Go On

3:Julie Doiron – Woke Myself Up
The best overlooked album of the year. Emotional, ragged and real with a sound that falls somewhere between fellow Canadians Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. Forget Feist you need this.

MP3: Julie Doiron – I Woke Myself Up
Buy Woke Myself Up

4:The Clientele – God Save The Clientele
Alasdair Maclean describes the band’s sound on this record: “The band are setting free their inner Monkees; a lovely blend of Big Star twisted power-pop and country achin’, with flashes of the Beatles at their most joyful and upbeat.” He’s dead on, it’s a perfect Sunday morning record, filled with smooth sixties overtones but never sounding retro or dated.

MP3: The Clientele – Here Comes The Phantom
Buy God Save The Clientele

5:Blitzen Trapper – Wild Mountain Nation
What Wilco could sound like if they didn’t sand all the edges off. The perfect mix of alt country and indie rock, they delivered one of the best live shows I saw all year.

MP3: Blitzen Trapper – Sci-Fi Kid
Buy Wild Mountain Nation

6:Josh Ritter – The Historical Conquests Of Josh Ritter
One of the best new songwriters of a generation, Josh amped it up a bit more than his earlier records for this one and created a new classic. And as good as this is, I somehow feel it’s still only hinting at the future greatness Josh has in him.

MP3: Josh Ritter – Right Moves
Buy The Historical Conquests Of Josh Ritter

7:Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
I’ll commit blogger heresy here and say other than a song or two,their debut Funeral did nothing for me. But with only one real clunker(Black Wave),this one is just shy of perfect. Anthmemic and engaging it grabs you right from the first listen. Openly embracing their Springsteen influences in their sound this time around didn’t hurt at all either.

MP3: Arcade Fire – Black Mirror
Buy Neon Bible

8:LCD Soundsystem – Sound Of Silver
James Murphy obviously honed his ear for what works during his time as a bouncer at Trenton’s alternative rock club City Gardens all through the mid to late eighties and delivered an album that put all that knowledge together for something relevant right now. Their live show is phenomenal, hearing All My Friends live was one of most transcendent concert moments I’ve ever experienced.

Listen To The Whole Album Here
Buy Sound Of Silver

9:Creeping Weeds – We Are All Part Of A Dream You’re Having
One of Philadelphia’s most original sounding bands this manages to run the gamut from desolate spacey piano, to jagged edgy guitar rockers and all points in between, and it all works. And having seen them live like 8 or 9 times this past year I can tell you they’re an awesome live band as well.

MP3: The Creeping Weeds – Eternity Is A Long Time
Buy We Are All Part Of A Dream You’re Having

10:Andrew Bird – Armchair Apocrypha
Twelve solid midtempo pop songs filled with hooks,violin, whistling and more, from th eopening notes of Fiery Crash it creates an alternate world and holds you there right through to the final notes of Yawny at the Apocalypse. One of the best sequenced albums of the year, each song perfectly setting up the next, just like a great mix tape.

MP3: Andrew Bird – Fiery Crash
Buy Armchair Apocrypha

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Christmas Song Of The Day 23

December 23, 2007 by · 2 Comments
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One of the all time great bands,The Kinks, bringing you what may be the best rock and roll Christmas song ever today.

Day 23: The Kinks – Father Christmas
Buy Misfits (cd bonus track)

ONLY A COUPLE DAYS LEFT to leave a comment or email to be entered in the holiday cd giveaway
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Christmas Song Of The Day 22

December 22, 2007 by · Leave a Comment
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Fountains Of Wayne want an alien for Christmas, where’s ET when you need him ? What do you want for Christmas ?

Day 22: Fountains Of Wayne – I Want An Alien For Christmas
Buy Out Of State Plates

ONLY A COUPLE DAYS LEFT to leave a comment or email to be entered in the holiday cd giveaway
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