The Blue Light from the Christmas Strands is Beautiful

Hello all! I hope that everyone had a lovely Christmas complete with seriously great Christmas music. We switched to Michael Jackson's Number Ones, and Wolfie 7 inches by about 11 am where I was, but the day did begin with Bing Crosby and Ella Fitzgerald singing the classics.

I'm up early contemplating whether or not I realistically have time to make a compilation of my favorite songs of the year (normally, I have it together to give people in addition to their Christmas gifts.) Though, I am pet sitting this week which means a lot of nights in, and so many good songs to sort through...

Also, as a bit of a late Christmas present, and further proof that 2008 is going to be an awesome year for music. That song that the makers of my favorite album of 2007, A Sunny Day in Glasgow will have released as part of the Slumberland 7 inch series? A Pastels cover!!! They describe it like this:

"Slumberland Records will release our cover of the Pastels' "Sometimes I Think About You" on 7" in March of 08. We think it's a pretty cool cover. For reasons we don't understand at all, it kind of sounds like Underworld and maybe Neu! covering the Pastels? We don't know how it happened."

You can read that directly from the source, as well as some other interesting tidbits (other new singles, a potential new album, a vinyl release for Scribble Mural Comic Journal, etc.) here.

Listening Too Long To One Song: The Pastels "Nothing To Be Done"

Often when you discover the band that is your new favorite band, the reaction is immediate. There is something contained within those first few chords that makes you realize, "Oh right, surely this band will change everything for me." Other times (most times I find) it's a slower process. You hear one song, maybe enjoy that song then kind of forget about it, but something makes you go back and listen to it a few more times. So then you buy one album from that band, and you listen to that album a few times. Then you figure, "Well I really like that album, I should have all of their albums." Then you can't stop listening to those albums, and so on and so forth until you realize that you probably have a new favorite band.

Such was the case with me and The Pastels, and I think,"Nothing To Be Done," is one of their strongest songs. It opens with the kind of guitar riff that tends to inspire air guitar then keeps that energy going throughout. And no matter how many times I listen, I always get caught up in the story. It's about a relationship which may or may not happen with the boy character being the one who wants to go all in, and the girl remaining skeptical until the song nears it's close. Stephen Pastel presents the line, "Simply nothing to be done, tell me I'm the only one..." which Aggi Wright picks up and carries on as a refrain until the end of the song. If you have become invested in the story, this makes for a very satifying ending. If you haven't become invested, the melody of that refrian is so good you probably won't be able to stop humming it for the rest of the day. And you probably won't mind one bit.

You can find "Nothing to be Done," on the compilation "Truckload of Trouble" which is a very good place to start if you feel like you might want to get into the Pastels. If you simply want to hear the song, there is a VERY good chance that I will play it at our Squaregirls night on December 12 (next week!) at the Scene Bar in Glendale. Oh yeah, and there will be awesome bands there too...

LISTENING TOO LONG TO ONE SONG: THE ROYAL WE "ALL THE RAGE"

As much as I enjoy recieving emails from Geographic Music, there is always a certain element of sadness involved. They never contain updates on a new Pastels album, and they are usually announcing some extraordinarily cool film screening that I can never attend because, sadly, I don't live in Glasgow. For those of you that are curious, Geographic is a small imprint of Domino Records run by the Pastels to introduce us to interesting artists that span a variety of genres beyond simply rock/pop (jazz, world, etc.) The latest email that I recieved from them was no exception to the sadness rule, announcing both the debut album, and demise of The Royal We.

THE ROYAL WE


The Royal We walk the line between straightforward rock and giddy pop better than most bands I have heard in a while. I personally cannot stop listening to the single "All The Rage." It's exciting, and it's catchy as hell. The kind of song that you will desperately wish to have stuck in your head for days. The rest of the songs that I've heard so far are equally as exciting, and equally as enjoyable. As I mentioned, the sad part of this post is the Royal We are no more. They played their final show to some seriously lucky Glaswegians last night. Sigh. At least they left us with what promises to be an outstanding first and last album. You can pick up your copy of it here:

DOMINO RECORDS/THE ROYAL WE/THE ROYAL WE