12 Songs for Xmas - Twelfth Day

Day twelve. Hope you've enjoyed the songs I've picked. They were all contenders for my top five tunes of the year but didn't quite make the cut. I also hope you've taken down your Crimbo decorations. Mrs Top Five will tell you it's unlucky to keep them up any longer.

Gotta end on an upbeat. I've been a fan of the flower punk Black Lips for some time but their previous album was a bit disappointing. Thankfully they returned this year under the production control of Mark Ronson and produced the really quite brilliant L.P. Arabia Mountain.

There are a bunch of great tunes on there but Family Tree probably takes the mark as the best tune. If you're easily offended you might want to skip the video that features blood, nudity and "inter-band bonding".

http://youtu.be/hKzmsgXz5GM



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12 Songs for Xmas - Eleventh Day

Another Marc Riley discovery. Metronomy are a bit electronic for me but Riley's incessant plays gradually swung my opinion. I saw them live in Kingston for a fiver and they won me over.

This is The Bay

http://youtu.be/9PnOG67flRA



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12 Songs for Xmas - Tenth Day

Heavily influenced by Jethro Tull front man Ian Anderson's style Laura J Martin has been one of my finds of the year. Her debut album The Hangman Tree is not out until the 23rd January 2012 but it's already a contender for my favourite album of the year.

This is Salamander recorded live at the Union Chapel in Islington.

http://youtu.be/sSqwnfCK19s



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12 Songs for Xmas - Ninth Day

David Tattersall is the lead vocalist with The Wave Pictures. I know very little about him or them. Mr Marc Riley, however, has played the single composed with French guitar man Howard Hughes pretty consistently throughout the year. It's gorgeous.

Howard Hughes & David Tattersall - "The Lobster Boat" Vinyl version

http://youtu.be/ls_MpQRPV1o



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12 Songs for Xmas - Eighth Day

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Figured I ought to go with something quiet and low key today to soothe those New Year hangovers. Here's the rather wonderful The Low Anthem and "Hey, All You Hippies!" played live at Vintage Vinyl in St Louis MO. In the late nineties I spent 4 or 5 weeks in St. Louis for work. It's not a town for the casual tourist but I would like to go back one day and if I do I'll try and find this record store which looks fantastic.


http://youtu.be/EacfzA-JFdQ



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12 Songs for Xmas - Seventh Day

I had heard about Ron Sexsmith long before I actually heard his music. A night down at my Dad's with minimal access to my usual music channels lead me to a BBC Four programme about songwriters that included Ron. This lead me to download his 2011 album "Long Player Late Bloomer" which really hit the mark. "Believe it when I see It" is one of my favourite tracks off that album.

http://youtu.be/OY55krWvQrk



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12 Songs for Xmas - Sixth Day

A concept album about British Wrestling Of The 1970's And Early 1980's? In 2011? Never gonna work is it? Well Luke Haines demented genius ensured that it could and 9 1/2 Psychedelic Meditations On British Wrestling Of The 1970's And Early 1980's has been one of my favourite albums of the year.

This here track is the impossibly catchy Big Daddy Got A Casio VL - Tone.

http://youtu.be/d15c2AjB0do



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12 Songs for Xmas - Fifth Day

Slow Club are a band with a history of tweeness. The first time I saw them live they played a number of unusual instruments including a chair. This was endearing on its own but their debut album was full of corking tunes too. Paradise, released this year was quite a change from those quirky routes. A much bigger sound. The songwriting remains though and this track Two Cousins is one of the highlights.

http://youtu.be/BiViJkz10nw



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12 Songs for Xmas - Fourth Day

Time to wake things up a bit with the irrepressibly chirpy Go! Team. Their new album, Rolling Blackouts, was a huge return to form after their relatively disappointing second album. T.O.R.N.A.D.O. kicks off both the new album and their current live show and is a shot of 100% positive vibe.

It's a T. O. R. N. A. D. O!

http://youtu.be/0jlg3oBLkf4



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12 Songs for Xmas - Third Day

Day three and I'm guessing we're all feeling a little bit tired of rich food and drink. We're off out again later today assuming the country is not in the midst of a massive winter storm (I wrote all these posts before Christmas).

Something mellow then to soothe your thumping head and hopefully make you feel good about the world. This is Low, who I think are a very underrated band, and "Especially Me". I went with the album version, which has a lovely string section in the middle, if you feel the need for moving pictures there should be a link to the official video from the same page.

http://youtu.be/_ZBkO1LAlhI



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