Time to Vote

Early voting is underway! Find out where to vote early in Chicago here.

Become a Member

Now Playing

Current DJ: Andy Friedman

Jungle Candle Flame (featuring Erick the Architect) from Volcano (Caiola/AWAL) Add to Collection

Listen Live

Requests? 773-DJ-SONGS or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

The CHIRP Blog

Lady Amelia writesCHIRP Radio Best of 2014: Amelia Hruby

CHIRP Radio Best of 2014

Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its volunteers’ top albums of 2014. Our next list is from DJ (6-9am Thursdays) Amelia Hruby.

Sitting down to make this year's list wasn't so tough. Looking back through my library and 2014 playlists, I found that I had marked a number of stand-out albums that jumped onto the list without a second thought. You may notice that 7/10 are female soloist or female-fronted groups. That wasn't particularly on purpose, women just seemed to run the rock world this year. You go girls!

Keep Reading…

Share December 8, 2014 • https://chrp.at/4XRg • Share on Facebook • Tweet This!

Categorized: Best Albums of the Year

Topics:

Tyler Clark presents: Local Mythologies writesTop 25 Christmas Songs of the Last 25 Years: #19 - Outkast, “Player’s Ball”

It's the holiday season, which means Christmas music. Lots and lots or Christmas music, most of which was written before the people listening to it were even alive. While "Jingle Bells" and "We Three Kings" are great, and resilient, we're devoting this year to finding the best Christmas song written since 1989. We continue today with #19, and the best (and possibly only) use of sleigh bells in an Outkast song.

 

#19: Outkast, "Player's Ball" (1993)

Outkast may be the only hip-hop act in the history of the genre to debut with a Christmas song. On November 19, 1993, the now-legendary Atlanta duo released "Player's Ball," their debut single and ode to the annual gathering of pimps that later appeared on 1994's Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik. However, a version of the song actually debuted ten days earlier, on November 9, as part of A LaFace Family Christmas.

Powered by sleigh bells (and setting the date of the ball back from November to December), the song finds Big Boi and Andre 3000 taking stock of another year on the hustle while getting blitzed on eggnog. They also take time to throw in lyrical callbacks to famous Christmas songs along the way, the most obvious of which would get edited out of the (much more popular) album and radio versions. Even with the alterations, the song retains the soul-searching mood that everyone settles into around the holidays without sacrificing its all-season durability. It's almost impossible to write a Christmas song that sounds as good in July as it does in December, but Outkast did it.

Share December 7, 2014 • https://chrp.at/4SpD • Share on Facebook • Tweet This!

Categorized: Christmas Top 25

Tyler Clark presents: Local Mythologies writesTop 25 Christmas Songs of the Last 25 Years: #20 - Rufus Wainwright, “Spotlight on Christmas”

It's the holiday season, which means Christmas music. Lots and lots or Christmas music, most of which was written before the people listening to it were even alive. While "Jingle Bells" and "We Three Kings" are great, and resilient, we're devoting this year to finding the best Christmas song written since 1989. We continue today with #20, and Rufus Wainwright's uncanny ability to write songs that sound 70 years old.

 

#20: Rufus Wainwright, "Spotlight on Christmas" (2003)

When I started prepping for this countdown, I thought that Rufus Wainwright's "Spotlight on Christmas," which first appeared on 2003's Maybe This Christmas Too?, was a cover of a much older song, and thus ineligible for inclusion. Fortunately for all involved, I was wrong, but my initial mistake speaks to both the timeless quality of the sentiments and Wainwright's own ability to conjure the spirits of Tin Pan Alley.

Take a listen again and see if you can't imagine the song as a bonus track on an Andy Williams, or maybe as a lost Bing Crosby number from the deleted scenes of Holiday Inn. So much contemporary holiday music goes out of its way to cover topics and feelings not represented in classic carols, but Wainwright proves that a little holiday moralizing should never go out of fashion.

Share December 6, 2014 • https://chrp.at/4SpG • Share on Facebook • Tweet This!

Categorized: Christmas Top 25

Tyler Clark presents: Local Mythologies writesTop 25 Christmas Songs of the Last 25 Years: #21 - Nick Lowe, “Christmas at the Airport”

It's the holiday season, which means Christmas music. Lots and lots or Christmas music, most of which was written before the people listening to it were even alive. While "Jingle Bells" and "We Three Kings" are great, and resilient, we're devoting this year to finding the best Christmas song written since 1989. We continue today with #21, and an ode to holiday travel by the Jesus of Cool himself, Nick Lowe.
 


#21: Nick Lowe, "Christmas at the Airport" (2013)

When Nick Lowe released his first Christmas album, Quality Street: A Seasonal Selection for All the Family, in 2013, it didn't come as much of a surprise. Writing "Cruel To Be Kind" alone earned him the leeway to sing whatever he damned well pleases. What did surprise was the quality of the work; this was no phoned-in cash grab, or (even worse) a too-cool-for-school attempt at social commentary. The songs were good, and fresh; aside from "Silent Night," Lowe stayed away from any of the done-to-death usual suspects from the holiday songbook. That freshness also extended to Lowe's own performance. The man sounds downright lively; just try not to shake your ass during his country-fried take on traditional spiritual "Children, Go Where I Send Thee." I'll wait.

Your ass has shaken. You have failed.

In addition to curating a great set of overlooked Christmas tunes, Lowe also lent his own songwriting skill to the holiday canon. Of the three originals, "Christmas at the Airport" got the most attention at the time, and with good reason. Set during a nightmare layover, Lowe combats the frozen hellscape and creeping ennui with music-hall humor and a little jangly guitar. In addition to adding a little leavity to a situation that would give most people a mean case of the howling fantods, Lowe's song is just catchy, and probably the best song set in an airport since the Divine Comedy's "Come Home, Billy Bird." As critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine said in his AllMusic review, "it speaks to the other side of Christmas, so it feels like it could be a Christmas perennial, a tart bit of counter-programming in a holiday season that can get too sticky and sweet."

After a career loaded with high points, Lowe can finally check "write a holiday standard" off of his to-do list.

Share December 5, 2014 • https://chrp.at/4Xrx • Share on Facebook • Tweet This!

Categorized: Christmas Top 25

  1. ««
  3. 297
  4. 298
  5. 299
  6. 300
  7. 301
  9. »»