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The CHIRP Blog
Tyler Clark presents: Local Mythologies writesTop 25 Christmas Songs of the Last 25 Years: #16 - Sharon Jones, “Ain’t No Chimneys in the Projects”
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 #16, and the story of how Santa flaunts municipal building codes from Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings.
SKaiser writesOverlooked Albums of 2014: Drowners
Drowners | Drowners | Frenchkiss Records
Chirp Radio presents our volunteers' choices of the most overlooked albums in 2014. At the top of our list is the post-punk band Drowners self-titled debut album released January 2014. Welsh (guitar + lead vocals + model) Matt Hitt coolly tosses lyrics like "a school boy grin that only goes to show / that I could never have such control" that bounce playfully along their fast-paced sound that's charmingly reminiscent of their ancestors, The Strokes. Bandmates Jack Ridley (guitar), Joe Brodie (drums) and Erik Snyder (bass) make four for the group who released their first EP in February 2013 and started working on Drowners in May of 2013. While no song lasts more than three minutes on the album, the opening track Ways to Phrase a Rejection carries you through with all the right surges and lulls present. It may seem their elements are those we've heard before, but give a listen.
It seems worth mentioning that while Style.com contributor Peter Voelker photographed the band through their fall 2014 tour he must have picked up on their fashion as well. The Band on the Run photo essay describes them as "fashion's favorite new group." Well, what more can we expect with a model for a frontman.
Matt Garman writesCHIRP Radio Best of 2014: Matt Garman
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Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its volunteers’ top albums of 2014. Our next list is from DJ, Assistant Music Director and Merchandise Manager Matt Garman.
As much as we want to think we're looking for the newest trend, I've come to accept that for the most part I respond to nostalgia on a regular basis: I like new music that sounds a little bit like old music I love. Indeed, I'm working to fully embrace this fact. In spite of the fact that my favorite albums of 2014 (and 2013, 2012, etc) include new albums by artists I have loved for years, I still tried harder this time around to listen to as much new music as possible than perhaps ever before... I literally made a spreadsheet, attempted (and failed) to create a formula for my personal like-value per album, scanned music criticism sites, dug through all my playlists from 2014, and simply paid attention when anyone anywhere near me was talking about new music. As a result, I considered approximately 100 albums in order to come up with this list of stuff that sounds like stuff I love. Forgive/indulge me. |
Tyler Clark presents: Local Mythologies writesTop 25 Christmas Songs of the Last 25 Years: #17 - Vermont, “Santa Claws”
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 #17, and a one-item Christmas list from Promise Ring side project Vermont.
#17: Vermont, "Santa Claws" (1999)
It's a hard truth to swallow: even Santa, as both a supernatural figure and living allegory about the power of giving, has his limits, and some kinds of happiness just can't be gifted. As universal lessons often do, this truism has taken lots of forms. Maybe you've seen this one, a sappy meme that's made its way around the Sentimental Aunt wing of Facebook for the past few Christmases:
Middle-aged ladies sniffling into their third glass of chardonnay aren't alone here, though. Even jaded emo dudes get these blues. Consider the plight of Davey Von Bohlen, frontman of Vermont/The Promise Ring/Maritime and grade-A mope. On "Santa Claws," his side project's entry for Kindercore Record's tragically overlooked Christmas Two, DVB bemoans the end of his relationship by doing what sad folks do best: imagining all of the activities that he and his ex-girlfriend could be experiencing together if they weren't broken up. With weary resignation, he musters the will to ask Santa for a little holiday intercession.
Will Davey's Christmas wish come true? Probably not. Is the song's bruise-poking wallowing healthy? No. Is it necessary? It might be. DVB has the kind of sadness that's felt even more acutely during the holidays, when the people-shaped holes in our lives present themselves in sharper-than-usual contrast. It's what makes Christmas such a fraught time of year, and how numbing the pain with a little retail therapy became so downright appealing. Santa might bring you that 80" TV. It's the least, and most, he can do.
DJ Dead Alive - Slumber Party Massacre writesCHIRP Radio Best of 2014: DJ Dead Alive
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Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its volunteers’ top albums of 2014. Our next list is from DJ and Assistant Music Director DJ Dead Alive (Dave Toropov).
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