Xmas Compilation CD: Part 2

Well, as promised in the first part of my sleevenotes, here is the second part of my sleevenotes. Man, that was a smooth introduction. And some ugly jpg deterioration above. Oh well, it'll do for now.

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12) Queens of the Stone Age - Make It Wit' Chu
Feel familiar? Well, for reasons not entirely clear, QOTSA have re-recorded the track they did with PJ Harvey on one of the Desert Sessions a few years ago. Still a good song though, and nice to hear again. Perhaps they could re-rerecord it with Peej again and rerelease it in time for my next Xmas album? Thanks guys.

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13) Operator Please - Just A Song About Ping Pong (On The Prowl Version)
And here starts the Shouty Girl Vocal Section of the evening. I wasn't previously aware that beef jerky had an aftertaste, and I thank them most kindly for the information.

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14) Robyn - Konichiwa Bitches
Not that it's The Single, but I like this, and it ends with a punchline and is fun.

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15) Thomas Tantrum - WhyTheEnglishAreRubbish
This came to me via Marc Riley's 6music radio show, and is also great. I told you this was the Shouty Girl Vocal Section of the album, didn't I? If not, you might have guessed by now.

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16) The Ting Tings - That's Not My Name
Further shouty stuff. As mobile phones have saved us the bother of remembering phone numbers, I think the next generation of mobiles will also remember people's names for us, which will come in handy, and avoid the need for songs like this to be written. Shouty segment over and out.

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17) Blonde Redhead - Top Ranking
I inadvertantly saw Blonde Redhead this year, and they were great. I didn't realise they were a trio with a weird twin brothers/husband and wife dynamic. Must make intra-band squabbles fun.

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18) The Killers - Tranquilize (Feat. Lou Reed)
Ooh, it starts off moody, doesn't it? Warning: Contains a creepy child chorus. Terrifying. I was going to include Digitalism's D.A.N.C.E. on here, which also has a creepy child chorus, but Winamp decided otherwise. Listen out for the bit near the end when Laughin' Uncle Lou starts to sound like a near-death Johnny Cash. Mrs Reed, take out that life insurance now.

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19) Devendra Banhart - The Other Woman
Yeah, it's another track from Devandra B, this time a weird dubby little thing. If you go to his website you can play dress up with him, which is bafflingly entertaining.

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20) Rufus Wainwright - Going To A Town
This was a real grower on me when it was released as a single earlier in the year. Very well-judged lyric, and the vocal is nicely resigned. If I had produced it, and I can't quite picture the Some Mothers Do Have 'Em-esque chain of events that would have led to that happening, I would have had him do an extra verse where he sighs the lyrics. I'd also put disco keyboard stabs and kick drums and cowbells and an oompah band and a choir of creepy children.

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21) Joe Dassin - Les Champs Elysees
Coming in on the home straight is the song about which I know nothing but was in a film I saw (The Darjeeling Limited), and made me leave the cinema singing in an out-RAY-ge-ous Ferr-ench accent, which can only be a good thing. Unless you happened to hear it. Anyway, there it is. I imagine somewhere out there in the infinite monkey typing pool that is the internet there is a Frenchman sat with a laptop in a cafe, fag dangling precariously from his lips, writing densely intellectual criticism of a track called The Mall. Even better, I'm now going to cover this song with my newly formed Dixieland jazz trio, Jim McKenzie & the Offended Parties, changing the chorus to 'Oh, Holloway Rd/Oh, Holloway Rd', and thinking up they lyrics to the verse on the spot. Playing unappreciated at a pub near you soon.

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22) The Flight of the Conchords - It's Business Time
Have I cornered you in a pub or party recently and subjected you to an intense conversation about how great Flight of the Conchords is? If not, consider yourself lucky and experience the virtual version of my drunken enthusiasm, presented here in the elegant form of one of their songs what I got off their DVD using the awsome power of technology. This song is even better in the context of the episode it's from. If you've not watched it yet, that oppressive feeling of guilt is the feeling of me judging you, quite hard.

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Archivists amongst you may want to note the tracklistings to previous years' Xmas Compilation CDs and spot themes (like how I always put I Want To Make It Wit' Chu on all of the compilation CDs, and won't stop until it replaces our national anthem at sporting events):

Xmas 2006
Xmas 2005
Xmas 2004