28.12.12

Happy new year, peeps


For anyone that reads this page with any sort of regularity, I've decided I'm gonna take a little break from it. It may be a month, it may be twelve months, it may be forever; I don't know. I just feel like I need to unplug from some stuff. I'll be elsewhere, just...probably not here. It's not necessarily goodbye, it's more like see you later.

Emmy the Great & Tim Wheeler - See You Next Year

24.12.12

Happy holidays!


Now that Christmas is upon us, I have a few gifts for whomever reads this page. I've taken the liberty of uploading Theoretical Girl's previous Advent Calendars. I've posted 09, 10 and 11. These files are all mp3s, as I like to burn mp3 discs to play in my car.  I'm pretty sure I've updated all of the metadata, but let me know if something is amiss.

This year's Advent Calendar is readily available on the Theoretical Girl Soundcloud page (and check out her album here), it should be easy to grab those.

Then, there is my Xmas mix which I posted about here. Check the comments if you're interested in hearing it.

Finally, there is the mix of my favorite songs from 2012 that I concocted, right here. Again, check the comments.

All this stuff, and this page on the whole, I mostly do it for my own amusement and it gives me something to write every once in a while. Even if it's just a couple sentences about some song I like. And, that's that.

Happy holidays from Robot Hero!

Wish I had all that money I used to spend on dope

One of the greats covered by one of the greats.

Neko Case - Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis

22.12.12

From Coney Island to the Sunset Strip

You'll have a yule that's cool! I love this.

Louis Armstrong - Cool Yule

20.12.12

All your words, they fall like snow

One of the bleakest Christmas songs ever, with lines like "It's so cold tonight, I know I'll die in your embrace." From their album, Songs About You. Check it out.

Language of Flowers - Christmas

19.12.12

Ode To Joy

Just came across this trippy New Order artifact which was ripped from a 1982 flexi-disc called Merry Xmas From The Haçienda And Factory Records.

You can get the lowdown on it if you click here.

New Order - Ode To Joy

18.12.12

Last Christmas

This one just popped up a couple days ago. A lot of peeps seem to like it, but it isn't doing much for me. I love a good, sad song but this one just feels too much like a funeral dirge to me.

The xx - Last Christmas

15.12.12

Christmas Mix



I'm fairly certain I've posted most (if not all) of these before. I just decided to make one big mix out of it. Happy listening!

13.12.12

Couldn't miss this one this year!

A classic from 1981. The Waitresses' tale of missed connections ends happily for all involved. It's a very catchy tune, as well.

The Waitresses - Christmas Wrapping

12.12.12

You're on my mind

Emmy the Great & Tim Wheeler - Home for the Holidays. From their album, This is Christmas (which is really good!).

10.12.12

A Robot on the Dance Floor




If you're interested, here is a collection of some of my favorite songs from the past year. As it goes with things like this, I've probably overlooked a few titles (it's so difficult to keep up!), so don't judge me too harshly.

Random thoughts:
Grimes actually shows up twice, once with her own song Oblivion and she guests on Blood Diamonds' Phone Sex. Call Me Maybe might raise an eyebrow or two, but I don't care because that song is so catchy and I didn't hear it often enough to get sick of it. I originally included PSY's Gangnam Style, but hearing it at the SF Giants' World Series parade effectively sounded the death knell; it was just too much overkill for me. It's practically a parody of itself now.

I also included Where The Wild Roses Grow from Kylie Minogue's Abbey Road Sessions album because it was re-worked plus she and Nick Cave recorded new vocals for it. I guess that qualifies that for a cover, even if it's being re-done by the original artists.

There are a few other covers; Tara Jane O'Neil doing Rainbow Connection, The National covering The Rains of Castamere which originally appeared in the Game of Thrones books (sorry, Song of Ice and Fire series). Jessica Paré covered Zou Bisou, Bisou which was in Season 5 of Mad Men and was also released on red 7" vinyl. Boris and Asobi Seksu released a RSD 7" on which they covered each other. I really love the Boris cover of New Years (they spell it Neu Years), so that one found its way onto the list. I also very much enjoyed Austra's cover of Radiohead's Paranoid Android.

Finally, I'm guessing the Songs from "Friday Afternoons", Op.7 - Cuckoo! by the Choir of Downside School, Purley is an old song (I haven't bothered to look it up), but it was featured on the Moonrise Kingdom soundtrack from earlier this summer and that's good enough for me.

iamamiwhoami's Play might be my favorite song of the bunch. It's like a siren-song lullaby from an alien world. What a jam.

In any case, this is it, for better or worse. I tried to sequence it for flow or what felt best to me, hopefully you'll enjoy on some level.

Tracklist after the jump.

How suddenly the Christmas magic dims


The lovely Kathryn Calder checks in with a new Christmas tune and drops a bit of heartache and a dash of hope into our collective stocking. Listen to Little Ones, which you can download here, along with the rest of TLOBF's Canadian Christmas compilation, for free. If you like this, check out more of Kathryn Calder's music here.

Kathryn Calder - Little Ones

9.12.12

Theoretical Girl's Advent Calendar 2012


In what has become one of my favorite Christmas traditions, Theoretical Girl is posting a song a day up to Christmas as part of her Advent Calendar series. Some of them are Christmas-y, some of them are just good old-fashioned covers, but they're all really cool and free. This is her fourth year doing it, I believe; I first stumbled onto her way back in 2009. Check out her Soundcloud page and get thee to downloading. She's on Day 8 as of this posting. I might actually post the previous three projects as .rars if I can get motivated at some point.

In any case, you can also keep up with the current Advent Calendar by stopping by the Theoretical Girl Facebook page and/or you can follow her Twitter feed. Her album, Divided, is very good as well, if you like what you're hearing and want to check out her original material.

If only I had wings

Man, I love this song. It's not Christmas unless I hear Kate Bush's Home For Christmas.

6.12.12

I'm Christmas-ing with you

The sweet, sweet voice of Karen Carpenter. I also like how she turns "Christmas" into a verb. And dig that sax solo.

3.12.12

You breathe the air



Stepping away from the Xmas tunes for a moment; I recently came across the new single, Dead Film Star, from Team Ghost (Nicolas Fromageau's post M83 project). I really like this song and its accompanying video. Watch the entire video, it's a trip. Their new EP (same title) is out now.

2.12.12

A little goes a long way

This is a pretty fun little Xmas tune by the punk band, MxPx.

1.12.12

The gift you give yourself

The always great Calexico with a somber, yet hopeful, Xmas tune called Gift X-Change.