i heart christmas music

i *love* christmas music :D

so i made you all a muxtape^ 8trackplaylist to share in my joy and my vast christmas music mp3 collection.

liner notes:

*Weezer - O Holy night*
apparently they recorded this for an iPhone game which everyone loved so much they are releasing the mp3s on itunes (but possibly only in america? i can't find them on the uk store) this is my favourite of the 6 and i am absolutely addicted to listening to this song at the moment. as in i will happily play it 4 or 5 times on repeat. the high note near the end is pure win, and it's quite weird to hear weezer singing such explicitly Christian carols but very cool at the same time

*Darlene Love - It's a Marshmallow World
more generically winter than christmas but absolutely amazing all the same. kinda reminds me of hairspray and makes me want to be darlene love. she is truly queen of christmas music.

*Last Christmas - pas/cal
never heard of the band before this but much much much better than the wussy version jimmyeatworld did on the OC chrismukkah cd. kinda almost chip-tuney which is quite nice

*I Want an Alien for Christmas - Fountains of Wayne
i can't remember where i first heard this but i remember having to special order it into hmv when i was 13 because it was so cool. and then i plagiarised the cover artwork for my art homework... this was *way* before they fell in love with stacey's mom

*All I Want for Christmas is You - My Chemical Romance
my least favourite christmas song (when sung by mariah carey at least) made more than listenable by one of the few nu-emo bands actually worth listening to (sometimes)

*Trains to Brazil - Guillemots
not a christmas song. except it blatently is. even in the middle of summer this song never fails to make me feel all jingle bellsy inside

*Everything's Gonna Be Cool this Christmas - eels
one of the finest examples of original indie christmas songs, found on indie radio station compilation cd's, chrismukkah mixes and mp3 blogs the world over

*Merry Christmas Everyone - Shakin' Stevens
my absolute favourite christmas song ever. it's a classic. the video with shakey's awesome jumper makes it even better.

A spaceman came travelling by Chris de Burgh is my 2nd favourite (mostly because of how bizarre the lyrics are, but partly because the 'lalalah's' are immense) but I'm saving that for another time... yup, there's plenty more where this came from if you really want it ;)

credits:
*all the bands or artists for being awesome and...
*all the original songwriters for writing kickass songs that, whilst sounding horrendously annoying and/or crap when sung by the original artist (i'm looking at you mariah), make ace covers
*the amazing hypemachine for supplying me with many many mp3s and...
*all the music bloggers in the world who have even geekiermore exhaustive christmas music collections than me and share them every year
*adam and joe for playing the darlene love track last week on their 6music radio show and introducing me to my favourite 'new' christmas song (even though it's probably about 40 yrs old)
*my sister for knowing i wasn't being ironic when i asked for the O.C. Chrismukkah mix album
*my mum and dad for bringing me up with the annual christmas cd whilst tree decorating, letting me listen to the evening session one christmas and allowing me to experience the wonderful juxtaposition of the guillemot's non-christmas but blatently festive song, and for owning the Phil Spector Christmas LP
*god, because he invented christmas, and gave us something *even* better than christmas songs, but so good that it has inspired music throughout the ages


^i never ever used muxtape when it was going, and as soon as i find the perfect use for it, i find it got taken down by the stupid RIAA :(

http://8tracks.com/spugmeistress/merry-christmas-everyone

star power

star pin, originally uploaded by spugmeistress.

two new brooches up today, big ghost pin and star pin, available on etsy or folksy for the uk types.

speaking of star power - i recently became completely addicted to rock band when they had it at a conference i was at with work and nearly lost my voice pretending to be shirley manson :) back home all i've got is guitar hero 2 and singstar on the ps2. so the question is, to rock band or to guitar hero: world tour? and on the ps2 with the stuff i've already got (and some drums obviously, it's always been my secret ambition to be a drummer) or on the wii with the hope that nintendo gets DLC working? apparently rock band peripherals work with guitar hero world tour (or is it the other way round?) but it's all very complicated... any suggestions or advice welcome, for a rocking out christmas :)