Hey Guys! It's Christmas Time!

Hello everyone,

I simply cannot contain my excitement about the fact that it is soon to be Christmas! This time last year I couldn't wait for it to be over, but now it seems like a shining beacon just beyond the work-shaped hill in front of me.

It may also have something to do with the fact that I just recently got back into Sufjan Stevens again- and on a whim decided to buy his Christmas songs album. It's brilliant. I haven't felt that christmassy tingle of excitement since I was a fresh faced young lad praying for snow to fall on the fields of South Oxfordshire.

I felt that perhaps you lot could share in my christmassy feeling- and so I have compiled a .zip file of christmas songs from my media library. Some have no relevance to christmas other than the wintry title, but they still add to the mood! Honest!

The Tracklist is as follows:

Maps- Sparks in the Snow

Some of you will have seen Maps at truck this year- performing a MASSIVE version of 'Leave them all behind' by Ride to finish the festival. This track is a suitably pretty song- a B-side from an early EP. I loved it, but unfortunately the album never lived up to it. It makes me thing of an evening when I was about 18- and working at Matthew Arnold- when in the space of about 15 minutes everything in sight was covered in about 5 inches of snow. It was the closest thing I've seen to a blizzard in my short time on this earth!

Sufjan Stevens- Only at Christmas Time

I don't have much to say about this song. I'm listening to the album right now- and this track was the first Stevens-penned track (amongst all the traditional songs) that stuck out like a shiny-nosed reindeer.

Atlas Sound-Winter Vacation

Bradford Cox is a genius. It conjures up a windswept cityscape. A cold winter's night on a fake ice rink. Nothing specifically christmassy but it is a cold song.

A Scholar and a Physician- A Return to Seasonal Disorder

More truck stalwarts here- ASAP are two of the guys from Trademark as far as I know- and this track popped up on the ASAP Xmas album of the early 2000s. My first encounter with it was on the Truck Eight Cd- on which it was one of the highlights. It's a fragile track- and despite lacking any definite christmas references, it still makes me feel christmassy!

Animal Collective- Winter Wonder Land

It's bloody brilliant, dancing on lakes, snowflakes and bobsleighs all feature in the lyrics. It's completely bonkers as usual but still fantastic. It's the fun side of christmas jumbled up with all the leftover shiny wrapping paper and squeezed into 2 and a half minutes.

Ride- Xmas Song

This is, without question, the shittest song on this list. It's crap. It's from a rarities CD- I can only assume that it didn't have a name and they had to give it one to release it- so they chose Xmas song. It's got nothing going for it, other than the title. Seriously, it's that tenuous.

The Flaming Lips- Christmas at the Zoo

I know some of you don't like the 'Lips but you've not heard much of their earlier work. This is a wonderful song about Wayne Coyne strolling around the zoo on Christmas Eve and trying to free the animals. It's brilliant. "It started to snow on Christmas Eve in the middle of the night- walkin through the state park zoo and everything is white..."

Casiotone for the Painfully Alone- Cold White Christmas

This one is a sad one. He's awfully straight- no beating around the bush for ol' casiotone here. His mournful voice says it all. "It's gonna be a cold white christmas in st. paul". Not especially heart-warming, but a Christmas song nonetheless- I used to love this album, but haven't touched it in years. Worth a listen.

Emmy the Great & Lightspeed Champion- Christmas in Prison

This is a cover of a John Prine song- I prefer this version. It makes you think of Christmas more than the original. That said- it's still the lyrics that make this song wonderful. probably the prettiest song on this list.

Mew- She Came Home for Christmas

You must've known this would creep in somehow. This is the Triumph for man version- and finds Jonas Bjerre's voice cracked by the winter frost! HO HO HO. My wintery descriptions are getting worse by the minute. The title is a nice sentiment, but the rest of the words to this song weird me out a bit. Still, very very pretty.

Okkervil River- Listening to Otis Redding at home during Christmas

This was before Will Sheff truly tamed his voice- when it would still randomly shoot off around the octave like a reindeer that's eaten too many mince pies. A nice relaxing track- for a night in front of the fire roasting chestnuts or something equally christmassy.

Napoleon iiird- Snowball Fight at the OK Diner

Completely my least fave Napoleon song. It's still good though. When it breaks into the Happy Christmas bit at the end it's wonderful.

The Go! Team- The Ice Storm

Again reminding me of the aforementioned snowstorm in my late teens- this was a b-side to Bottle Rocket or maybe that other one they released. It's very pretty, and makes me feel very very cold! They actually played it at that ATP when we saw them- which surprised me.

An Aeronauts Christmas!

That's it! I hope you like some of these songs. Some of them are wack. Some of them are brilliant.

Do you lot think we should do a christmas cover for the 23rd December show? We could all learn it across continents and then see what happens? Suggestions below please.

xxx