January 10, 2008

Liveblogging (finally) M. Nicholai’s Listening Time Mix

What day is today? January what? And this is an all-Christmas mix? Man, I’m really behind. Oh well, here we go.

M. Nicholai’s Mix
The Silent Knight Returns

1. Santa Claus is gunning you down by Planet Express Oh, of course, the Futurama. Heh. What do I even have time to write, though? The track is already over.

2. Father Christmas by The Kinks Kinda a rocking start here… huh, that’s… I dunno about those vocals, they’ve got a weird quality. Oh, wait, now that we’re to the chorus, I think I’ve heard this before, actually… but at least it’s not a song I was hearing all season at work, so that’s nice, to be sure. Anyway, it’s kinda nice, but it’s not really… bringing about the season for me? Then again, it’s hard for something you’re not familiar with on some level to do that, isn’t it? I don’t know if that’s really the idea anyway. A kinda fun little bridge thingy here, very upbeat. Yeah, not bad.

3. What Christmans means to me by Hanson I don’t know if that’s a typo in the name, but I left it anyway, so there! Oh gods, this is a song I was hearing all season in Kohl’s. Oh gods, oh gods! Well, at least it’s interesting to learn that this is by Hanson, apparently. Yeah, this is a song I was singing to badly for over a month… I do nothing but sing badly to the songs at work very loudly. Did you know that? Probably not. I also do this thing where I just pick one pitch and sing every word at that pitch for the whole song. And when people ask me why the hell I’m doing it, I say “Kids today are spoiled, with so many pitches! Back in my day, we only had one pitch, and liked it!” This song is kinda happy, though, isn’t it?

4. Santa Claus is coming to town by Jackson 5 Ah, the Jackson 5. I actually haven’t heard a lot by them that I haven’t liked decently. It’s nice kinda stuff. Fun and easy. And this is definitely that same way. Little Jackson has a pretty hardcore voice, to be sure. Let us remember him this way, hm?

5. Wonderful Christmastime by Paul McCartney Well, this seems like something my mom would like. I say before I listen. Oh, it’s this song! Dammit, they played this at Kohl’s too. Damn workplace, tainting all the songs it plays! (Exceptions: I Hear the Bells by Mike Doughty, You’re Really Growing On Me by The Darkness… those oddly have not been tainted by Kohl’s replaying them always while I work) There is some neat little blippy stuff in there, though, isn’t there?

6. Happy Xmas (War is Over) by John Lennon and Yoko Ono Mmm, yeah, okay… so that’s Yoko Ono singing, huh? I don’t think I’ve ever heard her before… I can’t say this song is doing a whole lot for me, though… it… it’s kinda got a depressing kinda vibe, actually… like… lost nostalgia kinda feeling… like… you can’t go back kinda feeling… if that makes any sense? Also there are a lot of kids singing, apparently. Happy Christmas to you too, slowly fading quieter children…

7. Xmas in the Arctic Pole by Drugstore I don’t know of this “Drugstore” of which you speak. There’s some weird vibrations in her… his…? The vocalist’s voice. It’s… weird… Yeah, I definitely haven’t heard this song before… A solid dose of nah nah nahs in there, I see… I don’t know why waver-y strained voiced person is going to the Arctic Pole, though… I guess I missed that. Or maybe that’s just where the Xmas happens, so you gotta go to the Arctic pole to have any of it… but then does the Arctic pole have a queen? I remember a queen being mentioned… and now the vocalist has pitched themselves lower and it sounds weird. Well, alright then.

8. This Time Every Year by Saturday Looks Good Jingle-y bells… and there’s some guitars there… and some bellish sounds there, too… but wow, that’s kinda… noisy in the background… is it my speakers or is there really all that static-y sound back there? Goodness… okay, there’s a guy singing about the middle of December… which I guess makes sense… but apparently there’s old girlfriends and things going wrong… at this time every year. Aww, poor vocalist. Try calling new girlfriends, maybe? And being less echo-y and having less constant cymbal in the background to annoy me. Seriously, it’s just like this wall of sound in the background for no apparent reason, I dunno what’s up with that… like… it’s drowning out this other guitar back there…? I dunno.

9. Merry Christmas (I don’t want to fight tonight) by The Ramones Well, good, you shouldn’t fight on Christmas, because it’s all happy and shit… okay, but yeah, I get it… Christmas… no fighting… alright here’s some other lyrics… alright, children and faeries, and excitement… and love, that’s good, but it has to be that way, apparently, and you shouldn’t break up now… so I guess this is a song about wanting to wait until after Christmas to break up, I guess…?

10. Santa Claus and His Old Lady by Cheech and Chong Oh… kay… Cheech and Chong, huh? There’s some guy talking now, and some other guy digging something… huh… surely there is a band named Santa Claus though. Well, good! I get to learn who Santa is! Awesome! Brownies! Kickass! Tea! Communes! And there’s some stuff getting down behind him talking that’s not too bad. Chuy is a good reindeer name. That’s a great explanation about how he got everything done in time. “He took the freeway, man.” Oh maaaaan, Santa is getting strip searched now… Oooh, he’s underground now. Sneaky. Well, that was… interesting, certainly.

11. Santa Claus is a Black Man by Akim and Teddy Vann Oh gods, what is up with her voice? Oh gods, that’s annoying. I mean, I guess it’s a kid, but wow. Okay, gotta, you know, take it as cute. Be cool… well, it’s nice that all these oooohers were available to help out for the song. Oh, and now here’s someone else out of the oooooohers singing instead… and now you’ve got even more… okay… yeah… yeah… I get it… well, that wasn’t what I expected from that title, honestly.

12. Please Come Home for Christmas by Charles Brown Oh, alright, it’s this one… actually, I don’t think this one got played in the workplace this year… it’s not flipping any of those flags, anyway… it’s kinda classic, though, huh? It’s never anything I’d listen to outside of something like this or like… my mom putting on a CD of Christmas music, though, but it kinda feels like Christmas, doesn’t it? Maybe?

13. Little Drummer Boy by Bing Crosby and David Bowie Bowie? Bowie?? Indeed it is. That’s really kinda nice, isn’t it? With Bowie up there higher and stuff… yeah, that’s not bad at all. Certainly something I wouldn’t have heard normally, though. I don’t claim to know enough about it to know if this is like… a remix that Bowie could have made with him singing over it, because it feels like it could have been very easily. Either way, kinda neat.

14. Christmas Time is Here by Vince Gauraldi Trio Don’t know this name… oh… oh, it’s this one… what is this one always making me think of… like… Peanuts Christmas, maybe…? Is that what it’s reminding me of? I have no idea. It’s very light and airy, of course… very… unobtrusive background style, I suppose. It’s got that sentimental feeling too, certainly… mm.

15. Fairytale in New York by The Pogues featuring Kristy MacColl Mmm, yeah, very… oh… oh! I think I heard a version of this sung by Dr. Girlfriend and the Monarch awhile back… but I didn’t really recognize the song. I guess this is it, huh? The guy’s singing is kinda eh, isn’t it? He’s got a weird annoying quality to his voice… oh goodness, what in the world is happening now? It’s got like… bagpipes back there or something? Or at least the quality that makes me think of them, anyway. Oh my. Well, at least it picked up a bit, hm? Goodness, it used the word faggot. Wow. Um, yeah, didn’t expect that from the beginning. Huh… well… I guess it’s about Christmas…? I’m not really getting that from the whole thing though, but whatever. It’s not like it HAS to inspire that in me or whatever.

16. Twelve Days of Christmas by Bob and Doug McKenzie Very Canadian sounding, apparently. Perhaps I should be drinking a White Canadian while I listen. Oooh, mystery days of Christmas. I like that idea. Okay, I think I’ve heard this part now that they’re singing… kinda. But yeah, I’ve heard this part. Oh man, I like that choir singing “BEEEEEEEER!” Heh. Well, well sung, people. Merry Christmas and a good day to you, too, sirs! Now there’s all kinds of talking and electric noises… yeah… well, that was nice. Heh.

Well, certainly a Christmas mix filled with stuff I hadn’t heard before with a sprinkling of stuff I had… like… once before. It works! But probably would have worked better if I hadn’t listened today and had instead listened like… in December. But oh well. That’s another one down! Whoo!

Yeah, that was kind of a disater. I almost didn’t send it out. Thanks for your time, though.

That Bowie/Crosby track isn’t Little Drummer Boy, I rushed the track listing right before I sent eevrything out. They performed it live on TV, I don’t remember when. It was probably shocking at the time, it’s clearly from the late 70’s super-glam Bowie. But now it all seems so tame and no one cares. Good performance, though.

Comment by Mr. Nicolai — January 15, 2008 @ 4:43 am

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