Yoni Gordon And The Goods - "Fairytale of New York"

Here's a spirited take on the Pogue's classic barroom singalong, "Fairytale of New York" (mp3), by Yoni Gordon and the Goods with Franz Nicolay and Emilyn Brodsky. Don't worry, even though this is a charity single, they keep the spicy lyrics. The B-side is also available for download on his website.

They are asking people who download the it off of their site to donate five dollars to Feeding America. Feeding America is an organization that partners up with local foodbanks across the country to help feed some of the millions of Americans who are spending the holidays without enough money to put food on their tables. Here is a link that will take you right to the donation page.

Hold Steady @ The Crystal Ballroom

Monday's Hold Steady concert was not what I expected. While they probably could have sold out the venue had tickets been for sale, by the time they took the stage the cavernous Crystal Ballroom was just marginally full. And of those people, I'd say a 1/3 there to drink free Jack Daniels, 1/3 there because they won a free ticket to a concert, and 1/3 there to see the Hold Steady. To the band's credit, none of that seemed to affect them. They were tight, never pausing between songs, and maxing out their set in the hour or so that they played. The guitars filled the room and Neil Finn flailed around, his gestures reminding me of a wild Muppet. It was pretty awesome. Either they played only songs I really like, or I like most Hold Steady songs. The free Gentleman Jack didn't hurt either.

Five Drinking Songs

In honor of the Murder City Devils and bad decision making, here are five songs to encourage you to have a little more fun. Are they the best drinking songs? Hard to say, but they get the job done.

1. "Party Pit" - The Hold Steady
   With so many great songs to fuel a night of binge drinking it is hard to pick just one, but I think the closing refrain sums those kind of nights perfectly: "gonna walk around, gonna walk around, gonna walk around and drink some more."
   
   
2. "Drunk & Stoned" - Faux Jean
   Proposes that you can't party alone. But what if you are dancing?
   
   
3. "Too Drunk To Dream" - The Magnetic Fields
   "Sober, life is a prison, shitfaced it is a blessing." Keep that in mind and poor me another shot.
   
   
4. "Rum To Whiskey" - The Murder City Devils
   Switching teams mid game is never a good idea, especially when it seems like a good idea, but singing along, jumping around, and flinging beer around the room always is.
   
   
5. "Portland, OR" - Loretta Lynn & Jack White
   Drink enough pitchers of sloe gin fizz and next thing you know you are hooking up with someone's grandma. That's how we roll in Portland.

Top 10 Most Viewed Reviews

In honor of sticking with it for a year, here are our Top 10 Most Viewed Reviews. It's a diverse list. Don't get this confused with our favorite albums. Only four here made it on that list. Maybe we should only post reviews of songs in iPod commercials. We'd be WAY more popular.

1. Chairlift - "Bruises"
   
   
2. The Dandy Warhols - Earth To The Dandy Warhols
   
   
3. The Islands - Arm's Way
   
   
4. Katy Perry - One of the Boys
   
   
5. David Sides - Collection Volume 1
   
   
6. Wolf Parade - Mount Zoomer
   
   
7. Hold Steady - Stay Positive
   
   
8. Portishead - Third
   
   
9. Titus Andronicus - Airing of Grievances
   
   
10. Tonya Watts - Handcuff My Soul
    

Nightrain's Summer Short List

Halfway through the year, its time for the ubiquitous Top 5 list:

5) www.quickcritmusic.com...
When awmercy first discussed his idea for this "writing group," I had a few doubts about its longevity and success; however, 5 months, 13 contributors, and thousands of page views later, the writing group is still going strong... and we have fun doing it too.

4) The Hold Steady – Stay Positive…
I am most certainly on The Hold Steady train and although Stay Positive is not quite as magical as Boys and Girls in America, it is still fantastic... and so is their live show.


3) Pela @ Bottom of the Hill with The Love X Nowhere & Audio Out Send…
All three bands played outstanding sets, were friendly after the show, and it all went down at one of my favorite venues... in the world.


2) The Heavy – Great Vengeance and Furious Fire…
I am so stoked that Nutso reviewed this because I have loved listening to this album in all scenarios, sharing it with all comers, and getting down to it raw funkiness.


1) Frightened Rabbit – Midnight Organ Fight...
The primary album that I can listen to over and over so far this year. Current front-runner for album of the year.

The Hold Steady – Stay Positive (2008)

Pour yourself a “double whiskey, coke, no ice;” put Stay Positive on the stereo; crank up the volume… Repeat, as necessary. Obviously, there are many ways to enjoy this album, and enjoy you will, but some ways seem more appropriate than others because above all other heavy-partying, hard-rocking indie rock bands, few sound more fun to “get hammered” with than The Hold Steady. The first track, “Constructive Summer,” quickly brings some serious noise, introduces the band's heavy-partying intentions, and the direction of the album, just as “Stuck Between Stations” did for Boys And Girls In America. “Our songs are sing-along songs,” quips Craig Finn—in his identifiable, not quite singing, not quite yelling manner—over Franz Nicolay’s hammering piano, and he is absolutely right! In no time you’ll be echoing thoughtful sentiments such as: “Magazines and daddy issues / I know you’re pretty pissed / I hope you still let me kiss you,” or “In bar-light she looked alright / in daylight she looked desperate.” You get the point: The Hold Steady = Amazingly awesome (and honest) lyrics. The bulk of the songs tell stories of people who rage hard, abuse (I couldn't think of a stronger word) alcohol & drugs, indulge in petty (and not so petty) criminality—you know, real life issues—but as the title track suggests, even when faced with the ugliness of humanity one must Stay Positive, and that is an outlook I can get behind, just like this album. Despite the pessimistic subject matter, one cannot help to be uplifted by these piano and organ driven (“One For The Cutters” uses a Bach-like harpsichord that sounds lifted from the 1735 Italian Concerto.) addictive, sing-along rockers, and I have nothing but love for every track on this album.

Party hard with: "Constructive Summer," "Sequestered In Memphis," and "Magazines."