CIVL’s Aaron Levy knows that you know what time of year it is, and so this week’s edition of mostly reshuffled equinox-oriented tunes needs no introduction.
The Pogues – “Fairytale of New York”
I don’t think we have bells on Christmas night ringing out in this part of the country — perhaps counterintuitively — but it’s also possible that I haven’t been at the right places at the right time to catch them yet. Punks that don’t sound like punks here, carolling about.
Everclear – “Hating You For Christmas”
I’ve been listening to this record over the last couple weeks, for no apparent reason other than the catchy hooks and The Beach Boys harmonies that open and pepper this six (?) single strong 90s classic. When you write a song like “Santa Monica,” they’re like “wash, rinse, repeat” and gimme more.
Run The Jewels – “A Christmas Fucking Miracle”
Oft-shuffled and eternally powerful, the only tells beside the title of this debut record closer that indicate Yule vibes are the jingling bells that build on the opening production, before El-P’s matter-of-fact deconstruction of the modern urban landscape flows out like blood from an elevator, rushing the hotel lobby, tributing lost icons.
Counting Crows – “A Long December”
Broody, honky-tonky, and including everyone’s favourite music video maven from the mid 90s (when did “Dancing In The Dark” come out, actually?). Courteney Cox was rumoured at the time to have been an item with the lead Crower in the toque — known in America as a “winter hat.”
