Secret Santa 2012

[Hand Shandy]

Can you hear that?

 

Listen really carefully.

 

It's the world's smallest violin, playing just for you...

 

*blows Jon a kiss*

 

Cheer up, you tetchy fucker!

[Juniper]

Can you hear that?

 

Listen really carefully.

 

It's the world's smallest violin, playing just for you...

 

*blows Jon a kiss*

 

Cheer up, you tetchy fucker!

 

Haha, I'm just messing mate

 

*smiley face*

 

New List

 

Loves the Cock, Bigtime

Hand Shandy

[Juniper]

Double Post

[Hand Shandy]

 

Haha' date=' I'm just messing mate

 

*smiley face*

 

New List

 

Loves the Cock, Bigtime

Hand Shandy[/quote']

 

Only yours Jon.

 

Only yours.

 

xx

[RobbieOR]

It'll be up soon. I know who sent it though.

[Stu Monty]

Glad you liked it Monty.

 

Surely the letter would have indicated it wasn't a Scandie who put that CD together?

 

Ah, and the location postmark that I forgot about too.

 

Columbo, I ain't.

[Guest LFD]

I thought the whole point of secret santa was it is a secret.

 

Not, let's all find out and tell each other who sent what!

 

I stopped doing secret santa at work when people did that. Mainly because I bought an old woman in the office a sex toy. Took all the fun out of it.

[RedinSweden]

*slopes into thread*

 

Artwork:

 

Gotta say, this was clever:

 

 

Hmm, pretty unremarkable on first glance...

 

Warning! The following content is NOT WORK SAFE. Click the Show button to reveal.

 

IT'S A FUCKING LIVERBIRD YOU SONS OF BITCHES

 

Musics (click on the title for a play):

 

 

What to say about this? Every right-thinking person on this earth enjoys the music of New Order and this is one of their finest. Stone cold classic.

 

2. Pearl Jam - Rearviewmirror

 

Oh yes indeed. Still got Vs. and Ten on CD somewhere but the discography is now sitting on my hard drive, freshly torrented thanks to Santa. The song? All about the batshit outro for me.

 

3. Placebo - Teenage Angst

 

Hard band to love, Placebo. That said, the first album is a belter (they went properly to shit during and after Black Market Music imo) and this is its perfect cut. Even though the later albums were generally whiny toss, they're all worth a listen because there's usually at least one storming track on there.

 

 

Though I wrote this off as a novelty track at the time, it still stands up ten years later - especially in comparison to the nu-metal shite around back then. Reminds me being a spotty meff in school. So, yeah, thanks Santa.

 

 

 

A recent-ish one I know. The track is an MOR monster. Its chorus fucks dads.

 

 

6. Sahara Hotnights - Hot Night Crash

 

NEW NEW NEW. Kick-ass intro, Patti Smith vocals and hooky chorus. Great stuff; need more. They're from Sweden, apparently. *arches brow*

 

 

 

All quiet on the Eastern front save for keyboards, bass and percussion. I can forgive Santa for the lack of any meaningful guitar as The Stranglers are class. Sweden, eh? *raises second eyebrow*

 

 

 

New one to me. Impressive, these guys managed to travel forwards in time, steal The Horrors' schtick (2008-present), travel backwards in time and pass it off as their own, only better. Fuuuuuuu-

 

 

Not my favourite on Surfer Rosa but you could take almost any song off that record and I'd still be sitting here, fully erect.

 

 

Can't stand The Young Knives. Sorry Sants - I listened to it a couple of times out of politeness - but these chumps are AIDS on toast.

 

 

CD gets back on track in spectacular fashion - how the actual fuck have I never heard of Go Betty Go? Thrashing power pop and surprisingly sweet harmonies. Sold. Gotta admit I cheated on my first listen to the CD as I had to play this about six times in a row. Have since acquired their only EP and only album. The EP is punkier than C'mon hints at and the album has more diverse sound than you'd expect from a punk band. Boss to the power of boss.

ps make more music, cunts.

 

 

Cool-as-fuck intro and swirling reversed guitar goodness from one of the Great Lost Bands. Think I gave the album this is off a few plays when it came out and found it pretty dull (compared to what was around at the time)... might be due a revisit.

 

 

Good work Santa, this was the track which got me into Coxon (can take or leave Blur). What would a Fucking Guitar Flavoured compilation be without a virtuoso player or two?

 

 

Wow this song is a lot shorter than I remember. Everyone knows this one surely - it seems to hang on that riff but for me this is all about the bass guitar. And Courtney's sardonic lyric of course.

 

15. Jane's Addiction - Just Because

 

Never really dug Jane's Addiction but there's no denying Dave Navarro's got some mad skillz. Thanks for picking the only Jane's Addiction track I know, Santa, you fucking hero.

 

 

Classic track from a classic album.

 

 

Final confirmation this Santa has truly done his homework.

 

 

Well, to say I enjoyed this compilation would be a massive understatement - I've ripped it and lashed it on the Walkman to soundtrack my runs. Damn norovirus.

 

Seriously, this was a superb collection of songs (Young Knives excepted) - I'm made up to have finally found Go Betty Go and rediscovered some bands I've been overlooking for too long, in particular Pearl Jam.

 

Guess: this has gotta be that Swedish meatdog RiS.

 

Artwork was too high quality for me. Guess again.

[Redder Lurtz]

I'm going to sit on the lazy list until Thursday if that's ok. I'm busily doing busy and very important things until then but Thursday night it'll be up.

[chauncey]

Artwork was too high quality for me. Guess again.

 

 

Red herrings, eh. Well I'm stumped.

 

Whoever it was make yourself known and claim some much-deserved rep.

[Redder Lurtz]

 

Red herrings, eh. Well I'm stumped.

 

Whoever it was make yourself known and claim some much-deserved rep.

 

Twas I.

 

Cheers for the boss review Chauncey, glad you enjoyed it.

[chauncey]

Twas I.

 

Cheers for the boss review Chauncey, glad you enjoyed it.

 

Aaaargh! I was gonna make you the second guess but didn't fancy risking the shame of being wrong twice. It's a cracking mix mate and a lot of the tracks are now on my gym playlist. Btw were you a fan of Burnout 3 much, perchance?

[chauncey]

p.s.

 

[Redder Lurtz]

Aaaargh! I was gonna make you the second guess but didn't fancy risking the shame of being wrong twice. It's a cracking mix mate and a lot of the tracks are now on my gym playlist. Btw were you a fan of Burnout 3 much, perchance?

 

Indeed I was - that's where I discovered Go Betty Go. Sahara Hotnights on there too iirc but I'd heard of them before I got the game.

 

Re - Young Knives - If I made it again I'd leave that off. I think I liked them more than they deserved at the time.

[RedinSweden]

Good work RL.

 

Did you fake it even further by flying to Sweden to post it?

[Redder Lurtz]

Good work RL.

 

Did you fake it even further by flying to Sweden to post it?

 

Well I did think the "Leeds" post code may have given it away but I did throw The Stranglers' "Sweden" in as a decoy.

[loadsoftrophies]

Okay so here goes my review...

Not much effort gone into the artwork unfortunately, tis grand like.

 

Anyhows here's the songs....

 

White Galactic One / Lotus Plaza : I nearly liked this but i found the riff that goes throughout the song a bit annoying. If that wasn't there then i would have really liked it as when it's not there it's a nice track. It ends very well.

 

Brains / Lower Dens : Nice moody track this, good tone to it. Liking this one and i plan to play it louder next time.

 

We do parties / Deerhoof : I know this band, when i had time to listen to music, i heard and liked some of their stuff. Haven't heard this one before but tis another good one, they're a bit odd musically, this one jumps between sounds and her voice is very cool.

 

Guns Has No Trigger / Dirty Projectors : The name of this band ring a bell. Dunno if i'm a fan of this, he's kind of annoying me a bit. I like the music but i aint a fan of the song.

 

The Panda Bear Song / Foxes! : Straight away i'm liking this, i love an indie chick. This is a nice little pop indie track.

 

Able-Bodied Seamen / Jonny Greenwood : Ha this is odd, reminds me a bit of Tom Waits. Bit of talk about testicles and then some smooth music. Nice odd.

 

Smash it / Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer : Hahaha this a superb, nice funky little track about warning women about f**tballers wanting to 'smash it'. Love it.

 

An Echo From The Hosts That Profess Infinitum : Some Hip Hop over an electro track. Not bad but it's one i'd have to be in the mood for, preferably 4am in a room of smoke.

 

Ahora / Daphni : Some moody electro, i'm really liking this, reminds me very much of Caribou. I'd be playing this very loud for my mates in my kitchen at 3am before the days of my Son. Great track.

 

Virus (Hudson Mohawke Peaches and Guacamol remix) : I much prefer it when Bjork does collaborations or is reworked, her voice is magic. This has a nice big sound behind her. Good stuff.

 

Marble Plexus / Actress : This is one of those tracks that would have bended my brain back in the day when i went to raves. Bit too heavy for me nowadays but i would have gotten a lot of rushes of this when i was off my trolley.

 

Nostalgia Pills / Pye Corner Audio : A small chillout track. Were you off your face making this c.d? ha.

 

A Six-Lane Highway / Johann Johannsson : Another quick chill out one but it's a nice bit of acoustic music.

 

03 Re / Nils Frahm : Ahhhh feels like it's time for bed now, i'm just about to come down now and it's time to hug that warm pillow, the sun is on the way up. More lovely chillout music.

 

Overall i really enjoyed this c.d, it plays like a night out i'd have years ago. Start off drunk with loads of indie, then lash in a few narcotics and away we go on the dance music. End of night comes with the chillout stuff.

I'll definitley play this again, i'll probably skip one or two but overall this is my kind of taste.

I don't really know who this is to be honest, i'll have a quick look over the list and throw out a guess.

[loadsoftrophies]

Thants or BruceSpanner. After that i'm stumped.

[chauncey]

^^^^^^

 

Dunno whose that is (couldn't even guess my own ffs) but that is one sweet tracklist.

[loadsoftrophies]

^^^^^^

 

Dunno whose that is (couldn't even guess my own ffs) but that is one sweet tracklist.

 

Tis defintiley one of the best Secret Santas i've recieved. I still have them all but only one or two get played again, this will be another one.

[Stu Monty]

I think that might be Thants.

[Skidfingers McGonical]

One review hot off the press. I never review until January. I always like to have a good listen whilst spending Xmas working and travelling around and that always leads a January review. So you know, if you are an impatient cunt then you're bang out of luck with me reviewing.

 

Heart of Gold – Neil Young: Classic stuff to start it off. Love a bit of Harvest, pretty much every track is gorgeous. Harmonica me along to track number two please.

 

Send his love to me – PJ Harvey: I got into Polly Harvey at about the time she brought out Stories from the City, Stories from the sea and haven’t really gone that far into her back catalogue so this was a new one to me. I Loved it. Great tune and it’ll give me a push to sort out going through her older stuff.

 

Pretty Penny – Stone Temple Pilots: This is new to me, as a lot of the stuff on the CD is. Plods along nicely with a bit of a kind of Celtic ballad type feel and has a little change up on the chorus. It feels a little bit “are you going to Scarborough fair” but I still think it’s decent enough without being something that would push me to go and investigate them too much further.

 

3 Libras – Perfect Circle: Good start with a deep guttural bass and some strings. The strings follow the theme of the last track nicely and the guitar feels like it’s a kind of “Right warm up over, shit’s getting serious now” feel to it. Really like the haunting strings (I’m a sucker for strings). Did a little reading and there’s Smashing Pumpkins, Tool and NIN influences in the band which makes sense. Very good; it’s new and interesting.

 

Shiloh Town - Mark Lanagen: The theme of a kind of moody acoustic feel is still running with this one. I know a little bit of Lanagen’s stuff from QOTSA and a few other things but don’t own any of his albums. Another that I really like and there’s not a single skipper yet on the disk, with most of it making me thinking of looking further when I hear it. Again, some lovely strings on this. Nice sort of miserable country/folky feel to it.

 

Auto Pilot – QOTSA: Well, speak of the devils and they shall appear. I’ve got loads of their stuff, and really like them (and use their stuff on my SS often too). This is very fresh to me though as even though I think I’ve got Rated R I have barely listened to it to be honest. Once again it prods me towards further investigation. Great tune with characteristic swagger.

 

To rid the disease – Opeth: I’ve heard of Opeth but not really knowingly heard any of their stuff. Another moody start with an interesting piano theme running through it, it maybe drags its feet a little bit but then it doesn’t seem to be in a rush to go anywhere. Probably the first temptation to skip, not through disliking it really, it’s just a bit “more of the same” from halfway.

 

20th century schitzoid man – King Crimson: Very much sounding like one of Lennon’s more leftfield vocal efforts for The Beatles, if he was thrown into a bit of a mental progressive music band. This is okay, not great but okay. I don’t mind a bit of self-indulgance from these progressive types when I’m in the mood but it’s going to be likely to get a skip on some occasions when I feel that I don’t want to listen to them meander along for a quarter of an hour. Decent enough but unlikely to be something I listen to a lot of.

 

Revolutionary Generation – Public Enemy: Who doesn’t love a little bit of Public Enemy? Quality stuff with the usual strong, thoughtful, prompting lyrics and a background of samples and interesting sound. Public enemy – it does what it says on the tin really.

 

C’Mon Girl – Red Hot Chilli Peppers: Great tune. Without ever being someone who has bought their whole back-catalogue I’ve always had respect for these. I don’t understand the shit they got just because everyone in the world bough By the way. Going to see them live a few years back brought home to me the quality of the musicianship in that band and I’m not having that they’e “sold out” because they’re not playing the same garage punk/funk they did as kids. This has prompted me to maybe get Stadium Arcadium though, as I don’t have it and it’ll probably have a few gems on it that have passed me by.

 

Too afraid to love you – The Black Keys: Great tune from a band I really, really like. I’d recommend that anyone gets Brothers and El Camino as they’re accessible and packed full of great stuff. Without being able to pin it down there’s a good theme on the CD of similar styles whilst having a good bit of variation on it.

 

The Spy – The Doors: I’ve never really been a big fan of The Doors but couldn’t say that I’ve listened to enough of their stuff to be able to back that up as an educated opinion. Mrs Stu loves a bit of them and we went to a cover band that was pretty decent last year. This is okay without being something that would make me any more likely to check them out any more. Not skipping it but maybe just switching off a little.

 

I have seen – Zero 7: Loved this album when it first came out, particularly, if I recall, the stuff they did with the Aussie vocalist Cia. Nice laid back tune. I’d venture that anyone that can’t just chill and appreciate this is probably wired a bit wrong.

 

Rosemary – The Deftones: This is new to me. I’ve heard little of the Deftones but have a mate who tells me I’d love them. Given he was also the one who put me onto Sigur Ros and Modest Mouse I’m not sure why I’ve not checked them out. Be quiet and drive is my only reference point for them. I like this a lot and so will have to follow that up with some action. Love the heavy guitars and mournful voice, it’s very much my thing. A great finale for the CD too.

 

All in all I’m well impressed with my CD. Without it being stuff I’ve heard before it’s packed with stuff that is of interest to me or by artists I like but haven’t got their full catalogues. I don’t know how tailored this was to me, I’d venture not too much and that it’s someone who likes slightly similar sounds to me but shifted off towards slightly different areas (that kind of dark, moody US guitar sound). This CD has, probably more than most got a real coherent sound to it that works together; that's interesting as I often like sounds to clash into each other for effect when making a compilation. This works equally well.

 

Very good. Thanks a lot. Lots to investigate. I haven’t got a fucking clue who it might be though. If there are any Scandos in it I might plump for one of them because those miserable 22hrs of darkness twats love those miserable US sounds.

 

Any ideas?

 

Just wanted to give a proper response to this review Stu.

 

If I am to be honest I am made up you enjoyed it as my first impression after getting your name in the draw was “Fuck! Not Monty”

 

I could have been a smart arse and gone for all new upcoming artists who are totally different to what I normally listen to. However I just had this feeling if I had done that it would not have been a real CD play list from me as it would have been a bit of a fake in trying to get you to appreciate the CD. When it would not have been about me trying to introduce you to new things that I had in my library. Which is what I see the Secret Santa CD being all about.

 

It was whittled down from about 56 songs; I just kept adding stuff from my i-tunes library when it was on shuffle. When a song came on I would think “Belter” then add it. I then sat and listened to the massive playlist and tried to decipher what tunes would go on. Then I attempted to put it in to some sort of coherent order with the vibe I wanted running through.

 

The biggest enjoyment was trying to get my tastes in there without it being an overpowering cacophony of loud metal etc.

 

So as with most playlists I put together I went for a vibe and did not specifically tailor it to you per say. I do remember reading posts about music from you in the past and you mentioning things about melody and intricate playing, hence me sticking the likes Opeth and A Perfect Circle on there.

 

I can’t believe you hadn’t even noticed that on the ‘artwork’ it said “Monkey’s Thought For The Day” and it wasn’t even a Monkey, it was a gorilla.

 

As you said Columbo you definitely aint.

[Stu Monty]

Oh, I noticed. I pointed it out to the missus with a tone that just screamed "Who is this amatuer?"

[Skidfingers McGonical]

Now that I did expect.

[Thants]

Okay so here goes my review...

Not much effort gone into the artwork unfortunately, tis grand like.

 

Anyhows here's the songs....

 

White Galactic One / Lotus Plaza : I nearly liked this but i found the riff that goes throughout the song a bit annoying. If that wasn't there then i would have really liked it as when it's not there it's a nice track. It ends very well.

 

Brains / Lower Dens : Nice moody track this, good tone to it. Liking this one and i plan to play it louder next time.

 

We do parties / Deerhoof : I know this band, when i had time to listen to music, i heard and liked some of their stuff. Haven't heard this one before but tis another good one, they're a bit odd musically, this one jumps between sounds and her voice is very cool.

 

Guns Has No Trigger / Dirty Projectors : The name of this band ring a bell. Dunno if i'm a fan of this, he's kind of annoying me a bit. I like the music but i aint a fan of the song.

 

The Panda Bear Song / Foxes! : Straight away i'm liking this, i love an indie chick. This is a nice little pop indie track.

 

Able-Bodied Seamen / Jonny Greenwood : Ha this is odd, reminds me a bit of Tom Waits. Bit of talk about testicles and then some smooth music. Nice odd.

 

Smash it / Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer : Hahaha this a superb, nice funky little track about warning women about f**tballers wanting to 'smash it'. Love it.

 

An Echo From The Hosts That Profess Infinitum : Some Hip Hop over an electro track. Not bad but it's one i'd have to be in the mood for, preferably 4am in a room of smoke.

 

Ahora / Daphni : Some moody electro, i'm really liking this, reminds me very much of Caribou. I'd be playing this very loud for my mates in my kitchen at 3am before the days of my Son. Great track.

 

Virus (Hudson Mohawke Peaches and Guacamol remix) : I much prefer it when Bjork does collaborations or is reworked, her voice is magic. This has a nice big sound behind her. Good stuff.

 

Marble Plexus / Actress : This is one of those tracks that would have bended my brain back in the day when i went to raves. Bit too heavy for me nowadays but i would have gotten a lot of rushes of this when i was off my trolley.

 

Nostalgia Pills / Pye Corner Audio : A small chillout track. Were you off your face making this c.d? ha.

 

A Six-Lane Highway / Johann Johannsson : Another quick chill out one but it's a nice bit of acoustic music.

 

03 Re / Nils Frahm : Ahhhh feels like it's time for bed now, i'm just about to come down now and it's time to hug that warm pillow, the sun is on the way up. More lovely chillout music.

 

Overall i really enjoyed this c.d, it plays like a night out i'd have years ago. Start off drunk with loads of indie, then lash in a few narcotics and away we go on the dance music. End of night comes with the chillout stuff.

I'll definitley play this again, i'll probably skip one or two but overall this is my kind of taste.

I don't really know who this is to be honest, i'll have a quick look over the list and throw out a guess.

 

Well you're down to two guesses (and you, stu) so I'll step forward out of the line up and wave to the crowd, especially as I wanted to properly list the Shabazz Palaces live track (RSD release).

It's this

bOvu0wGSBho

 

Nice review, glad you liked it. I've been listening to a lot of ambient dark techno over the past year. All this CD is 2012 AND PURCHASED ON VINYL MOTHERFUCKAS.