A Friendly Message

After experiencing a whirlwind 2008 that saw us rise from seldom-read neighborhood blog to force to be reckoned with in this indie-tastic world (not to toot our own horns, but... beep-beep) we feel like we should reward ourselves with a little break. Good job, us, for being so awesome! That's why you may have noticed the lack of recent activity around here since our record-breaking Best Of 2008 celebration last week. (Again, we want to thank all of the bands, publicists, labels and fans for making the thing a huge success!)

So we're taking a page from the Pitchfork playbook and decreasing our posting frequency until the new year. That's not to say the blog will lay dormant for two weeks, but it just won't be as rapid-fire as before, so we can get some time to clear our heads. It's not you, it's us. 

We're coming back in full force on January 5, but in the meantime, do come back and look for some periodic updates from the gang. In fact, we've got a few treats coming your way today, so keep your eyes peeled for that. And later this week, you can look for a list of artists to watch in '09. (We know how you guys love lists. Plus, even though it was puny, we were pretty dead-on with last year's predictions.) 

Now we've got to go put up the Christmas tree/Hannukkah menorah in the Stark office and fetch those embarassing photos from our Christmas party. Happy holidays!

New Deer Tracks and Twiggy Frostbite - Christmas mp3s

The Deer Tracks- "Christmas Fire" mp3

Twiggy Frostbite- "Bells and Chimes" mp3

Another day, another Christmas post... but we're not complaining one bit. These two carols are couresty of a pair of European acts on Despotz Records. Europeans celebrate Christmas, right? We're 99% positive they do. That's probably why these kick so much ass: The Deer Tracks, a she-him electronic duo from Sweden, are giving us the angelic, glitchy "Christmas Fire", with a haunting melody from chantreuse Elin Lindfors. (It's really, really good.) Similarly, fellow Swedes Twiggy Frostbite, whose name is all-too-appropriate for this time of year, share Lindfors and employ her talents wonderfully on "Bells And Chimes." If the holidays make you pensive and just a little bit moody, then snatch these up and sit inside pronto!

The Deer Tracks' Aurora is out 3/9 in the UK, and Twiggy's Through Fire precedes it in February in Scandinavia.

Free Vice Christmas Sampler and Raveonettes mp3

The Raveonettes - "Come On Santa" mp3

Our good friends over at Vice are spreading the Christmas cheer with a 100% totally free and awesome Christmas Sampler that you can download now at Amazon. (Tell them Stark sent you.) The ten-song collection includes recent favorites and exclusives from superstars like King Khan and the Shrines, Japenese Motors, Chromeo, Dark Meat, The Black Lips and The Streets (whose mastermind, Mike Skinner, is pictured above in an absolutely non-doctored Santa hat.) And if that's not enough to get you pumped up on all things yuletide, then you should certainly grab the brand spankin' new Raveonettes mp3 above of "Come On Santa." (Those Danes just don't quit with the Christmas thing, but we're not complaining.) 

Holiday Has-Beens

I'm sure someone out there has to be stoked about this. If you can find them, let us know. Trendy Swedes The Hives have teamed up with 80's diva Cyndi Lauper to record the self-proclaimed "best holiday song this side of White Christmas." It's called A Christmas Duel, and it will be released via The Orchard on December 1st in the UK and one day later in the US. However, you can snag the sure-to-be-WTF-inducing song early Thanksgiving weekend on The Hives' Web site next Friday, November 28th. In terms of surrealness, this is just about on par with the pairing of David Bowie and Bing Crosby for their rendition of "Little Drummer Boy." That actually turned out to be a perennial classic. This? We predict not so much. Although, the cover art is admittedly pretty bitching.