Festive fiftyness

It's almost the end of 2007 and time to enjoy everyone's end of year lists, including the one produced by the listeners and contributors of the Contrast Podcast. It was inspired by John Peel's Festive Fifty, but actually has 54 songs because I wasn't going to leave out my favourite song of the year!

The Contrast Podcast Festive 50

Just in case you are curious and you haven't gone straight over to the CP site to listen to the podcast (why???) my favourite track of 2007 is 'Suddenly Everything Happens' by California Snow Story. You can download it for free here: Letterbox Records. It has been on my playlist since the start of the year and I'm still not bored of it. Maybe it's the cynical lyrics. Maybe it's the boy/girl vocals. I don't know, but it makes me smile. I hope you like it too.

give me a plastic bear head now!

What could be more pleasing than to play music with a plastic bear head on? This week's Contrast Podcast might come close. Enjoy.

tim is time with the 'e' missing

This week's CP has the theme of Time and is as excellent as always. I was particularly tickled by the Flight of the Conchords song submitted by Marcy from Lost in your inbox:

contrast podcast 81 - time

I hadn't heard FOTC before and since then I've dug up quite a few of their videos on youtube. Their rapping abilites particularly impressed me ....



.... and they speak pretty entertaining French ...



... so thanks Marcy!

posh boys and diminutive cheating

The last couple of episodes of the Contrast Podcast have been very interesting and popular with the themes of Infidelity and Short songs. The second of these was requested so many times that I didn't think I could give the credit to anyone in particular for picking it. Next week the podcast will be simply looking at Time. If you'd like to take part by picking a song based on this theme and introducing it just read the instructions on the Contrast site here.



On a separate note I heard that there are some down and out public school boys who have decided to pluckily try and raise a bit of cash for their gap year by putting an album out on the internet for people who don't really like music. I heard it go by in the background today and it wasn't all bad, but my musical snobbery forces me not to like it too much. They apparently picked the title 'In Rainbows' because it has ten letters in it. At this point I'm tempted to say that 'Gay Monkeys', 'Odd Left Eye' and 'A Nice Cuppa' all have 10 letters too and would probably have made better titles. Anyway, good luck with the gap year travels you brave boys and don't forget to spend the people's money wisely.

us turning in on ourselves

I gotta start writing about something other than the podcast on here! In the meantime there is ALWAYS the podcast. This week it's all about songs that reference other songs, bands or artists.

contrast podcast 58

I chose a song by good old Murray Lachlan Young whose poetry has often put a smile on my face. His site is full of free stuff so here is some linkage for your pleasure.

the closet hetrosexual (mentions Auntie FiL's expresso bar)

the life and death of art (a favourite of mine)

and for our Scottish friends - ode to a scrotum

this year so far

A 'best of' list is a funny thing (funny strange rather than funny haha) because it's contents are usually quite telling about whoever made it. So what does this week's Contrast Podcast tell you about the contributors who put it together? You will have to listen and make your mind up. Personally I'm just waiting for the backlash after describing lots of 'big' mp3 blogs as 'just blogs' in my intro.

Oops.

contrast podcast 57 - 2007 (so far)

we introduced ourselves to ...

This week's Contrast Podcast theme was inspired by my meeting with FiL and would be a good place to start listening if you have never heard the podcast before because it's a bit like 'the contrast podcast's greatest hits'. I hope you like the picture I chose too .. as you can see the urban graffiti artists of Staines have already noted the importance of the Pogoagogo / The Face of Today photo opportunity at their beloved railway station and captured it in spray paint on the wall of Cheekees nightclub. Oh Joy!

contrast podcast 56 - the contrast podcast introduced me to ...

hello children

I'm annoyed with myself for being too busy to post anything other than links to the contrast podcast here recently. However .. it's not going to stop me doing it. This week's episode is stacked full of child friendly music and is as usual an excellent listen:

contrast podcast 51 - cool choones for children

can you tell the difference?

The cover version is a real art isn't it. Either you go off on a tangent and try to make the song your own (risking that you will fall on your face) or stick to the original arrangement and try to just 'do it better'. Well, this week on the CP we have tried to find those elusive gems that managed to be better than the songs that spawned them:

contrast podcast 50 - covers that are better than the originals

With it being the CP we have tried to avoid the 'given' choices like Jeff Buckley's 'Hallelujah' and The Clash's 'I fought the law' and tread a slightly more obscure route .. but what would you have picked??

honestly I don't know

It's another one of those questioning episodes on the CP this week. Watch out for the new contributors because they are ace.

contrast podcast 49 - why?

I pick, you pick, they pick, we pick

So we've started a song chain on the Contrast Podcast this week where each contributor's choice is based on the previous song. It's fun to see where it is meandering and the simple steps or giant leaps we've made between one song and another:

contrast podcast 48 - song chain (part 1)

If you've never taken part before next week has a very easy theme to get you started. All you need to do is choose a song with the word 'why' in the title. Why? Why not.

the others

This week's CP is all about other versions of songs that you might not have heard. There are a few treats in there so head over for a listen.

contrast podcast 47 - alternate versions

musicians speak

This week we have another musicians episode on the CP. As usual the variety of styles will delight and surprise you ... so go listen.

contrast podcast 46 - musicians introduce 4

There is also a new Short Attention Span podcast up:

sasradio podcast 19

right round, baby right round

This week's CP is all about those little black circles of joy that you and I know better as 7" singles . There are some excellent choices and I think it might be the first time that all three contributors to this blog have appeared in one show ... you might even learn about the odd band you had never heard of before! Go and listen.

contrast podcast 45 - my favourite 45

dirt, filth and debauchery

This week's Contrast Podcast is only for adults:

contrast podcast 45 - x rated

All week I've had a filth filled inbox and it's quite nice to purge it out into the stream of profanity that you will find if you give it a listen! I'd send your grandparents and kids out of the room first though. The prize of pride will be given to anyone who can guess exactly what the words were that I beeped out in my intro! Happy guessing.

thespionics

You know when something is so unappealing that it actually becomes appealing? That's how I feel about this week's Contrast Podcast composed of actors singing. You don't want to listen but are drawn in by the concept of the thing. Don't blame me, it's not my fault.

Contrast Podcast 43 - Stick to acting