The show: 40 is not the new 30

Sydney Morning Herald gets all misty eyed about Primal Scream: Primal Scream still reverberates

RIP Trish Keenan. The singer from Broadcast dead at the age of 42 from pneumonia.

Best lyric I heard today: “Back in my reefer days, selling you parsley” Ghostface Killah from “How do you like me baby?” on the new Apollo Kids LP.

And here’s the playlist in full…

12pm – 1pm

+ Download 12pm – 1pm – 78MB

1pm – 2pm

+ Download 1pm – 2pm – 83MB

2pm – 3pm

+ Download 2pm – 3pm – 88MB

The show: Christmas leftovers and lots of stuff we missed in 2010. Oh, and some new stuff promise…

And here’s the playlist in full…

12pm – 1pm

+ Download 12pm – 1pm – 78MB

1pm – 2pm

+ Download 1pm – 2pm – 74 MB

2pm – 3pm

+ Download 2pm – 3pm – 85 MB

Looking back at 2010…

What a crazy year 2010 was. The All Whites were the only unbeaten team at the World Cup, the Christchurch mayoral race was interesting for once, and the September 4 Canterbury earthquake wiped the smiles off our dials (fantastic rolling aftershock this afternoon, by the way).

Oh, and a lot of damn fine music was released.

I wasn’t going to worry about compiling a list of musical favourites and highlights (others have done a more comprehensive job than I ever could – and I prefer continuums rather than compartmentalising things into years) but when I started scribbling down artists and albums and singles I was surprised how long the list got (and I’m sure I’ve overlooked heaps of stuff). In my mind it makes a liar of anyone who says that 2010 was a crap year for music.

So here’s what stood out for moi…

And if you didn’t find that very exciting here’s some respectable peeps with a lot more cred than me sharing their opinions on the year in music…

For the trainspotters (literally)…

Bergensbanen is the historic railway line in Norway that links Bergen to Oslo. It’s a very scenic ride that takes you past fjords and over mountains.

In October 2009 the Norwegian TV channel NRK2 filmed the 371km / 7.5 hour journey and screened parts of it on TV in November 2009. In December 2009 NRK made the footage available as an HD download.

A group of DJs at the DI.fm forums put together a soundtrack for this footage. There are 13 segments in total with 13 different ideas of a perfect soundtrack. It looks fantastic when you go full screen and it is quite hypnotic. A very enjoyable way to learn about the geography of Norway and listen to some techno / trance mixes you may never have heard otherwise.

View all 13 mixes here »

Tip of the hat to Nick of Ocean of Sound.

By the way, not sure why I’ve always been a sucker for music videos involving trains but here are some of my favourites…

KLF – Last Train to Trancentral (1991)

The Chemical Brothers “Star Guitar” (2002)

Robert Miles “Children” (1994)

The Show: This is the Christmas special

Thanks to Dangerous Minds for pointing us to The Divine David clip

It’s a small drop in an ever expanding ocean of Christmas compilations (“mix” does seem too professional a word for this collection of tunes), but after ten years it seemed as good a time as any to add another 2 hours to the sum total of festive mp3 collections.

You can play or download it below with total peace of mind at whatever family gathering you have planned today, it’s guaranteed elderly relative friendly (well, apart from The Toilet track and maybe The Rebel stuff).

If you don’t trust us help yourself instead to some presents from The Klaxons and Gorillaz, who are both releasing new material later today and / or Christmas Day UK time. In the case of former it’s a free download, in the case of the latter it’s an online stream only (unless you fork out to join the Sub Division Fanclub).

Klaxons – Landmarks Of Lunacy EP

Gorillaz – The Fall Album

+ Download The Joint Christmas Mix 2010 – 110Mb

  • T-REX-Xmas Flexi Message (Fan Club 45)
  • BASEMENT 5-Last White Christmas
  • MICROPENIS-Happy Christmas Stalin
  • SOUL SAINTS ORCHESTRA-Santa’s Got Bag Of Soul
  • THE VICHY GOVERNMENT-Christmas Is Cancelled
  • SAINT ETIENNE-Christmas 1936
  • ASOBI SEKSU-Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight)
  • WAX AUDIO-Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
  • PSYCHIC TV-White Nights
  • SUFJAN STEVENS-Come On! Let’s Boogey To The Elf Dance!
  • KURTIS BLOW-Christmas Rappin’
  • THE TOILET-All I Want For Christmas Is Shit
  • GO HOME PRODUCTIONS-Carpenters Christmas (Karen Meets Roots Radics Uptown)
  • WEIRD TAPES-Christmas Break
  • THE FALL-No Xmas For John Quays (John Peel Session)
  • GRANDADDY-Alan Parsons In A Winter Wonderland
  • THE WAITRESSES-Christmas Wrapping (Original 12″ Long Version)
  • THE O’JAYS-Christmas Ain’t Christmas, New Years Ain’t New Years Without The One You Love
  • THE LOVELY EGGS-Tyrannosaurus Rex For Christmas
  • THE REBEL-Christmas Every Day
  • CASIOTONE FOR THE PAINFULLY ALONE-Cold White Christmas
  • JOY ZIPPER-Christmas Song
  • CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND-There Ain’t No Santa Claus On The Evenin’ Stage
  • WILD BILLY CHILDISH AND THE MUSICIANS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE-Christmas Lights
  • THE GOLDEN FILTER-White Nights
  • SWEAR-All I Want For Christmas
  • POLY STYENE-Black Christmas
  • THREE BLIND MICE-Merry Christmas
  • WALKMEN-No Christmas While I’m Talking
  • C.W. STONEKING-On A Christmas Day
  • FLEET FOXES-White Winter Hymnal
  • JAMES BROWN-Let’s Make Christmas Mean Something This Year Pts 1 & 2
  • THE WILD SWANS-The Coldest Winter For A Hundred Years
  • VINCE GUARALDI TRIO-Christmas Time Is Here (Instrumental)
  • WILD MAN FISCHER-I’m A Christmas Tree