This week we're joined by Anna Pickard, and playing music of the season to wrap up No Magic for 2019. Where did the year go? Anna finds deep meaning between music that makes this time of year for her, and our shared sense of place as ex-pats, surrounding by the seasonal norms of another country and different people. There's so much about Christmas that's intense, emotionally elevated, and the music on tonights show that reflects that, subverts it, viserally captures it, or sometimes just shares in its sentiments. For me, that combination resonates the sense of space that I like to find at this time of year — the duopoly of being close to my family who I love, with moments alone to decompress from each year. Anna finds threads of the experiences she wants to make out of Christmas, the founding of new traditions.
Accompanying all this is our record of the week, Slow Club's Christmas Thanks for Nothing EP, which is beautiful as it is somewhat subversive, and provides some excuse to talk about one of my all time favourite bands.
And as a bonus, we discussed this cursed version of Slade's Merry Christmas Everyone, but didn't actually play it as promised. So here you go:
Merry Christmas Everybody by Slade but all the lyrics are 'are you hanging up your stocking on your wall' pic.twitter.com/dzljqugQDu
— Michael M 🎅🎄 (@michaelmphysics) December 22, 2017
Playlist
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All I Want For Xmas Is Rock & Roll by LA Wise Man & LA Priest on All I Want For Xmas Is Rock & Roll (Domino) -
Secret Santa by SOAR on dark / gold (Father/Daughter Records) -
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) by Slow Club on Christmas Thanks for Nothing EP (Moshi Moshi) -
December by Teenage Fanclub on Bandwagonesque (Creation) -
Coming in from the Cold by The Delgados on Hate (Mantra) - Break
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The 12 Days of Christmas by Straight No Chaser on Christmas Cheers (Atlantic) -
Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town by Joseph Spence on Living on the Hallelujah Side (Rounder Records) -
Must Be Santa by Bob Dylan on Christmas in the Heart (Sony) -
Christmas Thanks For Nothing by Slow Club on Christmas Thanks For Nothing EP (Moshi Moshi) -
Lonely Man of Winter by Sufjan Stevens on Lonely Man of Winter (Asthmatic Kitty) -
Christmas Time is Here by Khruangbin on Christmas Time is Here (Dead Oceans) - Break
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River by Joni Mitchell on Blue (Warner) -
2000 Miles by The Pretenders on Learning To Crawl (Warner) - Break
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Winter by Daughter on If You Leave (4AD) -
Christmas TV by Slow Club on Christmas Thanks for Nothing EP (Moshi Moshi) - Break
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Open Arms by Elbow on Build A Rocket Boys! (Polydor) - Break
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The Coldest Night of the Year by Vashti Bunyan on Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind (Branch Music) - Break
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Music for A Forgotten Future (The Singing Mountain) by Mogwai on Hardcore Will Never Die By You Will (Rock Action)