The Easy Gramophone - December

1. Orillia Opry - I Lied
A sweet Montreal pair, curtains drawn, sing about a relationship that's over, over, over, broken beyond all repair. "If you come back/come back with a heart attack." It has the aching want of Neil Young, the blithe shoulder-shrug of one Bob Dylan, and yet it's boy and girl, young and sweet, with lips still good to kiss.
Download at: http://www.shipsatnight.com/SANorilliamusic2.html

2. Listening Party - Jesus Christ I Don't Know
A tambourine leads Listening Party through their repeating refrain: "I don't know. Jesus Christ I don't know!" Later it's replaced by jingle bells, hollers, and tumbling woodblock drums. You know how sometimes you're so mad and confused that you get stupid? Imagine if that happened to Arcade Fire.
Download at: http://www.myspace.com/wwwmyspacecomlisteningparty

3. Cotton Jones Basket Ride - Had Not a Body
This is a new solo project from Michael Nau, the man behind the indie hymns of Page France. But Cotton Jones Basket Ride is heretical, not chaste; it's behind-the-church not before-the-altar. Channelling the hot kitchen soul of Harry Nilsson and the scuffed balladeering of Lou Reed, Had Not a Body is filled with moseying guitar, brandy-warmed voices, late Sunday air.
Download at: http://www.quitescientific.com/cottonjones1.htm

4. Clear Tigers - Igloo
A song called Igloo that's not in the least bit chilly: warm fuzzed strums of acoustic guitar, an over-and-over synthline like the slow molecular melt of ice-blocks. When the electric guitar chimes in and a voice is raised, you can almost imagine this as an anthem, a torch song, something for lighters raised in an arena. And then it's back to an indie rock fit for friends, late nights, and falling asleep on the Edinburgh-Glasgow coach.
Download at: http://www.cleartigers.com/igloo.mp3

5. Vampire Weekend - Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa
In American indie rock circles they're hyped up the wigwam, and everywhere they're signed to XL, but what makes Vampire Weekend so special is that they're truly great, playful and catchy and possessed of a less-than-white-collar groove. Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa is informed by Fela Kuti, Wes Anderson, Spoon, and Paul Simon's Graceland. It's a wiggle and a thump, a shake and a bump; it'll teach you to dance with your sweet Christmas patootie.
Download at: http://www.vampireweekend.com/