Lopez Blogs

Hurrah! It's only 30 days until Christmas. I feel like I should be a wassilling or something. Instead I am driving Darren mad with amazing new festive or at the very least festive themed tunes and making him plan where we will put the Christmas tree this year (his inspired response? "Same place we put it last year and the year before I suppose". Classic! Such festive fun!) and what baubles we will adorn it with (his merry berry christmas answer "oh just chuck em on. It's a Christmas tree". It's like Santa is sliding down my hole already). I love love love it. OK, I'm a little over stimulated, but today I'll have a quick run through the finest songs on a rather marvelous new Hotel Cafe compilation cd (even if it does feature a tune by the scarlet harlot who will not be named other than skanky skanky ho ho)...

Lenka ~ All My Bells Are Ringing: This is definitely my favourite most beautiful christmas song this year. If you have heard her ace pop ditty "The Show", then you'll pretty much know what to expect here. Straightforward quirky pop, with some added "ooo ba ba", chiming bells and handclaps.The lyrics, admittedly are a bit twee, but because it's Christmas it's entirely forgiveable and actually rather cute. I'm particularly partial to the refrain "take my heart this Christmas, and wrap it in a ribbon and a bow". Which is quite lovely to give someone your heart at Christmas. Or taken literally, incredibly incredibly gross.
Ingrid Michaelson and Sara Bareilles ~ Winter Song: XO wrote about this song a while back (click here) and I can't really top what he has said. It's such a beautiful tune and really just grows on you until it consumes you. Two stunning voices working together to sprinkle a little Christmas magic into your life. BTW when I first read about this song, I totally thought it was called Christmas Snog and got all excited that Sara would be doing such a fun kooky song! Oh well. This is lovely too.

Two other songs that would fit quite well as part of this CD:

Sarah McLachlan ~ Winters Night: Much like Ingrid and Sara's song, this maudlin winter tune doesn't reach out and grab you with it's immediacy but definitely lulls you into submission with it's haunting nature. I've always been a huge fan of Sarah's voice and the sparse instrumentation here frames it beautifully. Guaranteed to melt the hardest of hearts (legal disclamer: Not a guarantee)...
Jill Johnson ~ Christmas On My Own: I give full credit to the stunning Poppostergirl for getting me into this song, and I absolutely adore adore adore it. It's quite country at the heart of it, but the sentiment is so earnest and the chorus so darn catchy that it's almost impossible not to fall in love. Basically she falls in love with a guy, documents their love throughout the year before the cad dumps her in November! Despite its sad tone, it's really a delightful little treat and as moreish as a Dark Cherry Mocha from Starbucks...