While casual fans can easily download early Genesis singles like “I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)” or “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway,” those who truly want a taste of when Peter Gabriel led the group can turn to the exhaustive box set 1970-1975 (Rhino). Not only does it comprise digitally remastered versions of every album the group released during that era, but each comes bundled with a DVD featuring exclusive band interviews and achival footage. Despite Phil Collins earning the group the most commerical acclaim, these early collections show the band’s progressive rock innovation, indirectly paving the way for today’s offshoots (most notably Elbow, Porcupine Tree and even The Mars Volta to a certain extent). (more…)

Fox Searchlight pictures is heavily marketing Slumdog Millionaire as a “feel-good” holiday movie.  Working off of the acclaim generated at various film festivals and the adoration bestowed upon it by such critics as the Wall Street Journal’s Joe Morganstern, Fox Searchlight is working the project as an inspirational tale, perfect for the year-end filmgoer.  This is deceptive.  Skillful film-making, yes; inspirational, no.

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The new Cash Cash album, Take it to the Floor, doesn’t hit retail until Jan. 20, but the disc is currently available for digital download (through all the usual outlets). The synth-pop-punk band out of New Jersey has gotten noticed recently for “Party in Your Bedroom,” a catchy tune that has an ’80s retro vibe to it, thanks in part to the use of vocoder vocals and old school synths. The band even launched a make-your-own video contest for the song, with the winners taking home a $500 Bed, Bath and Beyond gift certificate. The conest concluded earlier this month, yielding a decidedly amateurish clip in which a group of teens dance and scream in their bedroom until their parents wake up and (surprise!) decide to join them. The video’s a bit goofy but so is the infectious tune. The rest of Take it to the Floor features everything from the emo ballad “Breakout” to the frisky “Cash Cash,” which recalls the madcap ’80s act Oingo Boingo. Look for the band on tour in late January and throughout February as it’s teamed up with the Millionaires and I Set Your Friends on Fire for a winter jaunt.

With Christmas only a day away, sounds of the season are blaring over mall speakers and car stereos like crazy. Chances are tons of those tunes are culled from the compilation series A Very Special Christmas, which started twenty years ago, releasing several volumes of CDs featuring the hottest pop stars of their respective time period. Regardless of the era, U2′s cover of “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” continues to stand time’s test and get introduced to younger generations each year, though that certainly isn’t the case with all the artists. (Anything by The Pointer Sisters is certainly worth skipping). (more…)

When shopping, does the holiday background music drive you nuts?  Can’t tolerate any more “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” or “Blue Christmas” when you’re charging away at Old Navy?    You know you’re not a Scrooge at heart—hey, at home you enjoy Sufjan Stevens’ Songs for Christmas, The Roches’ We Three Kings, or even Erran Baron Cohen’s Songs in the Key of Hanukkah.   Instead, your aversion to “The “Jingle Bell Rock” might be because of your discriminating ear and discerning nature.

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She may be played alongside pop princesses like Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift on Radio Disney, but relative newcomer Callann Lane leans much closer to the style of Natasha Bedingfield or even Beyonce on occasion. The singer’s first ever holiday project Christmas This Year (an online exclusive via iTunes, Amazon.com and other like-minded outlets) merges impressive originals with bubbly interpretations of familiar favorites, including one tune not normally associated with the season for caroling.

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Yasmin Levy and Erran Baron Cohen

Hidden in the torrent of the year end’s Christmas releases, Songs in the Key of Hanukkah is a sometimes fun and often moving celebration of the Festival of Lights.   The project of Erran Baron Cohen, brother of filmmaker Sasha and music director for The Ali G Show and Borat, Songs is an inspired combination of world music, klezmer, reggae, jazz, rock, rap, etc.   The result is a sound that recalls the Judaic “fusion” movement released over the last few years on Jdub label (Golem, Matisyuha).

I have not seen the movie Cadillac Records yet, but reviews indicate that its infectious music—remakes of the hits by Chess Records, the movie’s subject–overcomes all the narrative inconsistencies of its screenplay.  For the most part, the movie’s soundtrack accurately captures this energy and enthusiasm.

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Even if 1984 was ages ago, there’s not a single holiday season that goes by without “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” earning major airplay. For those needing a quick refresher course, it was the brainchild of The Boomtown Rats’ Bob Geldof and Ultravox’s Midge Ure (two major English acts of the time) who called upon several of their celebrity friends under the banner of Band Aid. All funds from the socially concsious project went straight to African famine relief, helping propell the tune to number one that Christmas and continue just as steadily through today. Here’s more proof why the project could very well be the hottest holiday hit in history: (more…)

Considering a Flaming Lips concert revolves around giant inflatable spaceships, aliens as background singers and an increasingly inventive costumed cast, it’s no surprise that the band’s DVD/CD set Christmas on Mars (Warner Brothers) is completely off the charts outrageous. This concept collection of sorts may have been seven years in the making, but is one of the most refreshing (despite downright odd) Christmas collections to date, centered around the colonization of Mars with a spacey soundtrack to match.

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