Poise and mystique are wonderful: more useful to a pop star’s life than towels and hot honey drinks.

Sometimes Hurts appear to have struck a deal in which they exchange everything other acts rely on – colour photography, songs about clubs, amazing choruses – for extra helpings of statuesque and aloof. It’s not a bad deal, but it does set a high bar for their music to leap over. Unfortunately, as far as these flappy ears can work out, their output thus far has struggled to do much more than knock the thing onto the crashmat with its face, and then, before anyone can giggle, blusteringly pretend that this is what was supposed to happen all along.

There has, however, been something of a penny-drop happening around this song. I’m starting to get what some of the fuss around Hurts might be about.

Apart from the poise and mystique stuff, obv. That was always great from the get-go.

(Here’s the video. It’s a swan wake.)

It’s partly that this really does have an amazing chorus, and on a Christmas single to boot. Great Christmas singles need to have amazing choruses, if only because so many of the poorer ones seem to come from a decision to make a festive hit at any cost, not from a good idea for a song.

It’s also partly because there is no better time to put out a mournful, dignified song about feeling slightly left out of a party, than right now. You get to throw in the tubular bells, the sleighbells, the twinkling piano and the booming drums, and all of that mournful huffing, and it sounds both magical and deep.

And if you know your Christmas pop, that piano is the key to things. It is repetitive and insistent, driving and fizzy, not unlike the piano in Bruce Springsteen’s astonishing version of ‘Santa Claus is Coming To Town’. Which means it tips the nod towards one of the best Christmas songs ever ever ever.

To have all that joy as a backdrop, and then set off on a long lonesome journey through the happiest and most sociable time of the year, and then to arrive under the banner of a funny title…well that’s the glitter on the ribbon on the wrapping paper on the expensive present, right there.

Download: Out now

www.informationhurts.com
BBC Music page

(Fraser McAlpine)

Buzzin Pop Music says: “Happy yet dark and with a nostalgic Christmas feel”

Popjustice says: “Massive chorus, job done”

View full post on BBC Audio & Music | Radio 1 Chart Blog

As I write this, the majority of the country is covered in blizzard-skin; once-friendly pavements seek to up-end all but the most careful traveller and the shops are full of things which are sparkly, glittery and festive. It feels, for better and worse, like Christmas.

And now here’s Coldplay, with a suddenly-here dusty waltz about using the magical properties of the festive season to try and put a broken relationship back together, in much the same way that the Pogues did what that song about the perils of buying low-cost meatballs.

It’s at one and the same time, a cynical song about a romantic situation AND a romantic song about a cynical situation. People who use Christmas as an excuse to bury the hatchet often find someone has dug it right back up again once the New Year hangover kicks in. And bands who make romantic Christmas singles aren’t exactly doing it with the purest of motives either. Everyone wants to join Mariah, Slade and Phil Spector in The Pantheon of Christmas songs which come back year after year.

(Here’s the video. Nothing says ‘the good old days of yore’ like a waistcoat.)

And that’s the conundrum on which this thing rests. You don’t want to be cynical at Christmas, that pose is just a great big cliche anyway. It doesn’t make you especially clever or perceptive to realise this whole thing is hooey built on nonsense, and that it’s an excuse for a lot of silly things to happen. It just makes you look defensive, like someone who won’t be hugged in case it makes them cry.

However, giving in to every soppy gesture at this time of year is a recipe for re-believing in Father Christmas again, even though you know it’s your dad. And it’s always a little bit irksome to feel like your emotions are being tugged at by puppeteers.

So, what I have to say is this. I like this song just fine. I like the tempo changes, I like the swoop and the swish and I especially like Chris Martin’s voice when it’s all low and growly. But I’m not transported by it, and really, that’s what would need to happen to make this the magical festive experience it so clearly wishes to be.

Download: Out now

www.coldplay.com
BBC Music page

(Fraser McAlpine)

PS: If it’s festive indie you are after, but you want something with a bit more oomph, can I recommend ‘Christmas Was Better In The 80s’ by the Futureheads? It basically starts like a carol, just like the Coldplay song, but then…well it’s pretty much brilliant bedlam from there on in. Also, it occasionally sounds like they’re singing “Christmas was better in the A-Team”, which is a sentiment it is hard to refute.

Evigshed says: “A sweet ballad to warm the hearts and have the smile on your face.”

View full post on BBC Audio & Music | Radio 1 Chart Blog

Photo: Wargo/WireImage
A new LCD Soundsystem track hit the Internet last night, but “Oh You (Christmas Blues)” isn’t off James Murphy’s upcoming LCD album. Instead, the bluesy number is one of dozen or so songs Murphy penned for the Ben Stiller film Greenberg, and the one song on the soundtrack to appear under the LCD Soundsystem name. Listen to a radio rip of the song over at We All Want Someone to Shout For. Despite being credited to LCD, “Oh You (Christmas Blues)” sounds nothing like Sound of Silver, with Murphy instead unveiling a stark song that combines Pink Floyd’s Animals with John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band.

Given the tone and the title, we can already picture Stiller’s character sitting alone and despondent on a Christmas morning on the big screen. The Greenberg soundtrack is due out March 23rd and should definitely help kill the time before LCD Soundsystem’s “crazy” Sound of Silver follow-up is released on May 15th. You can preorder the Greenberg soundtrack now over at Amazon and other digital retailers.

Get the scoop on 40 more of the spring’s biggest releases in our special preview.

Related Stories:

• James Murphy Opens Up About “Crazy” May LCD Soundsystem LP
• LCD Soundsystem Offer Peek at New Album With Studio Footage

View full post on Rolling Stone : Rock and Roll Daily