A slight delay.

We're at 90% of our bandwidth use for the month already, and I really don't want to take the holiday mix down until after Christmas passes. So needless to say, there will be a continued delay until that time. Sorry guys and gals, I just want to make sure everyone gets a chance to download it!

Hope you all have a very merry Chrismahanukwanzakah, and we'll see you just before the new year.

In the meantime, enjoy this Christmas SNL skit...


P.S. Many thanks to Best Week Ever for throwing us a bone last week!

Rocking around the Christmas tree.

Everyone else seems to be posting up their "Best of 2006" lists, yet I prefer to wait until the year is actually over to start on that mess. Call me crazy. But as my insomnia was kicking my ass last night, I had to find something to exhaust my brain. So what did I do? I updated my holiday mix and recorded it for you all.

I did one last year and used it as a place holder for this site until it was officially born, but since many of you weren't readers back then... I figured I'd reuse many of the same songs but with an updated touch. So some of you reading this may recognize some of these selections from last year.

Feel free to download and burn it, give it to the ones you love, stream it in the background during your holiday festivities, or just download the individual songs you like from the mix. Either way... enjoy, and have a happy Chrismahanukwanzakah and new year!


WhoNeedsRadio Holiday Mix '06 (1:06:35)

Track listing:

1. The Raveonettes - The Christmas Song
2. The Flaming Lips - Christmas At The Zoo
3. Low - Just Like Christmas
4. The Waitresses - Christmas Wrapping
5. Sufjan Stevens - Put The Lights On The Tree
6. Augie Rios - Donde Esta Santa Claus
7. Eartha Kitt - Santa Baby
8. Bing Crosby & Ella Fitzgerald - Rudolph, The Red Nosed Reindeer (John Beltran Remix)
9. James Brown - Santa Claus Go Straight To The Ghetto
10. Otis Redding - Merry Christmas Baby
11. Johnny Cash - The Christmas Spirit
12. The Pipettes - White Christmas
13. Scissors For Lefty - Christmas Intentions
14. The Knife - Christmas Reindeer
15. Run DMC - Christmas In Hollis
16. Gil Mantera's Party Dream - Brave New Christmas
17. Crass - Merry Crassmas
18. Showcase Showdown - Merry Christmas, I Fucked Your Snowman
19. Shonen Knife - Space Christmas
20. Death Cab For Cutie - The New Year

And if you're around NYC tonight, don't forget to drop by my party - MANIFESTO! - to help me out with some holiday-time bills.

- Lady Byrd

One listen was all it took.

Someone call Zach Braff and tell him I've found the soundtrack to his next movie, and that is Teitur's Stay Under The Stars. PFFT, who am I kidding? He probably already knows it, but it's new to me. God, I love Zach Braff...

Sorry... got sidetracked. Back to Teitur, this album is magnificently beautiful and brings me back to the warmth I felt when I first heard Tanakh's Ardent Fevers. But unlike the golden fields, straw in mouth feeling of Fevers... Stars has more of a running in the rain or lying by the fireplace type of feel to it.

So cuddle up next to the one you love (or the cardboard cutout of the person you wish you could love), and press play.

From Stay Under The Stars (buy @ Amazon):
Don't Want You To Wake Up
You Get Me
Hitchhiker
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Hey look! It's The Sleepy Jackson... without Luke Steele? At least that's the feeling I got when I first hit play on The Panda Band's This Vital Chapter. I gave it the benefit of the doubt and let it play longer, and soon became more impressed. As far as the SJ comparisons, I guess it's just a Perth (Australia) thing. Who knows? But I do admit that I like Panda Band's sound. See what you think.

From This Vital Chapter (buy @ Amazon):
Ghosts Have The Best Time
Spanish Bride
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You would probably have no problem guessing that The Twilight Sad are from Glasgow, seeing as how the accent is very apparent. Their music is strong and deep, and the lyrics throw you back into memories of your adolscence that you never wanted to relive. Throw this on when you're feeling nostalgic for that teenage pain. Whether or not we admit it, we all do crave that raw emotion from time to time.

From The Twilight Sad (but @ Amazon):
And She Would Darken The Memory
That Summer, At Home I Had Become The Invisible Boy
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Meet the Beatles second-coming, NYC's very own - Locksley. Finally, someone's bringing back music the way it used to be. Not the way the Strokes or Jet would have you believe it was.

Thank god for these guys paying homage to those perfectly crafted, classic rock and roll hits.

From Locksley (buy @ CDBaby):
Don't Make Me Wait
She Does
All Of The Time
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Hello, Hello, I'm back again.

We all go through those ear plug moments where although we love music, there's just a time that comes in your life where you just don't feel like listening anymore. It's a slump that happens every so often for me, where I stare at the stack of CDs on my desk as if it's a mountain I don't want to climb.

Sorry that this PMS (pause music syndrome) of mine has affected you, the readers of WNR. I'm doing better now though, rediscovering my love for music once again by becoming more involved in production and editing with all these fancy fandangled programs I've gotten recently. Big thanks to Levon for that. Soon enough I'll be pestering you with my own creations.

Oh, and we can also thank Guitar Hero 2 for making me think I'm a rockstar.

Moving on, there is an unbeatable show tonight at Mercury Lounge that I am very sadly going to miss due to previous plans. Three local bands that I completely adore and one lovely Australian band are going to be in the same venue tonight, and to top it off that venue is right around the corner from me. Damn, damn, damn. But that doesn't mean you have to miss it... or miss out on the music:


White Rabbits are a band that I've developed a rather large musical crush on since the first time I caught them live at Cake Shop. I saw them again at Annex and took some pictures and video of their performance for WNR, but the venue didn't leave much room to capture what you really need to see. Seeing them live made me feel like I was hanging out with Andie and Jena while the Dice Man kept Duckie outside. That was a cheesy "Pretty In Pink" reference, but seriously... like I've said before, the keyboardist dresses a mix of Duckie and Indiana Jones, and I can't help but make an 80s reference here with the obvious Jam influence.

I hope the band doesn't hate me for my sad attempt at remastering some of their songs and posting them here on WNR, but I just honestly can't keep this to myself. Each song is infectious.

I just now realized that on "SYBG", the vocals have a little Rob Suchan touch to them on the chorus.

And I just also realized that I can't help but sing along to "The Plot". Thank god I'm alone right now.

I'm anxiously awaiting the album's completion.

Kid On My Shoulders
SYBG
The Plot
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Tigercity needs no introduction on this site. I've already said all I can say about how wonderful these guys are. My 5 times seeing them live will attest to that. So we'll skip the introduction and let these new tunes talk the talk.

Dark Water
Solitary Man
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I first heard about Cassettes Won't Listen on that better blog, Gorilla vs Bear, and fell in love with "Lunch for Breakfast". It's layered synthpop that has an airy feel to it, making my speakers seem more like fans than speakers. The instrumental "Sidewalk Cruise" is literal in where the song puts you, and is fitting for this time of year where the air is cold and brisk. I'm really curious as to how this transposes on to the stage.

Lunch For Breakfast
The Sidewalk Cruise
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The Grates should not be a new name to you, but if it is...

Oh shit... you'll have to do your own research. I'm running late on getting ready for my plans tonight. Sorry!

Science Is Golden
Howl
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