Who's My Little Man?

Comin' atcha first thing every Monday morning, it's The Pony Track, a super-fantastic short distance dedication to BadmintonStamps Collective founding member and internationally renown symbol for musical excellence Aaron "Pony" Child. No fancy links, no clever write-ups, 'cause these awesome songs don't need no splainin'. So c'mon, ride the pony!

Besides being The Year of Hot Chip, 2006 was equally The Year of The Sax. After being dragged through the mud and left for dead by a decade of Kenny G, the cacaphonous sound of the sax charged back on the scene as an integral part of releases from The Zutons, previous Song of The Year honorees Guillemots and The Rapture, and newcomers The Gray Brigade. But not since Coltrane's hey was the world throttled with horns as scorching as the ones on the debut album from Swedish jitterbugs Love Is All. "Busy Doing Nothing" has pretty much everything you'd want; driving dance beats, frenetic blasts, a funky bridge breakdown, shout-along lyrics, all threatening to rip apart the barely-there threads of cluttered lo-fi production that bind them. With tracks as smart and rambunctious as this, it's no wonder they're bringing saxy back.

That Stick Won't Protect You

Drummers in rock bands are a fickle and flighty sort. Aside from keeping the beat and fucking lots of groupies, you can't really depend on them for anything. You certainly don't ever put them in charge of both writing and singing lead on an achingly beautiful final track for your already near-perfect new album. But then Ian McCutcheon went and proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that 2006 was just one of those up-is-down, dogs-and-cats-living-together kinda years that broke all the rules. Lo and behold, after eleven tracks of your standard Mojave 3 magic, the former Slowdiver steps out from behind the drum kit and drops a hushed, sentimental nugget of apologetic Elliott Smithery. You could almost accuse the tune, its plainly sincere strums and whispers sparingly adorned by a twinkling piano plunk or blush of pedal steel, of not really fitting in with the rest of the album, except that if it were anywhere else, you'd never have stumbled across it in the first place. And damned if that sensitive shit don't get the groupies even more worked up.

Offerings from Guillemots this year ran the gamut from jaunty frenetic pop and sax-addled rock-outs to hushed heart-on-sleeve love songs and eerie reverberating echoes. But it's "We're Here", the crown jewel of their catalogue thus far, that may also take the honors as "Biggest Song" of '06. With every turn, the tune gets more and more expansive and epic and anthemic and just plain huge. The sweeping string sections, the soaring vocals, the pastoral imagery, the notion that the world is one big dance floor, all building and folding into one another until the dam finally bursts and down rains this triumphant hallelujah chorus of a conclusion filled with joy and love and puppies that poop candy. All of which makes it the ideal soundtrack for that magical day when I elope with Aristazabal Hawkes.

Let's get the obvious stuff out of the way first, shall we? 2006 was, without a doubt, The Year Of Hot Chip. They released a masterpiece of a sophomore album, soundtracked a Zune commercial (Zune commercials are totally the new iPod commercials), got nominated for the Mercury Prize, headlined two seperate Making Time parties, remixed everybody, and just generally rocked the shit out of whatever was put in front of them. And to think it all could have gone so differently. Had it not been for the visionary insight and vote of confidence from the good folks of DFA, the band might have merely withered away into the dark recesses of indietronica obscurity, leaving little gems of twee funk like "Beach Party" or "Down With Prince" behind as their idiosynchratic and underappreciated legacy. Instead, James Murphy and crew were able to strip away just enough of the cutesy keys and too-busy clink clank to expose the raw hip-breaking discoteque anthems underneath. The remix in question goes even beyond the middle ground of The Warning, turning a herky jerky hit into a straight-ahead thumper, and incorporating epic build-ups and come-downs that tease as much as they please and take their time with both.

Strike Or Get Off The Pot

I knew we had a posse, but damn! The ever-growing number of loyal 'Stampers has obviously reached some sort of critical mass, as evidenced by this e-mail which arrived late last night:

First off, thank you so much for your concern. I can't express how good it feels to know that there are people out there we don't even know who care so deeply about the site and its operation. That said, there's no need for threats, as this is all just a big misunderstanding. That's not spam being sent out from my account. I simply happen to enjoy sending mass weekly e-mails to all my family, friends and co-workers on the very best Viagra deals, real estate bargains, get rich quick schemes, and penis enlargement technologies I come across in my daily interweb travels. That's just the considerate sort of guy I am. That's how I look out for my "team". And now that I have your e-mail address, Mr. Administrator, I'll be sure to include you.

Comin' atcha first thing every Monday morning, it's The Pony Track, a super-fantastic short distance dedication to BadmintonStamps Collective founding member and internationally renown symbol for musical excellence Aaron "Pony" Child. No fancy links, no clever write-ups, 'cause these awesome songs don't need no splainin'. So c'mon, ride the pony!