Said the Gramophone Sean’s 100 Favorite Songs of 2010

Nerve lists the 10 most depressing Christmas songs ever recorded.

Yesterday's updates to the list of 2010 year-end online music lists included the Pop Cop's best albums, Oceans Never Listen's best songs, and much more.

UBUWEB lists nine streamable films by and about composer John Cage.

The top 100 Norwegian black metal albums of all time.

NPR is streaming Royal Thunder's debut album (out December 21st).

Pop & Hiss profiles Warpaint, whose The Fool made my list of favorite albums of 2010.

Yesterday's updates to the list of 2010 year-end online music lists included Carrie Brownstein's top albums, Fingertips' favorite free and legal mp3 downloads, and much more.

Owen Pallett talks to the Daily Yomiuri about his songwriting process and working with the Arcade Fire.

Oregon Music News interviews Khaela Maricich of The Blow.

Has Jona’s absence been an enabler… enabling The Blow to “pretend that the internet doesn’t exist,” as you say on your MySpace? And work less “hard updating the pages”? You haven’t had any new songs streaming online in ages… I guess what I’m trying to say is, when are we gonna hear, see, learn more about what’s happening with The Blow from you? On the internet… (Besides from your personal blog.)

To be honest, there is a certain sanity in not paying too much attention to how much I show up on the internet. I do have my website, www.khaelamaricich.com, and when I have something to say I say it there. It has been interesting doing the show and touring without having a record released, because all that people can talk about is what they have seen in the live show. That, and what people say about it in places like the internet, is the only product that anyone can actually grab onto.

The Independent examines the trend of bands' scoring films.

Fresh Air interviews Dan Charnas, the author of the new book The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop. An excerpt from the book is also shared.

Halfwayhousemusic shares a winter mp3 mix filled with holiday tunes.

Up on the Sun ponders the significance of year-end online music lists.

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Sean Nicholas Savage - “Snowflake” “Chill out! Ha hahaha. No seriously, folks, the thing about blizzards is that you can't fuck with them. Right? Am I right? There's no arguing. Winter's not gonna go, 'Shit, sorry, I'll get outta your way.' Winter's gonna do what winter wants. So instead of fighting it, you do what you do with every omnipotent mob. You get with them. You get in as deep as you can. Dig a hole, jump in. If you get with winter, winter'll be cool with you, y'know? [laughs] Love it, live it, just don't expect too much. It's like a lover. Yeah. Just don't expect too much.”

The Zolas - “Snow” A song about making-out in the snow. A song that ruins the Zolas' Canadian cred. Because let's face it: kissing in the snow is nothing extraordinary. It's what you have to do, for one third of the year. The only reason to make a song about it is if you've got the plans for an excellent song, a nervy pop-rocker with barbs and jangle, something good for the opening to your teen movie, the one about the days when you had never kissed before, either in the snow or anywhere. A song like this. Good!

[Both these songs are from The Line of Best Fit's terrific free Christmas comp, Ho Ho Ho Canada, which also has music by Basia Bulat, Woodpigeon, Leif Vollebekk, Baby Eagle and many more. / Sean Nick Savage on MySpace / The Zolas on MySpace]

Unknown Mortal Orchestra - “How Can U Luv Me” Just as I know almost nothing about Unknown Mortal Orchestra aside from that they hail from Portland, Oregon, I have no idea what the story is with this song. It sounds immediately familiar, like something I have known for years, but I can’t place it. Some brilliant lost soul-funk tune, something like that. That said, I have no reason not to believe that this in fact an original tune. Maybe it’s stealing something from somewhere, but I don’t know. It could just be that these people are just flat-out brilliant. I mean, I can glean that just from how they capture this perfectly warm, slightly worn sound, and this fluid, lively, spontaneous sound in their recordings. “How Can U Luv Me” is funky and catchy, but in a loose, relaxed sort of way. It’s groovy, not uptight. The mystery adds something to this, too — I like the idea that somewhere out there, these people are in a small room knocking out these amazing songs, and there are few clues as to who they are and almost no one knows about it.

Buy it from Bandcamp.