#50: Have a Rotten Xmas This Year

1 Mogwai Christmas Steps (10)
2 Low Just Like Christmas (9)
3 Butthole Surfers Good King Wenceslas (8)
4 Bright Eyes Blue Christmas (7)
5 Sonic Youth Santa Doesn't Cop Out on Dope (6)
6 Grandaddy Alan Parsons in a Winter Wonderland (5)
7 Gomo Santa's Depression (4)
8 Themselves Grass Skirt & Fruit Hat (3)
9 The Murder City Devils 364 Days (2)
10 William S. Burroughs/Kurt Cobain The 'Priest' They Called Him (1)

bonus tracks:
11 Sixtoo & Norsola Part One & Part Two
12 My Bloody Valentine Touched

First aired on Dec 25

Two Loons For Tea - Nine Lucid Dreams

Sarathan Records



Sexy, just too sexy to even mention, almost erotic, really! These are the words that immediately come to mind when addressing Two Loons for Tea's beautiful work. "Nine Lucid Dreams" is this Seattle-based duo's third album and it's like their "Simple Things", the big breakthrough for Zero 7. It starts in style with an incredibly gorgeous track, "Sunset Room", sure to insufflate fresh air into any toxic brain.

It's impossible not to fall in love with Sarah Scott's voice and Jonathan Kochmer's gently layered music patterns. The diehard downtempo fan will probably be surprised by these often acoustic, somehow voice-centered numbers but, as "Consuela" comes in, the agnostic jaw will probably drop like autumn leaves in Canada. This rumba-inspired track feels so beautifully out-of-place it will tuck you in as if it were your grandmother getting you ready for a nights sleep.

"Monkey", the second and thus decisive track, brings in a bagful of styles from the jazzy ambience to the trip-hopped folk rock. It should work pretty well as electronic music for the hearing impaired – the vibe is so intense and rich the deaf would at least sense it in the back of their mind. But, above all, Two Loons for Tea will end up setting the mood for beautiful, sunny afternoons spent in the park with the headphones on.

Far from me to get all horny when the shades are still up, but "Nine Lucid Dreams" does add that little twinkle to any bedroom. It's like the cinnamon stick you mix your drink with. And with track names like "Eyebrows Are Nature's Makeup" and "Dixie It Up!", you're sure to (forgive my directness) get laid tonight. Two Loons for Tea is definitely a band to keep an eye on and invite for a cup of...tea. Seattle never sounded so sexy, except maybe for Heather Duby!

http://www.properlychilled.com/music/release/profile.php?view=516

Mango Juice - Cry Out EP

Switchstance Recordings



Mango Juice's "Cry Out" EP is dope reggae in bad need of a GPS. Consider Mango Juice as dub's problem child – he definitely won't die of devotion because he doesn't have Jamaica breathing down his neck, but what he does have is this rioting confluence of rock, reggae, jungle and smoky, sharpened vocals.

Side A is a tentative heads-up to the careless listener: if lustrous, raspberry-scented dub is your wet dreaming catalyst, you can jump ahead because "Fire Pon Rome" is as dark as reggae can be, with its encrypted, rum-driven layers of sound. The next track "Lovely Life" is much more Marley-oriented throughout its slowed-down, nebulous delivery.

"Beware (Ancient Astronauts remix)" opens side B in heavy machinery fashion; even though the track's backbone is quite entertaining, the forefront is much more looming than your average roots record. Interestingly enough, the original version comes after the remix.

The finale, "Love Alone", is orbiting around the Jamaican galaxy but, as the track comes to a close, it shows its true affiliation: a sound that's everywhere without being handcuffed to a certain genre. The good folks at Switchstance Recordings surely weren't snoring when they first spotted Mango Juice.

http://www.properlychilled.com/music/release/profile.php?view=513

#49: Verbal Eulogy

1 Solzalez Dropdeesnumber3
2 8th W1 The Shocker
3 Parallel Thought All I See feat. Caness
4 Pace Won, Lakim Shabazz & El Da Sensei Womb to the Tomb
5 Young Zee If I Only Had a Brain feat. Sass (Live from Montclair 2005)
6 Reef The Lost Cauze Slay Them (prod. by Two Hungry Bros)
7 Truth or Square La Di Da Di
8 Mugshot Verbal Eulogy (prod. by *Waz Most/ cuts by DJ 3rd Rell)
9 Langston Black We Got One Path (Freestyle)
10 Dolla Bin Mixdown the Drummer
11 Flip Kuma Untitled
12 Written On Your Psyche Caped Crusaders feat. Realizm & Victor KJ
13 Bash Sold to the Highest Bidder
14 J0-DBL Hide
15 MuaMin Co. LSD
16 Fallen Angels Freedom
17 Sol Zalez
18 Replife Just Listen (R U Ready) (inc.)

First aired on Dec 18

Coffee Breakz #41-50

#41: Noite Cigana
#42: Little Ghetto Boy
#43: Two Loons for Tea
#44: Chilled Master Cuts
#45: Miles Davis
#46: Chilled Master Cuts - part 2
#47: War of the Worlds
#48: 70s Reggae
#49: Verbal Eulogy
#50: Have a Rotten Xmas This Year