Christmas Gifts!

I forgot to do my usual roundup of the music-related gifts that I received for Xmas 2010.

From by lovely wife, three great CDs:

Guided by Voices - Alien Lanes

The Like - Release Me

The Drones - Wait Long by the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By

Release Me was one of my favourite releases from 2010, so that’s been on heavy rotation in the home stereo and probably will be for some time. The other two are great older albums that I’ve been meaning to pick up for a while now. It’s nice to have some more Drones material in my physical collection, as I’ve been keen to own more of their stuff since seeing Gareth Liddiard live a couple of months ago. The classic Alien Lanes has been getting plenty of listens – “Motor Away” is such a damn good song.

From my best friend Adam, a vinyl record:

Avey Tare and Panda Bear - Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished

Haven’t had a chance to spin this yet, but I’m definitely looking forward to hearing “April and the Phantom” on the full stereo setup.

And from my very good friend Helelelelen, a nifty book of concert poster art:

The Small Stakes by Jason Munn. I really like the minimalist, stylised look of the posters – Munn’s approach employs beautiful typography, simple colour contrasts, lots of sillouettes and basic shapes. Very modern and pleasing to the eye.

Thanks guys!