Holiday Offerings and more (Music Review 11/28/2011)

Late again, so I'll make this short and sweet (well not really as it turns out).    Omnia's, "What's Become of Us" takes the top spot, knocking out Mayer Hawthorne's "The Walk", which drops all the way to #4.   Omnia thus joins her twin sister Leila at the top; Leila hit with "Hush Little Baby" back in May.    As we wind down to the end of the year, it appears there will be tight competition between the Staten Island natives--who will rank higher in my year end top 100 list which will come out at the end of the month.      Incidentlly, Leila, whose self-titled EP was released earlier this year, posted that she's looking forward to her new full-length album due for release in 2012.

The Black Keys have their third top 2 hit, "Lonely Boy", which leap-frogs over Sarah Jean's "Hometown" which remains at #3.   The rest of the top 10 remains rather static, with the notable exception of R.E.M.'s "We All Go Back to Where We Belong" jumping from 18 to 9.   New to the top 20 this week is "Undercover Martyn" by Two Door Cinema Club (their third top 20 entry this year), "Drown" by Carolina Liar and "Love the Way You Walk Away" by the aptly-named for the holiday season band Blitzen Trapper.     Take Donner if you have to!!

Speaking of Christmas songs, a few more are added this week, topped by The Killers' "The Cowboy's Christmas Ball".   I've been a fan of The Killers for quite some time now, but apparently missed their annual holiday singles releases, which they have been doing for charity since 2006.    "Cowboy's.." is this year's entry, and all six are included on a holiday EP "(Red) Christmas" which benefits charity as well.

The other newbie is Michael Buble's take on the Mariah Carey classic, "All I Want For Christmas Is You".    I am surprisingly a fan of Buble, especially because of his last album, the retro sounding Crazy Love, two of the tracks making last year's year end favorites list, "Haven't Met You Yet", and "Hollywood".    His new holiday album Christmas debut at #1 and appears to be the big album of this season (Justin Bieber doesn't count).      His version of the song slows it down a bit, and thus brings a different spin to the original.

Two newbies, Deer Tick, from Providence Rhode Island, and Fun, a New York indie-pop outfit, comprise other new entries this week.    Divine Providence is the album by the former, released in September, while Fun's album, Some Nights is due this coming February.

PUMPED UP WEEKS:   Foster the People's big hit, "Pumped Up Kicks" survives another week on the list, dropping one notch to #94, in it's 45th week.  That breaks the 44 weeks attained "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele as the biggest long runner on my list.   

YEAR END:   As we now get into December, it's year-end and Christmas list time.    On Facebook, I've been posting my Top 100 favorite seasonal songs.     I plan on posting the list here; watch for it.   Then of course it's my third annual year end list, which will also be available on my blog.


Scenes n' Soundwaves for Week of November 28, 2011

This Week	Last Week	ARTIST-Title	Weeks on List
1	2	OMNIA '"What's Become of Us?" Album: The Jailbird EP	10
2	4	The Black Keys - Lonely Boy	5
3	3	Sarah Jean - Hometown	11
4	1	Mayer Hawthorne - The Walk	8
5	7	Ellie Goulding - Lights	9
6	5	Dum Dum Girls - Coming Down	10
7	6	Death Cab For Cutie - Stay Young Go Dancing	17
8	8	Florence + the Machine - Shake It Out	7
9	18	R.E.M. - We All Go Back To Where We Belong	4
10	10	Sleeper Agent- That's My Baby	8
11	11	Real Estate - It's Real	7
12	9	Adele - I'll Be Waiting	12
13	14	Red Hot Chili Peppers - Monarchy and Roses	5
14	12	Florence + the Machine - What the Water Gave Me	15
15	19	Phantogram - Don't Move	6
16	13	Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside - I Swear	15
17	25	TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK:     TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB "Undercover Martyn" Album: What You Know	6
18	23	Carolina Liar - Drown	13
19	29	Blitzen Trapper - Love the Way You Walk Away	10
20	20	Paul Czekaj - My Home New Jersey	11

21	39	Fleet Foxes - Lorelai	4
22	43	Graffiti6 - Free	5
23	15	The Vaccines - Wetsuit	7
24	17	Coldplay - Paradise	12
25	27	Zac Brown Band - Keep Me In Mind	7
26	33	Foster the People - Don't Stop	5
27	34	Katy Perry - The One That Got Away	6
28	21	Snow Patrol - Called Out In the Dark	12
29	32	Dawes - Time Spent in Los Angeles	9
30	16	Best Coast - Our Deal	12
31	41	The Big Troubles - She Smiles for Pictures	6
32	22	Cage the Elephant - Aberdeen	14
33	38	Foo Fighters - These Days	8
34	42	St. Vincent - Cruel	10
35	30	The Kooks - Junk of the Heart	21
36	31	Sara Bareilles - Gonna Get Over You	8
37	24	The Big Troubles - Bite Yr Tongue	16
38	26	Rachel Allyn - Lovely Lily	15
39	36	Wilco - I Might	19
40	37	Fitz and the Tantrums - Pickin' Up the Pieces	18
41	44	Beirut - Santa Fe	10
42	48	Scars on 45 - Heart on Fire	11
43	53	Portugal. The Man - So American	4
44	46	Fruit Bats - Tangle and Ray	9
45	28	Anna Calvi - Blackout	16
46	50	Kasabian - Days Are Forgotten	7
47	63	Adele - One and Only	2
48	35	Bush - The Sound of Winter	17
49	40	Duran Duran - Leave A Light On	9
50	68	Warren Haynes - River's Gonna Rise	3
51	55	Kathleen Edwards - Change the Sheets	5
52	45	Daughtry - Crawling Back to You	9
53	79	MOVER OF THE WEEK:     GRACE POTTER & THE NOCTURNALS "Naughty, Naughty, Children" (Single Only)	2
54	58	Martin Solvag & Dragonette - Hello	6
55	47	Thom Sebastian & the Hounds of Winter - Not Broken	14
56	64	Joy Formidable - A Heavy Abacus	4
57	67	Blink-182 - Up All Night	6
58	73	Adele - Love Song	2
59	65	The Fray - Heartbeat	6
60	49	Omnia - Grace	10
61	54	Washed Out - Eyes Be Closed	12
62	51	Oberhofer - Gotta Go	14
63	74	The Knux - Razorblade	3
64	66	WU LYF - Spitting Blood	7
65	77	Faith Hill - Come Home	3
66	57	Plan B- Love Goes Down	23
67	62	Man Man - Knuckle Down	13
68	56	Bell X1 - 4 Minute Mile	13
69	71	Funeral Party - NYC Moves to the Sound of LA	8
70	59	Little Dragon - Shuffle a Dream	14
71	60	Surfer Blood- Swim	17
72	52	Stephen Malkus and the Jicks - Tigers	11
73	80	Ryan Adams - Lucky Now	7
74	94	Grace Potter & the Nocturnals - Please Come Home For Christmas	2
75	81	Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Maniac	4
76	61	Best Coast - Something In The Way	24
77	72	Michelle Branch - Loud Music	21
78	82	Ladytron - White Elephant	4
79	87	First Aid Kit - Lion's Roar	4
80	88	Rihanna - We Found Love	4
81	----	TOP DEBUT:     EXPENSIVE LOOKS "Nothing More" Album: Dark Matters	1
82	90	Adele - Set Fire To the Rain	21
83	100	Rachel Yamagata - Starlight	2
84	----	The Killers - The Cowboys Christmas Ball	1
85	97	Avenged Sevenfold - Buried Alive	3
86	89	Awolnation - Not Your Fault	5
87	98	Bombay Bicycle Club - Shuffle	2
88	69	Mister Heavenly - Mister Heavenly	16
89	78	Needtobreathe - Drive All Night	13
90	----	Michael Buble - All I Want For Christmas Is You	1
91	----	Fun f. Jarelli Monee - We Are Young	1
92	70	Dom - Happy Birthday Party	12
93	84	Tom Morello: The Nightwatchman - It Begins Tonight	12
94	93	Foster the People - Pumped Up Kicks	45
95	RE-ENTRY	Nicki Minaj - Super Bass	2
96	----	Mumford & Sons - Winter Winds	1
97	----	Deer Tick - Let's All Go To the Bar	1
98	85	Red Hot Chili Peppers - The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie	20
99	86	Tony Bennett & Amy Winehouse - Body and Soul	10
100	75	Rachel Platten - 1,000 Ships	10

TREMORS:

101. Christine Perri - A Thousand Years
102. 311 - Count Me In
103. Big Pink, Stay Gold
104. Redlight King - Bullet In My Hand
105. Dan Mangen, Post War Blues