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Four tracks this month, and one mammoth mix tape, to keep you warm during the winter solstice. As ever, they’re free, guilt-free and brilliant. When you start worrying about the lack of money you have to get all your mates presents with, indulge yourself in these give-aways and look forward to the New Year which is shaping up to be another vintage one for music.  

NOTE: For those of you who are computer illiterate, any of these tracks which aren’t downloadable from any file sharing sites such as Z-Share or YouSENDIt can be downloaded directly, by right clicking the link of the song on the blog and choosing ‘Save Target As’… Easy!

Gil Scott-Heron – Where Did The Night Go?
After a twenty-year hiatus, in which he spent two stints in jail and began a rumoured battle with HIV, the legend returns with XL Recordings’ man Richard Russell (formally of Kicks Like A Mule) with a track that puts Scott-Heron back in the lime- light. ‘Where Did The Night Go?’ has musicality similar to Massive Attack at their most brutally simplistic. The man who once claimed that, ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’ (translating poetry into the rap art form in 1971) now asks us to consider how efficient we are with our time on earth, no doubt influenced by his time behind bars, as he tentatively describes, “Long ago/the clock washed midnight away.” He can be noted for bringing politics to pop music, the song ‘Johannesburg’ described apartheid in South Africa a full ten years prior to ‘Free Nelson Mandela’ by The Special AKA. He is to underground music what The Beatles are to the mainstream, and he’s still making music that blows your mind. No acclaim is high enough and it’s good to have him back.
GET IT HERE: http://imnewhere.net/

Gil Scott-Heron in recent performance

Neon Indian – Deadbeat Summer
It might be a good two years since Brooklyn was the nucleus of the music world, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t still have some tricks up its sleeve. Neon Indian are MGMT without the high pitched vocal, and their trademark squelchy keyboard sounds add extra psychedelic textures to the ABACAB pop structure. As we struggle through the long nights and start to decide what festivals to invest in here’s a track to start getting us in the ‘summer’ mood. Well, it’s never too early for optimism, is it?     
http://revista69.com/neon-indian-deadbeat-summer/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+revista69+%2869%29

Innocent Until Proven Filthy Vol 5 by DJ Screwface feat MC Mirage
Unless you were in a box full of Lady Gaga records for the last twelve months, you would’ve noticed that dubstep was everywhere in 2009. And not in a shite, industry hype way either, for one of the first times this decade a musical movement started in kids’ bedrooms on Fruityloops (a computer producer program) and managed to end up as the sound for every house and free party, major club night and late night Radio 1 show since its boom pre-summer. Here, London based DJ Screwface spins some of the headiest tracks for you to blow your brains out to come New Years Eve – if you’re only aware of the straight up daytime take on the genre by those such as Caspa then check out this mix. Note the Aphex Twin-inspired sound bending, Boys Noize’s techno advancements enter at some points too with even a couple of harmonies getting their way in there. Don’t miss the “purple” sounds of Joker (as he describes it) at thirty three minutes when his remix of Simian Mobile Disco drops; it’s one of my remixes of the year. You wouldn’t have guessed in January, when the slew of homogenized female solo artists started attacking the charts, that the real sound of ‘09 would be a technological advancement and skewed re-working of 60s Dub Reggae. MC Mirage’s shouts of, “Screwface: you’re so dirrrty!” deserves a slogan t-shirt and all.              
http://www.getdarker.com/files/a695fdf5b74f187478e78f103a8384ab

Wolf Gang – The King And All Of His Men (Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs remix)
All eyes lay on this one man harmony enthusiast – like a huge present under the Chirstmas tree of the music industry. Wolf Gang is set to take next year as his, if you believe the hype. Whether he will ever enjoy Jamie T’s level of success as a male soloist or have an instant back lash, reminiscent of Dan Black earlier this year, is unknown. All I know is, two pretty fun remixes of his latest single are circulating the blog world at the moment (the other being from Gaggle). In this one, simple but effective house-beats add a ‘jump’ vibe to the eccentric could-be pop star. We’ll wait and see if he’s stocking material next year, for the time being he’s making all the right sounds.      
http://www.nialler9.com/2009/11/19/reeeeeemix-megapost/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nialler9%2Frss+%28Nialler9+Music+Blog%29

Wolf Gang in 'playfull' mood

Vampire Weekend – Cousins
The scene: January 1^st, about 9pm, you’ve woken up after a quick ‘nap’. Ten hours of Dub Step, indie disco remixes and numerous mixed shots didn’t do you much good last night. You can’t handle work tomorrow morning, let alone any hard rhythms. So, time to get this happy, upbeat new ‘un from Vampire Weekend on the stereo as you start to clean up your mates’ sick. It’s in the major key, as ever, and yet again they can’t fail to put a smile on your face. Their album is out in January, so along with Scott-Heron’s effort, that’s two essential records to save for already. You’ll start 2010 with a pierced brain, by the end of January alone you’ll already have loads of new songs lined up for your end of year round ups. “Happy Neeewww Yeeaaarrr!” 
http://www.citiesoftheplain.net/2009/12/videos-november.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+citiesoftheplain+%28Cities+of+the+Plain%29

Don’t forget, ‘cause this is the season to be jolly and also because we’re lovely people, expect another, special edition of ‘Top 5 Downloads’ before the 25^th. 

Nicholas Burman