The Roolz

Server problem at The Roolz. Will get it sorted asap.

The Roolz has been down for more than 12 hours. We are sending signal just fine to the server - which is remote and beyond my control. The guy who operates it is either drunk or dead.

This breaks my bloody heart.

December is quite the hardest month to programme. Research has taken as long as ever; this month I have found only four new tunes to add. ‘Barbed Wire’ by the Cardinals is due for release next February – they’re an Irish group and the song is a fine rocker. Sebastien Tellier is a French singer/songwriter who represented France in the 2008 Eurovision contest with a song called ‘Divine’. He actually sounds like a woman, but the addition of Nile Rogers on ‘Thrill of the Night’ compensates for any lack of Seb’s testosterone.

Ashe hails from San Jose. She recently was forced to cancel a tour down under in order to preserve her sanity, but it was ‘Fun While It Lasted’. Emmett Jerome was born some way north of Ashe – Alberta, Canada, in fact – and he graces The Roolz with a style of authentic country rock on ‘Come Down’ which I think you’ll like.

And that’s it for new releases.

And so to Christmas. All the charts and music lists are littered with the same old tired stuff. I actually take the meaning of Christmas seriously and I really can’t do the Noddy, Roy, Pogues, Sirs Paul & Elton thing all over again. It seems extraordinary that no-one has come up with a meaningful new Christmas tune in more than half a century. The only one that has snuck through is John & Yoko’s: this year perhaps more relevant than ever. Instead, I have broadened the musical scope to include choral and orchestral works, folk, gospel and even some traditional French Christmas songs.

Careful with those mince pies, Eugene.