The 2012 Streetlamp Festive Thirty

 It's Christmas time, the font colour has changed to red, and the other Streetlampers have been banished from the keyboard. All this adds up to just one thing - it's time for this year's Streetlamp Festive Thirty.
For anyone who hasn't been following this blog from the beginning, the basic idea is that the Streetlamp team get together for a trawl through the Streetlamp archive and bring you our combined favourite thirty pieces of music to feature on the blog this year. Considered for inclusion are all of those songs which have featured in an article, regardless of their date of release. This means that the list is not a narrow 'Best music of 2012' but is instead a 'Best of The Streetlamp 2012'.

With the Streetlamp now well into its third year, it has changed quite a bit since its inception and now features more political and cultural blog pieces rather than just being a straightforward music blog. That's not to say that we've been ignoring the music and, as far as I'm concerned, the great music featured on here has been the one constant that has tied the whole enterprise together, and each of the Streetlamp Festive Thirty lists is a graphic illustration of that fact. When I look at the range of artists included I think that it highlights how diverse the three of us are in taste and, I believe, this makes a great recipe for an interesting blog.

Anyway, without any further rambling, I will now, as tradition dictates, present to you

- in alphabetical order -

The 2012 Streetlamp Festive Thirty

A Copy of A Copy of A Copy - Captain of the Rant vs. Hair Explosion
And If - Stephen Harrison
Bed on a Ward - Wise Children
Blackwater Side - Anne Briggs
Chair - Big Deal
Chico - The Velveteens
Comics - Executive Legs
Deep In The Woods - Tennis
Easy Baby - La Luz
Espejo - Julio y Agosto
Fast and Frightening - Luise Pop
Frances - Father Sculptor
Graduation Time - The Refrigerator Cuties
Henry Rollins Don't Dance - Allo Darlin'
I Call You Up - The Tuts
Island Song - Ashley Eriksson
I Think I Like You Girlfriend More Than You - Bentcousin
Late Night Bikes - Capybara
Like One - Silkies
Noam Chomsky? - The Hinkley Veltones
Outside of a small circle of friends - Phil Ochs
Seafarer - Tennis
Separate - Colorform
Shame - The Refrigerator Cuties
Spooked - Niamh de Barra
Strange Ideas - Liechtenstein
Sunglasses in Winter - Bentcousin
The Cinema Bell - Land Lovers
The Pocket Orchestra's Death Song - Land Lovers
These Things Happen - Loki with Bill Breaks
 

That's a pretty awesome list of songs, I hope you'll agree. Interesting to see too that we've got quite a few bands with two entries in the list this year - Tennis, Land Lovers, The Refrigerator Cuties and Bentcousin all managing that feat. Well done to them.

So, that's this years Festive Thirty and now all that remains for me to say is; 
"Have a very merry Christmas, and see you all in 2013."


Ray