I hope everyone got to enjoy a few days off for “holiday relaxation,” a term which usually means crowded airports, awkward family encounters, and stupefying boredom. So nothing relaxing perhaps, but hopefully there were also a few magical moments that made it all worthwhile.

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No better way to get back into the swing of things than with this Felix track. It unfolds like a cat that starts rolled up and calm before slowly arching it’s back and baring its fangs, then calming back down and going to sleep. Plus it contains the unarguably fabulous line “There’s a secret you keep and it makes me dance.” So, basically, bonus all around.

MP3: Felix – Where Is My Dragon
[Off You Are The One I Pick, out now. Stream It. Buy It. Also available on the Seeking Axis Mundi - The Hi-Lo Tunez Plan: 12th Step Free Download.]

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Oranger has contributed a new (old) song for the Eenie Meenie 10th Anniversary compilation. I find it incredibly amusing that, having a track better than 90% of the songs out there today, the band has been casually sitting around all this time with it in their back pocket. “Oh, you need a song for your compilation? Yeah, we got something – here you go.” You can envision the casual flick of the wrist as Oranger sent it off. Such awesomeness should be held up as an example for all of musickind.

MP3: Oranger – Brother Brother
[Off The Eenie Meenie 10th Anniversary Digital Compilation, out now. Buy It.]

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I’m a fan of how this Basia Bulat song is constructed. The urgency of the instruments, how the vocals float a bit outside the beat at times, the gypsy folk feel. It’s a bit tricky since it hits enough markers to draw the casual listener in but not quite conventional enough to make them feel completely at ease. Honesty though, there are entire genres devoted to brain dead listeners – I prefer a bit of a challenge.

MP3: Basia Bulat – Gold Rush
[Off Heart of My Own, out January 26th]