Pitchfork

'Tis the month before Christmas, and visions of "Top of the Pops" are still dancing in Art Brut's Eddie Argos' head. Where they're joined, it would seem, by an unending supply of songs about songs. As Pitchfork's Matthew Solarski previously reported: "Eddie has teamed with another UK act fond of the speak-singing, lovable cynics Black Box Recorder, and a pal who goes by the name of Keith Top of the Pops. Together as the Black Arts, this upstanding bunch has recorded a holiday heatseeker, conveniently titled 'Christmas Number One', about-- get this-- a Christmas single that takes on a life of its own. This 'One' has it all: jingle bells, children singing, some tacky rhymes, a bridge in waltz time, the delirious barks of Argos, and the authoritative coo of BBR's Sarah Nixey."

There's also a video stuffed with enough snowflakes, Christmas trees, nativity scenes, carolers, cute little children, and other familiar symbols of holiday cheer to fill a flying sleigh. Even so, the song is hardly as crass a bid at yuletide chart-topper status as canceled T. Rex single "Christmas Bop", although "Christmas Number One" does have plenty of that group's glammed-up boogie. Who knows-- if and when the Black Arts play their would-be smash on the Christmas edition of the otherwise-canceled "TOTP", maybe Elton John will sit in to mime the piano, as he did when when "Bang a Gong (Get It On)" earned its way onto the seasonal special. Um, we'd settle for the Hold Steady's Craig Finn.

[from the "Christmas Number One" single; due12/03/07 as a download and 12/10/07 as a limited-edition green 7" on Fantastic Plastic]