Usually, when bands say they’re having a “Christmas Party”, my blood starts to boil, evaporate, condense and then boil again. This is nothing to do with the fact that Christmas is my least favourite major religious festival and more to do with the definition of “party”. Ninety-nine times out of one hundred it’s a thinly-veiled excuse to fleece you, the paying punter, and to trot out a set lashed together with half-rehearsed old guff and make you pretend they give an arse about you. Usually.

It’s been a long time cooking, but as with all eagleowl fare, their latest dish is best eaten slowly, savoured at leisure, and served when it’s icicle cold outside. If only all records at Christmas sounded like this.

Bit of a dull week for music video, that. Sure, there was new bits and pieces, but it’s all a bit major label if you know what I mean. Leave it to art-jokers Flaming Lips and Japanther to come up with something well worth the eyeballs though. And, honestly, I’m not being ironic, Rick Parfitt & Rolf Harris‘ video for Christmas In The Sun is awe-inspiringly funny.

SXSW have again updated their big list o’ bands, with another 40-odd British bands added to that list. No really big names added from the Brits point of view, although I’m chuffed to see some more Scottish bands on there in the well-formed shapes of St Deluxe and Fangs, but delighted to see Allo Darlin (pictured), Beans On Toast and Blue Roses on that list as well, but I’ve updated the British list here so you can check it our yourselves. Pretty impressive though – over three months to go and around a third of the bands are already confirmed… excited, oh yes.

Imagine you hadn’t seen an old friend for years and suddenly, after only hearing quick bursts of what they were up to through other friends, they resurface. Naturally, you invite them out, and when you meet, you grin – because you’re quite excited and pleased to see them – and your friend smashes you over the head with a bar stool, sets fire to the curtains and leaps headfirst out of the window into traffic. Welcome to the ridiculously late Comanechi debut LP – it’s been too long in coming, it’s a ridiculously challenging listen, but it’s chuffing amazing. Welcome back.

Maybe out of a sense of blessed release after this week’s Album Of The Week, but I’ve found myself loving this. Not sure if that’s a sensible thing listening to Comanechi followed by Blue Roses repeatedly, though. It’s like sitting in a room and turning the lights on and off and on and off and on and off. Can’t be good for you, right? This is though, it’ll make you all warm and nostalgic and pleased with yourself.

I really, really hate Christmas. I can’t tell you how much. Just writing that I hate Christmas makes me hate it even more. Not because of the nature of Christmas itself, you understand, but because it has the effect of turning everyone in the world into a drooling, fat fucking idiot for about six straight weeks, and I end up running around trying to avoid the trouble they all cause me. In a roundabout way, this then is why the release list this week is just a list, and everything else is late. “Bah, humbug” just doesn’t seem enough, somehow.

Either I’m not looking hard enough or there’s really not been a huge amount of new videos out this last week. I know that Blur trailer’s causing some excitement… and Hot Chip have put up a “video” for the new single, although the video’s just a screen full of static and it’s called a ‘listening post’ and not a video, which is just fucking wasting bandwidth if you ask me. Still, there’s new stuff from Twilight Sad, and Delphic as well as a cracking new Phoenix video by the La Blogotheque geniuses, which goes some way to making up for it. Oh, and some scaffy chancers called Off The Beaten Tracks have put up the video for the recent Scott from Frightened Rabbit / Meursault collaboration, too.

8-bit teenage chiptune phenomenon Unicorn Kid has stuck SXSW dates down on his myspace. Even though the over-talented little hoodie makes me feel about a hundred and fifty years old, this is good news all round.