What do you give the band that’s done everything, at least when it comes to annual holiday singles? Cowboy hats, of course! Every year around this time, Las Vegas pomp-rockers the Killers release a new single benefiting AIDS-fighting charity RED. And every year, they come up with something suitably grandiose: 2008’s collaboration with Elton John and Pet Shop Boys’ Neil Tennant, 2009’s Spanish-flavored team-up with Wild Light and Mariachi El Bronx, or last year’s It’s a Wonderful Life-themed video directed by Napoleon Dynamite’s Jared Hess, to name a few examples.
This year, the Killers have gone country-western — relatively speaking, anyway. They’ve reunited for a new holiday single that fan communities are alternately calling “Cowboy Christmas” or “The Cowboy’s Christmas Ball,” with a digital release apparently due on Thursday, according to the blog Arjan Writes. Hear an unofficial stream here, via the Audio Perv.
The Killers’ latest effort is a whimsically upbeat, shuffling tune, with plenty of local color (the Truckee River, Carson City, bighorns “a-grazin’ ”), and enough of a country tinge to have more than a few fans of even the Killers’ synthier material itching to don their cowboy boots. Lots of chiming, holiday-friendly instrumentation, too. A drinking song? “Woo!” cries frontman Brandon Flowers, like an old ranch hand, or just a Wild West pop star having a ton of fun. Think of it as “Fairytale of Old Nevada,” perhaps. Fa la-la-la-la, and a do-si-do.
The Killers - The Cowboys' Christmas Ball →
Talking Heads - Seen and Not Seen
The Blow - True Affection
you were outta my league / I was outta your league
Landon Pigg - Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2011-11-27) →
Florence + the Machine - Kiss with a Fist
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros - Home
Phoenix - If I Ever Feel Better
Coconut Records - West Coast
Led Zeppelin - The Lemon Song
The Fratellis - Chelsea Dagger
Frou Frou - Let Go
“The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out
you left me in the dark
no dawn, no day, I’m always in this twilight
in the shadow of your heart”
Starfucker - Rawnald Gregory Erickson the Second
White Town - Your Woman
