Ice Ice Playlist...

Okay, so now we’re clearly  in a new ice age given the endless sub zero temperatures gripping most of the UK I might as well use it as a flimsy excuse to upload a bunch of random old tunes linked tenuously by the word ‘ice’. Yes, that old chestnut again. Some you’ll know, one or two you might not...depends how ancient/anal you are...

It would frankly be rude to start off with anything other than Professor Green’s spiritual granddad, Vanilla Ice. Ol’ Vanilla arguably ushered in the era of the white rapper (forgive him Lord, he knew not what he was doing) and, whilst his fame may have lasted slightly less than a strawberry mivvi in Dubai’s midday sun, we’ve still got this cheeseball hip hop classic to remember him by...bless...

From the ridiculous to the sublime, still sticking with the hip hop vibe here’s Ice Cube’s Today Was A Good Day. Bizarrely this track was introduced to me by Alexei Sayle who was standing in for some DJ on Radio 1 about 60 years ago...no idea why...maybe it was Savile off on one of his ‘charity’ events?

Okay, back in the time machine for some top notch 80s indie, first up The Icicle Works’ Love Is A Wonderful Colour...

...and you can’t have The Icicle Works without Icehouse’s Hey Little Girl can you eh? Not sure you’d get away with certain parts of this video these days but we’ll gloss over that and just enjoy the band’s...er...‘homage’ to Messrs Ferry and Sylvian.

Right, fast forward to this millennium for some Fiery Furnaces and their Tropical Iceland. The Friedberger siblings have been unusually quiet recently (after releasing an impressive 8 albums and an EP in 6 years, plus 12 solo efforts from Matthew Friedberger...including 9 in just 12 months...and 1 solo effort from sister Eleanor) but it seems like they’re touring North America in May so who knows, they might be back in business. Expect 17 double albums, a musical, a 23 hour tour documentary and a neat range of tea towels before the year’s out.

Okay, let’s go all out now, Foreigner’s Cold As Ice may have one of the cheapest videos in history, seemingly filmed in a railway siding whilst the guard was having a crafty fag somewhere, but it’s a stone cold classic...

Finally, just to prove I listen to stuff recorded less that 400 years ago, here’s Korean pop poppet Hyun-a with Ice Cream...which bears more than a passing resemblance to Kelis’s Milkshake. Don’t listen to it more than once, it’ll rot your brain.   

Stay warm my friends...