Breaking the Ice.1

The word for ice skates seems to have derived from leg or shank, since that’s where the bone came from which was strapped to the bottom of a foot covering thousands of year before now. Scandanavians have nothing else to do in a frozen world but invent getting-around-a-frozen-world stuff.

Still a big fan of John McCutcheon’s electric guitar new-age-ish country rocker “Fly.” A good skate feels that way.

More elegantly, certainly more New Age, “Ice Skating at Night” by The Ocean Blue floats over us on a rink of repetition. A figure eight is after all infinity’s side.

Rekindle revisits the ’90s for a synth-y pop ear worm: “Ice Skating Girl.” Whoa!

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American rocking it hard, Noxtrain remembers the old days (with you), which somehow involved ice and tobogganing. “Twenty-Six Seventy” is a journey of maudlin proportions. Good stuff.

Carl Dixon a cappellas to ‘Chopsticks’ about how “Snowflakes are Dancing.” Then it gets jazzy! There are horses, buttoning up coats, snuggling… and then: Some like toboggan or seed cataloguing–not a rhyme i expected!

Hawksley Workman hits the novelty marching rhythm acutely for the alt-pop “First Snow of the Year.” First panic, then consideration, then all-day tobogganing! Magical (and not just ‘cuzza the whistling solo).

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Megan and Shane update an old Bing toon-a-noodle-hoo into bluegrass rockabilly fun: “White World of Winter.” Falling in love hard, you might split your noggin on a toboggan.

Canadian bro and sis team Love Note to Dexter impress with their certain uncertainty in “We are the Wreath.” This ode to Xmas includes toboggans, and a rainbow of colorful doodads, and a Nativity. Weird and wild folk.

Love Note to Dexter again with “Anthem for the Big Christmas Brawl.” More wild poeticizing: And toboggans they rise From the grave of that guy Who invented sleds in the first place puts this folk drug trip into first place.

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Baby Jey alt-pops their “Toboggan” to a swing and sway party for one. Or two. Whoever can fit on the slippery thing.

“Toboggan Trip” is conversational word jive from Bobo and The Unusuals. Don’t flip, baby. It’s hip. Wa-a-ay hip.

I’d be suspicious of “We are Toboggan” by Toboggan, too. But i’d like you to try out this garage rock and hold on tight. That’s something.

“Big Ol’ Toboggan” by Terry Tufts (w/Tobias Meis) is the epic buildup for the kid shenanigan. Folk anthem. Stand up! I mean, watch out! Those kids’er crazy!!

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Now a luge is a sporty device for racing. The Swiss came up with this craziness around 1900. So they got to name it. Unfortunate.

Egghead’s “Breakaway Luge” is a punk party of speed and danger. Zoom. To you.

Jimmy Fallon’s derivative homage “Doubles Luge” is over before you know it.

That’s all i got on luging. Let’s switch across to toboggans again. The Strawbs get psychedelic (a smidge) with “The River,” a shamanistic turn on suffering Winter’s harsh cold. Those kids grab their toboggans, but the river wouldn’t move. You see that.

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Toboggan is just another word for sled, though it may have referred to First Nationers’ hauling sledges, like Santa’s.

Tim Rosenau returns grabbing his toboggan in the rocking “It Snowed.” Shreddin’.

“A Group of Eyebrows Take the World Lead in Toboggan Sleds” is experimental garage nonsense from ColdmaN5. Listening to it doesn’t help understand it. Take the ride to the random sound effects.

JJ Rivers playfully sings about his love’s broken neck in the novelty EDM “Tobogganing.” But it’s a mispronunciation problem.

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“The Bobsled Song” is an annoying cheer of pride and frictionless motion from Mrs. Sizemore. School assembly genre.

Mrs. Sizemore brings in the kid choir to up the ante with “Toboggan Tango.” Better kid stuff. Worse cultural appropriation.

2 the Sun measures the childhood “Seasons, 2002” in grief and joy. R+B mixes with some rapping to bury the dog, cherry blossoms… and sledding! Wistful.

Finale strong, Mrs. Sizemore hits the rock’n’roll button on the keyboard machine with “Catch My Drift,” a snowboardin’ tune of pop song design.

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“Midnight Sled Ride” seems like a bad idea, and Yosh & Yimmy have less planning than impetus–but this alt rock runner builds to an exciting musical moment or two.

Terribly upbeat but not super annoying, Seth Bunting pops country to celebrate “Holiday Spirit.” Pretty, tinkly, sleddy.

“Get Here” by Johan Norberg and Nils Landgren is just romantic jazz about how to rendezvous, including sledding into my arms. Lounge-tastic.

The Dead Milkmen spin a yarn of adventure in “Somewhere Over Antarctica.” Some may live, some may sled. They’ll all be cold, however, in this garage epic.

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Techical Ecstacy shrieks garage about their “Sled” until the bombs start falling. Really.

Sophie Villanelle balances the musical scales with banjo New Age in “The Sled Dog Lament.” It’s a dog’s life.

He sled, she sled from Josh Walther (feat. Robyn Lista) in the easy listening country “Making Christmas Ours.” Basic but danceable.

Percussive alt-pop from X-mas Donkey & The Glittering Balls makes “I Wanna Ride My Sled” a jingling masterpiece.  Sax solo!