World Cup song compilation

Dublin-based record label Indiecator have put together an enormous compilation for the 2010 South Africa World Cup - 32 songs by 32 bands for 32 teams. You can download the whole lot for only 5 Euro (or for 10 Euro you can have all the songs mailed to you on a USB drive). You can also listen to them all online on Indiecator’s website.

Overall it was quite an interesting collection - a very diverse collection of indie stuff and neither the pub chant sing-alongs or songs from each country’s musical styles like I was expecting. Instead it’s a collection of (mostly) indie songs with a sometimes tenuous connections to any of the 32 World Cup teams.

But that’s not to say there isn’t some very good music on here. My wife and I sat down and ran through them and have picked out our top ten in no particular order. The order of the list below, by the way, is country - band - song.

South Africa - Cop on the Edge - Bafana Bafana

Good stuff, with a chorus of “We’re going to win the cup for Charlize Theron”. Hard to go wrong with that sentiment!

England - Detox Cute - St George’s Day

Remarkable, soft and sentimental song with classic sound clips from England’s 1966 World Cup win. The video is worth a watch as well, great footage of 1966 with images of England legends since that day, from Keegan to Rooney. As my wife said “this makes me nostalgic for a country I’ve never lived in”.

Uruguay - Showsta - Uruguay!

Nice and catchy chorus of “Uruguay!” though some of the lyrics talk about an unbeatable team and so on. Clearly they haven’t seen Uruguay play in years!

Greece - At Last an Atlas - The Pirate Ship

A bit electronic like the Postal Service, with some slightly corny lyrics about Greece’s Euro 2004 title.

USA - Echo Orbiter - Game without a name

Pretty fun and fast song with off-kilter vocals. Delves into a strange electro version of the Star Spangled Banner towards the end.

Slovenia - Lightholler - Slovenia’s Dream

All-instrumental and very soothing. This would make nice soundtrack music to a collection of great goals. For example the goals the US will score against Slovenia in June. Hey hey!

Australia - Sleep Good - Australia

This one chugs along at a pleasant tempo in a sort of High Lllamas style. I’d like to hear more from this band.

Japan - Goatboy - Japanese City Nights

Sounds a bit early 80s New Wave, could have been an unreleased song from an early New Order album.

Cameroon - Spirit Spine - Field Way

Simple but catchy New Wave style songs with some sound samples thrown in. Think early OMD.

Brazil - Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Back to You

A jangly, strummy number and the only band on here I’d previously heard of.

All in all a nice way to warm up for the World Cup. A nice contribution to the World Cup musical genre from Indiecator Records.