1. Bannerman - Lost Christmas
2. Hold Dear – Anthem For An Orphan
3. The Crawley Christmas Singers – I Don’t Wanna Think About It
4. The Gladeyes – Carols and Parties
5. Dear Time's Waste – The Drink
6. Glass Owls - December
7. Bear Cat – This Christmas, All I Really Want Is To Love Somebody
8. Alaska – Oh Holy Night
9. Cool Rainbows – Grown Ups Christmas
10. Chelsea Jade & James Duncan – French Kissmas
11. Canadia – Apparently It's Christmas
12. The Bayonets – Winter Bells
13. Timothy Blackman – Christmas Bells
14. Luckless – Christmas Morning
15. Tono and the Finance Company - Orphans DOWNLOAD AT LITTLE MONSTER
16. Great North – A Guiding Star
17. Jocee Tuck – Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree
18. Artisan Guns - This Year
While I've found myself occupied with "projects" and hurrying about, trying to finish up Christmas shopping and wrapping and shipping, there have been an awful lot of freebies that I've passed on posting because they've been posted elsewhere first. Not that that bothers me at all. I just feel like you're getting so little of my time and attention, these days, I at least owe it to you to find you something fresh. It's not as if the stuff that's already been posted elsewhere requires any less exposition. Always figured I could get to the other stuff tomorrow. And I just haven't. So we need to clear some of that stuff out of the queue. Let's start with this collection I first saw listed at Santas Working Overtime (you really can't get through the holidays without them). "A Very Little Christmas" is an album from Little Monster Studio, a New Zealand based studio that, in his own words, "mostly exists to cater to Producer/Engineer Dave Parker's various recording projects." Given that, this is quite an ambitious collection from Auckland. Sadly for them, I get a little more jaded at this time of year, having listened to so much Christmas music. I don't think I even heard the first 6 songs when I put this on. The first song that caught my attention was Bear Cat's "This Christmas, All I Really Want Is To Love Somebody", which had a nice little vibe going on--sort of a cross between Western and Tropical or something--and the lyrics and chorus were neigh on irresistible. Is there such a thing as Lo-Fi Wall of Sound? OK. Now you have my attention. Show me something. Alaska has the task of performing the album's one traditional carol, my personal favorite carol at that, "Oh Holy Night", and proves themselves up to the task. Cool Rainbows gives us a delightful, sparkling "Grown Ups Christmas" which I guess I'd call Indie Pop (these labels, does anybody really know what they all mean?). The song is as light as a morning flurry and I do worry that it's fate will be the same--not sure It'll stick with me. There's a lot going on in Chelsea Jade and James Duncan's duet--a little psychedelia, a little shoegaze, a lot of heat. Great song. That one'll stick. Best lyrics (and title), so far, from Canadia--"Apparently It's Christmas"--an energetic pop folk delight. Alt-Country from Great North. Artisan Guns close it out with a wonderful number of building intensity--it sounds like a finale. You get the idea. Some of this may be superfluous in your collection, but a lot of it is quite good. This is quite a bit more relevant that your average indie collection, and, overall, much better recorded. It's certainly one with enough diversity and promise that investigation is warranted. You can download this in either 160k or 320k and a small handful of hardcopy CDs are available through New Zealand merchants, Amplifier and Marbecks.
2. Hold Dear – Anthem For An Orphan
3. The Crawley Christmas Singers – I Don’t Wanna Think About It
4. The Gladeyes – Carols and Parties
5. Dear Time's Waste – The Drink
6. Glass Owls - December
7. Bear Cat – This Christmas, All I Really Want Is To Love Somebody
8. Alaska – Oh Holy Night
9. Cool Rainbows – Grown Ups Christmas
10. Chelsea Jade & James Duncan – French Kissmas
11. Canadia – Apparently It's Christmas
12. The Bayonets – Winter Bells
13. Timothy Blackman – Christmas Bells
14. Luckless – Christmas Morning
15. Tono and the Finance Company - Orphans DOWNLOAD AT LITTLE MONSTER
16. Great North – A Guiding Star
17. Jocee Tuck – Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree
18. Artisan Guns - This Year
While I've found myself occupied with "projects" and hurrying about, trying to finish up Christmas shopping and wrapping and shipping, there have been an awful lot of freebies that I've passed on posting because they've been posted elsewhere first. Not that that bothers me at all. I just feel like you're getting so little of my time and attention, these days, I at least owe it to you to find you something fresh. It's not as if the stuff that's already been posted elsewhere requires any less exposition. Always figured I could get to the other stuff tomorrow. And I just haven't. So we need to clear some of that stuff out of the queue. Let's start with this collection I first saw listed at Santas Working Overtime (you really can't get through the holidays without them). "A Very Little Christmas" is an album from Little Monster Studio, a New Zealand based studio that, in his own words, "mostly exists to cater to Producer/Engineer Dave Parker's various recording projects." Given that, this is quite an ambitious collection from Auckland. Sadly for them, I get a little more jaded at this time of year, having listened to so much Christmas music. I don't think I even heard the first 6 songs when I put this on. The first song that caught my attention was Bear Cat's "This Christmas, All I Really Want Is To Love Somebody", which had a nice little vibe going on--sort of a cross between Western and Tropical or something--and the lyrics and chorus were neigh on irresistible. Is there such a thing as Lo-Fi Wall of Sound? OK. Now you have my attention. Show me something. Alaska has the task of performing the album's one traditional carol, my personal favorite carol at that, "Oh Holy Night", and proves themselves up to the task. Cool Rainbows gives us a delightful, sparkling "Grown Ups Christmas" which I guess I'd call Indie Pop (these labels, does anybody really know what they all mean?). The song is as light as a morning flurry and I do worry that it's fate will be the same--not sure It'll stick with me. There's a lot going on in Chelsea Jade and James Duncan's duet--a little psychedelia, a little shoegaze, a lot of heat. Great song. That one'll stick. Best lyrics (and title), so far, from Canadia--"Apparently It's Christmas"--an energetic pop folk delight. Alt-Country from Great North. Artisan Guns close it out with a wonderful number of building intensity--it sounds like a finale. You get the idea. Some of this may be superfluous in your collection, but a lot of it is quite good. This is quite a bit more relevant that your average indie collection, and, overall, much better recorded. It's certainly one with enough diversity and promise that investigation is warranted. You can download this in either 160k or 320k and a small handful of hardcopy CDs are available through New Zealand merchants, Amplifier and Marbecks.
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