 Sort of an interesting sound on this Christmas single from Liverpool artists The Cubical. "Golden Rule" incorporates a bit of blues, a bit of folk, some of the band's psychedelic garage sound. In the end, it sounds a bit like the UK version of Americana. My head is tired and I keep hearing "Come On Eileen", so I'll need to come back to this one better rested. You can judge for yourself, though, as the streaming and downloading is free at Bandcamp.
0 Comments
 1. Santa Man by Ice Bob, Samster and Rosie
2. Red Snow by Music Gov 3. Santa’s Got the Blues by the Doomtown Jug Sluggers 4. Candy Cane by Caspar Babypants 5. A Christmas Morning by Doctor Steve 6. Linus and Lucy by The Easy Rollers 7. Christmas Card by Olds Sleeper 8. A Christmas CBG by Soulcatcher and his DooFa Diddley 9. Run Run Rudolph by the Shane Speals 10. Rydin’ Thru The Snow by StumbleCol 11. A Santa Request by NoiseMaker 12. Carol of the Bells by Dan Greene 13. Foxy Carol by Skeesix 14. Not so Merry by Anthony Forder 15. Opting Out by LaurieLeeC 16. The Reason for the Season by Kalmario 17. Winter Wonderland by Marshall Stapleton 18. Blue Christmas by Ben Kepler 19. CBG by Juan Sebastian Verta CIGAR BOX NATION WEBSITE 20. Holly and the Ivy by Knotlenny DOWNLOAD CIGAR BOX CHRISTMAS 21. O Holy Night by Sweetlife 22. Parade of the Wooden Soldiers by BenBob 23. VivaVodka by Burnus 24. Canjo Christmas by Bemuzic 25. Lookin’ Out at the Weather by Uncle John Bolton 26. Santa Claus Blues by The One Man Blues Collective 27. We Three Kings by Henry H Lowman III 28. Carol of the Bells by Les Titford 29. Cigar Box Guitar Star by John Wendell 30. Merry Christmas by Teddy Berwald 31. Old Man on the Roof by Music Gov 32. Santa Has the Blues by Hobostubs 33. White Christmas by Uncle Crow 34. O Tannenbaum by Henry H. Lowman III 35. Stranger in the Manger by Albert Guilliot 36. Snow Falling!!! by Patrick Breton 37. Silent Night by Yellowbelly Flatt 38. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen by Doctor Steve and Family 39. Every Song at Christmas by beStillroy 40. Santa The Ripper by John “Reddog” McNair Whooeeee! That's a lotta music. Cigar Box Nation is the home of this little holiday treat. Cigar Box Nation is a community of Cigar Box Guitar (and banjo) enthusiasts who meet and greet to share notes and to share (musical) notes. And the community of folks who love building their own guitars (and banjos--technically, I think, called canjos) out of old cigar boxes almost as much (or maybe more) as they love making music on them is a lot bigger than you might think. And you might think such devices would, of course, be acoustic and that the musicians would all be playing some very rudimentary, rural, lo-fi music. HA! HA, I say! The cigar box guitar is only limited by the abilities of its builder and the musician who plays it (usually one and the same). The music on this collection of tracks submitted by the members of the Cigar Box Nation covers almost every genre imaginable--blues, folk, grunge, hard rock, new age, punk, bluegrass, metal, pop, indie pop, old-timey, I think I even heard some shoegaze in there, and there's a lot less lo-fi than you'd think. And the lo-fi that is here is extremely effective. There's far too much here for me to cover comprehensively. But the first two songs, alone, will disabuse you of any misconceptions you may hold about the cigar box guitar. I predict that "Santa Man" by Ice Bob, Samster & Rosie is destined to be among the most frequently used cuts on next year's selection of Xmas mixtapes across the country. "Red Snow" is just incredible. And, really, throughout, the musicianship and creativity of these folks is nothing short of spectacular. I really look forward to spending some time with this one--likely after the holidays--but my favorite so far has to be the Country Blues version of "Linus And Lucy" by The Easy Rollers. I love that. I really do. "Candy Cane" (by Casper Babypants) was a pretty good pop number, too. And I'd also recommend "Opting Out" by LaurieLeeC. There's a little more lo-fi on the back half but, again, everything is great, here. With 40 tracks, you're bound to find something you like on "A Cigar Box Christmas 2010". This, by the way, is the second year of "A Cigar Box Christmas". Last year's collection can still be downloaded free as well, though that one features a "measley" 23 tracks. Get both Cigar Box Nation Christmas collections here. Then, if you're as fascinated as I am, start reading about the music and the people and the cigar boxes they love to build and play. You might even want to join them.  1. Duke Robillard - Duke's Christmas 2. Sara Petite - Souvenirs 3. Scott Miller - Yes, Virginia 4. Jeff Talmadge - In The Quiet Of Christmas 5. Nu Blu - Christmas In Dixie 6. The Wild Rumpus - Silent Night In The Bar 7. Ian Tyson - Silver Bell 8. Jack Tempchin - Christmas Calling 9. Ox - Xmas In The Jailhouse 10. Boca Chica - Not On Christmas Eve 11. Shane Cooley - Window Shopping For A Long Lost Love 12. The Bengsons - Bells 13. Adam Mackintosh and The Last Dancers - It's Christmas 14. Brittany Allyn - Santa Claus Boogie 15. Gretchen Peters - Northern Lights 16. Jaimi Shuey - Christmastime Blues 17. The Porch Song Anthology - Christmas Is Cold DOWNLOAD IT HERE 18. Lisa Redford - New Years Day (scroll to the bottom of the Alternate Root page) 19. KAL - Jukebox Christmas 20. Dick Philpot - Jesus Lights 21. Brian Ashley Jones - Let's Get Blazed For The Holidays 22. George's Breakfast - Paper Airplane 23. Rich McCulley - Looks Like Christmas 24. Sarah Stanley - Happy New Year 25. Les Kerr (with The Jordinaires) - Christmas On The Coast 26. Robert Marr - Under The Mistletoe 27. Pat Bacon - Ho Ho Ho (No Dough) 28. Laetoli Steps - Christmas Tree 29. Little Green - Bells Are Ringing Their Last Call 30. Garrett Wall - How Christmas Was Meant To Be 31. Harlem Parlour Music Club - We Three Kings 32. The Irreconcilables - See Ya Santa 33. Patterson Barrett - Santa Claus On The Loose 34. Mike McGuire - The Streets Are Quiet On Christmas 35. Blues Guy Schwartz - Christmas On The Hiway 36. The Dave Edwards Band - It's Christmastime Well, for whatever reason, Alternate Root ended the voting early and basically packaged up all 36 tunes for your holiday listening pleasure. And, believe me, pleasure is the appropriate word. This might be the best stuff you hear all holiday season. And its free from Alternate Root. Just go to this page, scroll down to the bottom, and click on the download link. Or listen to the tracks in the player provided, if you prefer. You'll see a few of the freebies we've already featured and a ton more that we haven't. Alternate Root is all about the best in Roots music, Alt Folk, Alt Country, Alt Rock, Folk, Blues, Americana. It's all in there. Go to it!
 1. Happy Christmahanukkwanzaa
2. Santa Claus in Blue 3. Rock & Rollin' Hanukkah Buy none, get three FREE! Mary Carves The Chicken is a blues rockin' band from Southern California. They got together in the early 90s, rising out of the ashes of two other bands, the Tone Poets and Urban Circus. Their latest indie release, "Love and Respect", can be found on iTunes, eMusic and Napster and they're hard at work on another album as we speak. Like a lot of bands in this vein, MCTC is noted for their live performances. The trick, of course, is capturing that energy and sound within the grooves. In 2009, Mary Carves The Chicken produced a three song holiday EP and not only did they manage to capture their live fierceness and humor, they also pretty much covered all of the holidays of the season in economic fashion. This is a pretty solid set of holiday originals. Nobody's reinventing the wheel, here, but if you're down for some good old Rock & Roll and a touch of the Blues, this EP is well worth an add to your iPod shuffle. Head over to the Mary Carves The Chicken web site and pick it up for FREE. |
The FREE ListHere we hope to direct you to some of the Christmas music on the web that can be yours absolutely free. We will not direct you to mp3 or sharity sites, here, but only to artist sites, label sites, and other authorized and unquestionably legal locations. ArchivesDecember 22-31, 2010 Categories
All
 |
RSS Feed
