Merry Ellen Kirk put out this digital Christmas EP last year. It's a name your price deal with no minimum, so free is among your options. This year, the Indie singer was asked if she would record a new holiday track for her appearance on The Next Big Thing podcast. Always trying to give the people what they want, Merry has obliged, recording the Christmas song most often requested of her, "Christmas Time Is Here". The podcast will be broadcast on December 20th and should be wall-to-wall Christmas music (how many recorded especially for the podcast, we don't yet know). But there's no need to wait for Merry's contribution. She's added the song to "Do You Hear What I Hear" and you can download the whole thing free at Bandcamp. Or, if you picked it up last year, you can just download the newly recorded track.
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1. The Eyes, The Beard, The Nose, The Stomach, The Lungs 2. Is Christmas Time Just A Dream 3. To Get Away From Everything 4. Christmas Is A-Lookin' Good 5. Taste Like Candy 6. Christmas Song We told you about Indie Folker and his free album project way back when. Well, he's completed his set, titled it "Monsters In The Christmas Album" and you can download it free from now to January 15. What happens then, I don't know. I haven't had a chance to listen to this straight through, but I sampled a bit. I really dig whatever it is he has going on. Call it Folk, or Alt Folk, or Indie Folk, or Anti-Folk. All I know is he sounds to me a little like Bob Dylan and his approach to music is very much like I suspect Dylan's would have been had he been born in the 80s. Nobody writes like Dylan. Nobody. But I dig this kid's sound. I'd sign him to my label. If I had one. 1. Angels 2. Happy Christmas 3. Jingle Bells 4. In The Bleak Midwinter 5. I Don't Know 6. Santa Claus, Where Is He? 7. Six Words 8. Blue Christmas DOWNLOAD AT THE DOGS ON TOUR SITE Dogs On Tour is actually a collection of Indie artists and artists from other Indie bands--Hudson Branch, Jadiid, Enoke, Andy Mills, Nate Henricks, All that Noise for Feeling and more--so the combination can, at times, be fascinating. Electronica, Rock, Indie Folk, Indie Pop and more--all these influences can be heard throughout combining in new and unexpected ways. It's all a bit raw, but not at all in a bad way. And, really, isn't being a bit raw a whole lot of what the Indie scene is about? There's a real feeling of just a bunch of friends who happen to be musicians hanging out and jamming. It's pretty cool, really. The titles may seem to indicate a lot of originals, but those are just a kind of shorthand ("Santa Claus Where Is He?" is "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town"). But "Six Words" is new to me and "I Don't Know", my favorite track, sounds like almost completely improv. If you have to spend Christmas away from your family this year, this is practically a family by proxy. Just keep in mind that, by downloading "Music For Winter, Volume 2", "you are agreeing to the terms of sharing it with everyone you possibly can, passing this link on to others all over the world, and having a Merry Christmas."
1. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - The Oceanauts 2. The Friendly Beasts - European Accident 3. O Little Town Of Bethlehem - The Silver Fence 4. Walking In A Winter Wonderland - Danny Leggett 5. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas-An Introduction To Sunshine 6. Angels We Have Heard On High - Socrates Perez 7. She Won't Be Home - Jeff Vylonis & Tia Lisanne Masek 8. Silver Bells - Moon In The Morning 9. White Christmas - The Oceanauts 10. Baby, It's Cold Outside - Tinsley 11. Silent Night - Mindy & Eric Steinberg 12. The First Noel - Saskatchewan 13. It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas - Kyle Cox 14. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Cole NeSmith 15. What Child Is This? - Greg Perkins A nice Indie set, solid clean through if not too much in the above and beyond range. The best songs on "Hey, It's Christmas", to my mind, are by The Oceanauts who absolutely nail "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" and combine Fifties styled piano and 90s styled guitar riffs on "White Christmas", giving the old chestnut a modern indie age make-over. Tinsley does a nice job on an electronic "Baby, It's Cold Outside"--tough to bring anything new to that one. And it's always nice to see a couple of different covers, with European Accident giving "The Friendly Beasts" a go and Erasure's "She Won't Be Home" done up nicely by Jeff Vylonis & Tia Lisanne Masek. Greg Perkins closes the whole thing out with another of the better songs herein, envisioning "What Child Is This?" in a the-good-bad-and-the-ugly-meets-the-outer-limits motif. Pick this one up free at the Hey It's Christmas site.
1. O Come All Ye Faithful 2. What Child Is This? 3. O Come O Come Emmanuel 4. Silent Night 5. O Holy Night 6. Go Tell It On The Mountain 7. We Three Kings 8. Little Drummer Boy 9. The Christmas Song Daniel DeWitt writes that Winston Audio has pretty much ceased to exist. Having decided to spend more time with his family and to get a "real" job to support them, the other members of the band have moved on to other projects. But music is still in Daniel's blood. So he's decided to record music that is true to his faith and that his family and friends will like. In that spirit, he offers this Christmas album as his first project on the new path he's determined. "DeWinter Wonderland" is a nice piece of work, too. Working with the classic songs and their existing melodies, DeWitt layers an undercurrent of Indie Rock with some truly spectacular results. I was very much enjoying the album anyway, after "O Come All Ye Faithful", but the work on "O Come O Come Emmanuel" blew me away. He shines on a straight forward "O Holy Night". "Go Tell It On The Mountain" gets a bit of a Country shine, but features touches of New Orleans styled Gospel as well. Daniel's version of "We Three Kings" didn't do much for me, but "Little Drummer Boy" was hypnotically enchanting Indie Rock. And "The Christmas Song", with its layered harmony vocals, sounds to me like Paul McCartney meets The Free Design. You know these songs well, but Daniel puts himself into them revealing new textures and possibilities. If this is the path Daniel has set for himself, I applaud him and hope it brings him and his family many blessings. Daniel plans an album in the coming year and has started a Kickstarter campaign to raise the funding for it. "DeWinter Wonderland" can be downloaded free here. I love this woman. And every year Sofia Talvik releases a free Christmas song, so what's not to love? This year's effort is a fairly uptempo danceable indie track, even if the lyrics are the "I've been alone since we split up" type. It might be her catchiest yet. Hmm. I can't decide. Perhaps we need to compare "Santa" with her previous holiday efforts. Use the widget or head to Sofia's web site for "Santa", then head to Sofia's download page and pick up her Christmas singles from 2007, 2008, and 2009 (plus a couple of other tunes). By the way, this year's Christmas song is to benefit The Body Shop and ECPAT's world wide campaign to "Stop Sex Trafficking". And Sofia really likes it when you share on Facebook. 1. Christmas Snow 2. Smile Smile Smile 3. The Christmas Waltz 4. Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence 5. Joy To The World 6. Brother Snow 7. In The Bleak Midwinter 8. Peace Be With You 9. Hark Hark 10. 12/24 New York 11. Mid-December 12. The Christmas Tree 13. How My Brother Ruined Christmas DOWNLOAD THE ALBUM HERE
You may remember, not all that long ago, we told you about Sam Billen & Josh Atkinson's plan to bring a smile to the world with their free random handouts of Christmas CDs. Well, they raised the money for the album (a thank you from me to all my visitors who contributed) and it's now being pressed. But this is all about the giving and the mp3 version is now available for free download to anyone who would like it. I have to admit, I've been a bit busy the last few days and haven't had a chance to listen to much of "A Word Of Encouragement", but I liked what I heard skimming through it. It's got that magical early morning snowfall feel to it. I loved what they did with "The Christmas Waltz" and "12/24 New York" is going to get a lot of play at my house. Check it out. Back in time to 2006 for this pair of holiday tunes from Canadian Shawn Butler. Shawn calls what he does Emo Folk Rock and you may get that from "Christmas Everyday". But "Christmas Is Finally Here" is less Emo, to my mind, and more Indie Folk/Pop. OK, maybe it's a bit Emo. These tracks were PureVolume exclusives in 2006 and it would appear that they still are. And free, too. And free is always good. |
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
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