A couple of free tracks from Paper Recordings. These two both feature mellow, soulful beats and ethereal vocals. And I like both recordings a lot, but neither strikes me as particularly Christmasy. Though, to be fair, that could be because the big day has passed (kind of like trying to remember the big bird over your bowl of turkey soup). I guess Lounge or Chill Out is what they're going for here. In any case, you can download these tracks free or just listen. You don't even have to go to Paper Recordings, if you don't want to, cuz we got widgets!
 I've never been a big fan of "Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairies" as a Christmas song. Just doesn't do anything for me. But what if you took the song and gave it a hip-hop rhythm track? You'd likely get something fairly like "Shoogar Plumz [OMG! A Hip-Hoppity Christmas!!]". This was released just the day before Christmas as part of the Made In Heights "Winter Pigeons" EP and you can get the whole EP free from Bandcamp in exchange for your e-mail address. As it happens, even as "Shoogar Plumz", "Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairies" doesn't do much for me as a Christmas song. But Made In Heights is much more interesting when they're laying down vocals as well as beats. Even though better than half the EP is instrumental, the entire EP is free at Bandcamp (as noted earlier) and full preview is available. Worth checking out, IMO.
 Another concluded set, this one an Advent Calendar--so 24 days of goodies to explore.
Day 1 - Sleep Party People - Silent Night Day 2 - Fru - White Christmas Day 2 - Death By Unga Bunga - Something For Christmas Day 3 - The Action Five - Runs Deep Day 3 - Cocktail Slippers - It's Christmas Day 4 - I See Horses - Last Christmas (I Shot You Down) Day 5 - Your Headlights Are On - Leave The Light On Day 5 - Bendik - Mitt Hjerte Alltid Vanker Day 6 - DU - Deilig Er Jorden Day 7 - You Wish - Run Away Day 7 - HighasaKite - Snow Don't Fall Day 8 - Cold Mailman - Ghost Of Christmas Past KALENDAR HOME Day 8 - Bladed - Ode To Roy Day 9 - Synkoke - Jolesong #1 Day 10 - The Beards - Den forste snoen pa Bakklandet Day 10 - We Were Lightening - The Deserters Day 11 - Mindflow - December Day 11 - Diskotek - Let's Fall In Love On Christmas Eve Day 12 - Philco Fiction - Charlie Likes To Dance Day 13 - Haust - No Christmas Day 14 - Iamsyencefiction & Leonberg - Ten Days Till Christmas Day 14 - Nils Bech & Bendik Giske - Folkefrelsar Day 15 - Ingvild Ostgard - Noel Day 16 - Lucy Swann - Desemberbarn Day 16 - Fontan - December Day 17 - Miksha - Scavengers Fall (a Christmas Carol) Day 18 - The Switch - The Thought That Counts Day 18 - Shooting Tsar - Calendar Day 19 - Efterklang - 19 Alike (Glitterbug Remix) Day 20 - DRM - Kan Du Se Mar Na Day 20 - Gode Ord Dor Sist - Ut av Ulvetimen Day 21 - Siri Nilsen - Walking In The Air Day 21 - Einar Stray & Kakaogjengen - Nattasang for Nissunger Day 22 - Husky Rescue - Far From The Storm Day 23 - Park & Nernes - Do You Hear What I Hear? Day 23 - Amiina - Thoka Day 24 - Arne, Jonny & Stian feat. Xmas Superstars - Julesang/Xmas Song/Chanson de Noel And here's a link to the 2009 archived Kalendar links. I don't speak Norwegian, so download first and figure it all out later. In England, Australia, Canada and some other countries, the 26th is "Boxing Day". While experts may differ on the origins of "Boxing Day", I've always understood it (from afar) as a day of boxing up extra food and unwanted presents to give to those less fortunate. My sense of the thing comes more from the song "Good King Wenceslas" than any actual experience or knowledge, but that makes sense to me. Like everything else, Boxing Day is more of a bank holiday these days than anything else (which means it'll be celebrated on the 27th this year). So I see not the slightest disrespect in using this holiday as a way of dropping a lot of free download links we've accumulated that, for one reason or another, I haven't gotten around to writing up. These are all free and legal. Some of these links will take you to mediafire and like spots, but I've tracked them back and they're all artist approved. Some are new, some are from last year. Some are good, some are bad. Many I owe to the multitude of great Christmas web sites in our blog roll. Yule have to investigate yourself. But better I should give you the chance to do so while the links are still valid than wait so long that they've gone away.  JUSTIN WILEY (The Morning Of) - ROCKING AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE AARON STRUMPEL - CHRISTMAS! EP LEHTMOJOE - CHRISTMAS SWAG HAUNTING PARTY - MERRY LITTLE XMAS MIXTAPE JESSE DEE - UNDERNEATH THE CHRISTMAS TREE (widget above) TRAVEL BY SEA - CHRISTMAS EP 2010 TAPE DECK MOUNTAIN - CHRISTMAS WAS A TOTAL BUMMER THE ATARIS/COWBOY ANGELS - JAKE, DAN & BRYAN DO CHRISTMAS ROSI GOLAN & HUMAN - LES 12 JOUR DE NOEL THE LAYAWAYS - MAYBE NEXT YEAR GOLAU GLAU - MYRRH & MYTH  6 DAY RIOT - 2000 MILES REV. TOM FROST - SANTA BRING MY BABY BACK TO ME EPIC SONGWRITERS GUILD - AN EPIC CHRISTMAS MR. AND MRS. SMITH - XMAS SPIRIT SHELLEY JAMES - I AM BABY JESUS JOEL RAKES - CHRISTMAS EP HEFTY HORSE - HEFTY CHRISTMAS EP THE BRANTLEY FAMILY BAND - 2010 XMAS ALBUM JEANS N CLASSICS - HAPPY HOLIDAYS 2010 BLACKLIST ROYALS - BABY IT'S CHRISTMAS (acoustic)  WYLDLIFE - RUMPLE MINZE VARIOUS - ISO50 HOLIDAY COVERS EP LOSER LAB (DME) - CHRISTMAS TREES EP POPICAL ISLAND - A HARD OLD STATION: CHRISTMAS WITH POPICAL ISLAND GREG REESE - THE CHRISTMAS SHAKE RAP SONG SILVER SWANS - HOLIDAYS ORANJULY - CHRISTMAS DON'T BE LATE THE RICARDO CHRISTOFF APPARATUS - THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS  PONONKA - SEASONS GREETINGS
CALM PALM VAPOR - FELIZ NAVIDAD KEVIN GARRETT - CHRISTMAS EP CHASER - A VERY RECESSIVE CHRISTMAS BROKEN FEATHER - CURE FOR CHRISTMAS ACTION ITEM - NEW YORK CITY (IN THE WINTER TIME) GET BACK LORETTA - POOR FOLKS CHRISTMAS VARIOUS - A FAMILYRE CHRISTMAS VOLUME 3 CANDY CLAWS & FIREBREATHER - WARM FOREVER (all 8 of their Christmas songs, going back to 2007, in one download file) That doesn't even empty out the queue, but it does alleviate the load a bit. For me. You all have fun with that. I've got a couple of collections I still hope to talk about in some depth and we'll continue bringing you the free and legal free stuff as we find it--even in June or July. But the 10-a-day postings are likely at an end until next season. Happy Boxing Day!  Don't know much about this band, but I dig their rockin' country sound. I don't know how long Herrick has been around, but I do know the 2009 single "Cry Memphis" generated some serious buzz. An earlier release I came across sounded a lot more rural, but their current sound has definite strains of rock and blues. That little extra edge ought to get them to the big time in short order. "One Little Boy", on the other hand, is a slow country ballad, overtly religious, but very radio friendly. Go to any of Herrick's pages to download it, before they pull it down, including Reverbnation and their home site.  1. Hollow Stars – The Other Side
2. Lotus Plaza – Monolith Rock 3. Icky Blossoms – Perfect Vision 4. Atlas Sound – Artificial Snow 5. Battlemoon II – Fuck Yeah! I Wanna Go To A Clam Bake. 6. Jack Hines – HAPPY HOLIDAYS 7. Coyote Bones – Sip It Slow 8. Old King Cole Younger – Am I fit to own your puppets for Christmas? 9. Brian Connell – Dad’s Back On Anti-Depressants 10. The Kiwis Of the South Pacific – When I Think Finished 11. Moonbaby – O Soulstice 12. Brainworlds – Dance Of The Spirits 13. Indreama – Reprogram 14. Rewards – Don’t Give A Damn DOWNLOAD FROM COCO ART 15. K-Holy Knights – oh holy night 16. Oh, Dorian – Sometimes I’m Happy (Holidays) 17. Council – One Eye On The Open Grave 18. Dereck Higgins – High Spirits 19. The Highlight Factory – SADD047 20. Lazy Monsters – JingleBells Not long ago, we posted a package of remixes from Atlas Sound (Bradford Cox of Deerhunter). He had said the remixes were of a song he'd recorded for a seasonal compilation his roommate was working on. And here is that compilation, "Roam For The Holidaze 2". A quick sampling reveals a lot of lo-fi indie rock, shoegaze, experimental. For my tastes, the Atlas Sound track is easily the highlight, though I can certainly think of possibilities for Jack Hines' "Happy Holidays" and I know people who will like "Am I Fit To Own Your Puppets For Christmas" and "Jingle Bells". Not enough for you? Well, you'll note the title is "Roam For The Holidaze 2" which implies a "1", does it not? Yes it do, and you can download Volume 1 here--17 more tracks of Indie weirdness or goodness, depending on your point of view. Download the 2010 collection at Coco Art.  Time for another update on a complete set of continuing free Christmas downloads, a la "12 Days Of Christmas". The subject this time is Rich Russo, host of "Anything Anything" on New York's WRXP-FM. Russo, you may recall, had a special Christmas special just last week. Yes, I know I said special twice. Anyway, Rich was also dropping presents on his web site all week long. If my count is right, we ended up getting nine free Christmas tunes from Rich and then the topper--the angel on the Christmas tree... Rich's last freebie was the entire broadcast of his Anything Anything Christmas special. How cool is that? So here's the list of presents from Santa Rich Russo. You can download them all, for a limited time I'm guessing, at Rich's blog site. Go get em.  10. Anything Anything Christmas Show
9. She’s Coming Home/Cocktail Slippers 8. Christmas Comes Again/Max Is King 7. Little Saint Nick/Bess Rogers 6. Peppermint Schnapps/Wyldlife 5. Santa Baby/Dollyrots 4. Blue Christmas/Girl In A Coma 3. Home For Christmas/Kenny Laguna 2. Golden Tongues/River City Extension 1. Run Rudolph Run/Dramarama (To your right, The Cocktail Slippers)  Crystal Stilts debuted this song earlier in the month, but decided to give it away just a couple of days ago. With their label, Slumberland, closed for the holiday, the band was asking blogs and on-line magazines (not ours, sadly) to make the song available. "Practically Immaculate" struck a chord with me when I came across it, for some reason. I love the organ play--reminds me of the old Buddah bubblegum records of the 60s. The Brooklyn band is noted for a, more or less, psychedelic sound, and I guess this one qualifies. Use the Soundcloud widget above or pop the band and song title in your search engine and you'll find plenty of spots to download it.
 This progressive rock band out of Florida starts "Silent Night" predictably enough, but, the next thing you know, they're rocking it out. Hard. If you like your Silent Nights hard and heavy, Northern Colours might be just the band for you. Pick up the digital single free at Bandcamp.  Yep, that's what they're calling it. Two tracks on this free download from the Illinois Indie rockers. "Little Drummer Boy" gives the drummer a chance to show his stuff a little bit before the rest of the band gets their shot. "Away In A Manger" is an acoustic "backstage" sort of thing. The songs are pretty good, but nothing compared to Ravenhill's non-holiday work. Since you're headed over to Bandcamp for the Christmas single anyway, might I recommend you take the opportunity to listen to "Ladies And Gentlemen, I Present To You..." Or just pick up the two Christmas songs. Your choice. But, you know, they're both free. Just sayin'. |
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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