Category: Alt Folk

5FT WALLS AT ZEROES - THE BEST CHRISTMAS

12/26/2014

Joyzine's 2014 Advent Calendar wrapped up with a Christmas song from the Power Pop band with the awkward sounding name--5ft Walls at Zeroes. "The Best Christmas" is included on the band's EP "Dinner Put Yer Fut In It Dereck". And it isn't free at their website or on Soundcloud, so you'd best be hitting up Joyzine in a hurry while the free download lasts. It's Day 24.

Other days of Joyzine's Advent that may net you some Christmas tunes:
DAY 23: CHRIS T-T: "Tonight Thank God It's Them Instead Of You" [Parental Advisory]
DAY 21: ERNEST THE BRAVE: "I'll Be There For You"

DAY 18: HERE ARE THE YOUNG MEN & UNCLE PEANUT: "Peanut's Merry Christmas"
DAY 17: THE SOFT CLOSE-UPS: "Only You"
DAY 16: EXTRADITION ORDER: "Eyesore Christmas"
DAY 11: THE MILK RACE: "Merry Christmas Everyone"
DAY 7: MJ HIBBETT: "Wonderful Christmas Time"

And the ones before that, we've already mentioned.

0 Comments

VARIOUS - HO HO HO CANADA VI

12/24/2014

0 Comments

DOWNLOAD AT LINE OF BEST FIT

1. Michael Feuerstack - Blue Light II *
2. Kristian Noel Pedersen - Christmas Birthday
3. Charlotte Cornfield - Last Winter (Featuring Chris Shannon) *
4. Good Lovelies - Under The Tree
5. Jim Guthrie - I’m Coming Home (This Christmas)
6. Fresh Snow - Snow’s Victory *
7. Dracula Legs - Party At Ed’s *
8. Good Winter - Rah Rah
9. Machu Picchu - All I Want For Christmas Is A Hoverboard
10. Monomyth - Candleholder
11. Colin Cowan & The Elastic Stars - Tale Of The Eye Of Winter
12. Kim Gray - Santa Knows (I’ve Been Bad)
13. Chic Gamine - Noel (Au Coin De Portage Et Main)
14. Kashka - In The Snow *
15. Tony Dekker Sings The Burning Hell - Last Winter
16. Find The Others - Christmas Is Just Another Day *
17. Jim Bryson - Half Price (Featuring Amanda Rheaume) *
18. Felicity Williams - This Is What I Want
19. The Once - By The Glow Of The Kerosene Light (Pinball Sessions)
20. The Acorn - Sleepwalking *
21. Ryan Driver and Friends - Where Do Kings Come From?

*= Exclusive to Best Fit

One of these years, I'm going to get to listen to this before Christmas. But obviously not this year. "Ho Ho Ho Canada" is in it's sixth year, now, and Line of Best Fit continue to show that they are the true masters of putting together a large Christmas compilation. I love The Burning Hell (Did you know they had a Hanukkah song a few years back? They did.) and Tony Dekker of Great Lake Swimmers does a great job with "Last Winter". And I have the Good Lovelies Christmas CD and "Under The Tree" is not on it, so that's cool. And I only just learned that that CD, "Under The Mistletoe" was released on vinyl a couple of weeks ago. You can find it at Six Shooter Records.

You can download "Ho Ho Ho Canada VI" at Soundcloud, but I recommend you get it at the Line Of Best Fit website where you'll find a one-click zip file under the playlist.

0 Comments

VARIOUS - THE 2014 PASTE HOLIDAY SAMPLER

12/24/2014

0 Comments

1. Swear and Shake – Santa, My First Love
2. Sinclair – This Christmas
3. River Whyless – Jingle Bells
4. Powerkompany – I’m Sorry About Last Christmas
5. Over the Rhine – Blood Oranges In the Snow
6. The Oh Hellos – Every Bell on Earth Will Ring
7. Odessa – Silent Night
8. Dwayne Shivers – Come Thou Long Expected Jesus
9. James Apollo – Trim Another Tree
10. Field Report – On Christmas Eve

READ ABOUT IT AT PASTE MAGAZINE
DOWNLOAD AT NOISETRADE

So Paste decided to put out a Christmas collection this year after all. Normally, the "Paste Holiday Sampler" comes out the tail end of November. And it's normally got a lot more music on it. But I can't complain. It's free. How can you complain about free?

Let's see. I already bought the excellent Swear and Shake single, "Santa, My First Love". If you didn't, get it here because it's excellent. Over The Rhine has a sampler of their own on Noisetrade (and I'd already bought the CD). You should have read about that one on Lie In The Sound. They also filled you in on The Oh Hellos and James Apollo, as did Christmas A-Go-Go (and we were going to mention Apollo ourselves and likely still will). Mistletunes featured Field Report recently, although, at the time, it was only a stream. And Sinclair's "This Christmas" was part of that mammoth Amazon "All Is Bright" playlist.

That leaves four that I haven't seen written about. "Come Thou Long Expected Jesus" is a devout Indie acoustic hymn from Dwayne Shivers. River Whyless pretties up "Jingle Bells" about as much as anyone can. Odessa's "Silent Night" is pretty straight forward Indie Folk/Americana. And Powerkompany's Indie Pop Rock "I'm Sorry About Last Christmas" sounds sincere enough but is full of snarky lyrics.

I'm tired, so I'm not really giving this my best effort. But, make no mistake, this is all good stuff. My highlights would be the tracks from Swear and Shake, Sinclair, James Apollo and Powerkompany, if that means anything to you.

0 Comments

VARIOUS - NO SLEEP TILL CHRISTMAS 6

12/21/2014

0 Comments

1. Alcoa - Blue Christmas
2. Daisyhead - Silent Night
3. Kill Wealthy Dowager - Christmas at Ground Zero
4. Lee Corey Oswald - A Chill Time to All and to All a Chill Time
5. Seasons Change - Holidays

NO SLEEP WEBSITE
DOWNLOAD FROM BANDCAMP

Indie Alternative label No Sleep Records don't release a new Christmas set every year, but, when they do, it's choice. "No Sleep Till Christmas 6" is their sixth holiday offering (duh) and features artists from their stable and a few friends. The highlight for most is likely going to be Kill Wealthy Dowager's cover of Weird Al's "Christmas At Ground Zero". In addition, you get Alcoa with an Americana "Blue Christmas" (which was good enough that I didn't automatically hate it just because its "Blue Christmas", which I hate). Daisyhead offers up a highly enjoyable Electronica rendition of "Silent Night". Lee Corey Oswald performs an excellent Indie Rock original that might give Kill Wealthy Dowager's track a run for its money, "A Chill Time To All And To All A Chill Time". And the EP closes with Pop Punkers Seasons Change performing "Holidays". Only 6 songs, but every one a killer. You can get the set direct from No Sleep or theough Bandcamp.

0 Comments

THE HOLLOW SEASON - THE CHRISTMAS SESSIONS

12/20/2014

0 Comments

A lot of the music on Noisetrade, this year, just hasn't connected with me, for some reason. But this one hit me straight in the heart. It just felt and sounded great. The Hollow Season are an Indie Alt Folk trio from New Jersey. And Sarah Woods and Jesse and Joel Dill make some sweet sweet music together. I don't know how long they've been at it but their debut single, "Wild Flowers", was just released in June and it looks like their first longer form--EP or full album--won't arrive until next year. So it was nice of them to drop this free "Christmas Sessions" EP on us.

Of the five songs, one is "Blue Christmas", which you know I hate. And "It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas", though sweetly done Uke Pop, is too faithful to the original for my tastes. But the other three tracks have me high as a kite. First of all, Sarah's voice is irresistible. And the arrangements on "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and "Wonderful Christmastime" give those songs the slight kick to the left they require. "Winter Song"--a cover of the Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson ballad--is just 4 minutes of gorgeous.

Grab The Hollow Season's "Christmas Sessions" free from Noisetrade.

THE HOLLOW SEASON ON FACEBOOK

0 Comments

JEANNY HAS HAD A NIGHTMARE - THE WHITENESS OF SNOW

12/17/2014

0 Comments

Admittedly, this won't be for everybody, but I dug it...so here it is. Jeanny Has Had A Nightmare list their hometown as "Earth", Bandcamp says Texas, and Google wants to know if I want their home website translated from German to English. Well that's seriously vague. They're an Alt Rock/Art Pop band who, of late, have been inspired and influenced by Ana Calvi. On their recent "On Christmas" single, one of the two tracks is an instrumental cover of Calvi's "Rider To The Sea". It's plenty cool and eclectic and, if you want to toss it into your pile of Christmas tracks, be my guest, though I'm not seeing it as a Christmas track. Our concern, here, is the vocal track, "The Whiteness Of Snow". An ode to "the silence of winter", "The Whiteness of Snow" is ethereal and calm and paints a picture musically of a late night/early morning walk through new fallen snow when just the slightest breath of wind stirs a few crystals to rise and shimmer like fairy dust. Of course its a metaphor. But I like stuff like this. As I say, not everyone will. The lyrics are poetry--possibly a bit too much so--and my favorite line is "I can see our tracks of then". You gotta love that. Well, I do.

0 Comments

GRAHAM COLTON - HOLIDAY SEASON

12/16/2014

0 Comments

Indie Rocker Graham Colton has been working a lot with Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips, lately. And I think you can hear a bit of that influence in "Holiday Season", Graham's Christmas gift for one and all. "Holiday Season" is an excellent poppish Rock tune with a light psych influence. We likes the precious a lot, we does.

0 Comments

DAVI REY & FRIENDS - A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS

12/16/2014

0 Comments

Davi Rey & friends won me over with their lightly Jazz/Blues seasoned "Away In A Manger", Erica Stephens taking the vocals, and cinched it with the sweet and spiritual a cappella closer--"Go Tell It On The Mountain" featuring the Merimanders. Anything else is gravy.

Davi Rey and his friends all hail from the Lewiston/Auburn Maine area. Though you can certainly choose to download "A Very Merry Christmas" free, keep in mind that all proceeds from the set will go to The Root Cellar, a Community outreach organization in Lewiston. 25% of the residents of Lewiston live below the poverty line. The Root Cellar offers food and other services, all while working to lift them up emotionally and spiritually. Just sayin'.

0 Comments

THE SEVERN UKES - (DON'T BUY A) UKELELE FOR CHRISTMAS

12/15/2014

0 Comments

"(Don't Buy A) Ukelele For Christmas" is a cautionary tale from the Severn Ukes. Sure, it seems like a good idea at the time, but all those sleepless nights while the gift getter practices, practices, practices will have you regretting it.

The Severn Ukes are an eight-piece UK Uke band. Their delightful Christmas song can be downloaded from their website for free. All the band asks is that you "Like" them on Facebook and maybe leave a comment letting them know how you like the song. Fair enough.

And, in fairness, don't blame the band for the "cover art" which was my own concoction, using their logo and a picture of "Truman" from their Facebook site (Truman looks like a distant relative of Mrs. Katz...not her real name).

0 Comments

VARIOUS - A POLAROID FOR CHRISTMAS (2014)

12/14/2014

2 Comments

01) Flying Vaginas - Santa Bring Me A Dinosaur
02) Baseball Gregg - Rebel Without A Claus
03) Burnt Palms - You
04) New Adventures In Lo-Fi - Temptation
05) Slow Shot - Shining All Night
06) The Mumble Jackson - Darling
07) Barbados - The Fall
08) Machweo - Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
09) Setti - Crauti
10) Skelets On Me - Love
11) Le Man Avec Les Lunettes - I'll Be Home for Christmas
12) Neverending Mojitos - Cooking Up Something Good
13) Osc2x - Dreaming Of A Wild Christmas
14) Winter Dies In June - Winter Dies In June
15) Neverwhere - Christmas Eve Lonesome Bitterness Blues

One of my favorite presents every Christmas is the one with a big musical bow on it from the Italian blog Polaroid. Every year, their humble blog host invites bands to submit a song for the holiday season. It could be a Christmas or seasonal song or just a song to keep you company while you trim the tree. It's always a glistening, sparkling collection of Indie Pop and Rock, most of which you won't find anywhere else.

Every year, at least a few of these songs will captivate me and become among my favorites for the year. For me, this year's highlights are mostly on the back half. Though not properly a Christmas song, I loved Skelets On Me's cover of John Lennon's "Love". Le Man Avec Les Lunettes sound almost Lennon like on "I'll Be Home For Christmas". Machweo's spacey Ambient Psych "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" (which is actually "Let It Snow") is plenty amazing and entrancing (listen to it while staring at the cover art for full effect). And the two numbers closing the set, "Winter Dies In June" and "Christmas Eve Lonesome Bitterness Blues" are my favorites of all (if not the cheeriest). Head to the Polaroid web site for the full download. Poke around a bit and find the earlier volumes, which (if nothing's changed since last year) should all still be available.

2 Comments

<<Previous

5FT WALLS AT ZEROES - THE BEST CHRISTMAS

VARIOUS - HO HO HO CANADA VI

VARIOUS - THE 2014 PASTE HOLIDAY SAMPLER

VARIOUS - NO SLEEP TILL CHRISTMAS 6

THE HOLLOW SEASON - THE CHRISTMAS SESSIONS

JEANNY HAS HAD A NIGHTMARE - THE WHITENESS OF SNOW

GRAHAM COLTON - HOLIDAY SEASON

DAVI REY & FRIENDS - A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS

THE SEVERN UKES - (DON'T BUY A) UKELELE FOR CHRISTMAS

VARIOUS - A POLAROID FOR CHRISTMAS (2014)

The FREE List

Archives

Categories