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.
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The Pocket Gods are living legends of the Alt Rock/Indie Pop universe, having been blessed by no less an icon of the underground music scene than the late John Peel. Originally, back in the late nineties, the group was just Mark Christopher Lee and whomever he decided to let join him on any given night. They were a trio for a long stretch and then went back to being just Lee around 2012 (I have no idea what the current line-up is). Nominated for a Grammy a few years back, The Pocket Gods are said to be the most prolific band in the world, having reportedly released over 70 albums and 30 EPs and singles in the last 15 years. When you record that much music, you're bound to have recorded a Christmas song or two. Or twenty. I'm not sure how many, honestly, but they're regulars on the Cherryade Christmas albums, which are now in their tenth year. They have a track on this year's Cherryade set, too, but "The Light Of The World" isn't it. In 2012, they released a full album of their Christmas madness, 14 tracks long. The Pocket Gods play a psych infused brand of Indie Pop Rock, citing the Beatles and Ramones among their influences. "The Light Of The World" is a stand alone digital single which you could buy through Amazon. Or, you can join The Pocket Gods mailing list over at ReverbNation and get downloads of "The Light Of The World" and "Searching For The Divine" for free.
By their own admission, North Carolina's Less Western were just experimenting, messing around and making up songs about Christmas and staying up too late. Whatever their intentions, the result is a lovely set of lo-fi psychedelic shoe-gaze and dream pop which the band dropped Thanksgiving day.
"Holographic Holiday" features 5 tracks, though the first, "In Reverse", is just a 30 second intro to set the proper mood as you phase into their alternate dimension. The "star" piece is likely to be the title track, "Holographic Holiday". Me, personally, I'm partial to "Nocturnal". And there's something very cool about "Winter Strain". Get the whole set from Bandcamp and pick your own favorite. We're pointing you to this one because its different. And we at Stubby's love different. Egokiller is an Indie Alt Psych trio from Leeds in the UK, but they'll experiment with any sound or genre that feels right. They feel they're carrying on in the grand tradition of bands like the Grateful Dead and Phish and polish is not what they're after. Their recordings are done in one take with band members encouraged to follow their muse and improvise as they record or play. It can end up sounding chaotic or it can end up sounding like heaven. Ultimately, which is which is up to you. The free track, here, is "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town". But that's really an enticement for you to check out the full EP, "Monster Chunks & Mistle Toes" (which is not free). My favorite from the full EP is "Three Wiser Men", which not only boasts the clever title it does, but legitimately does sound like a throwback to the wilder Psych bands of the Haight Ashbury era. Check it out on Bandcamp. |
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. Archives2010 FREE List Categories
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