Category: Ambient

Stubbys House of Christmas

VARIOUS - MERRY CHRISTMAS, GOOD NIGHT 4

12/16/2014

1. Love Is Here - Elizabeth Hunnicutt
2. Christ As Light - Ryan Flanigan
3. Your Story - Kris MacQueen
4. Kaire - Inman
5. The Light - Von Strantz
6. Upside Down (Silent Night) - Sarah Brusco
7. Might Feel Like Christmas - JackRabbit
8. One Star - J Law

DOWNLOAD ON NOISETRADE
ARTISTS WEBSITE

When you're talking Christmas Indie Folk, they don't come any better than the "Merry Christmas, Good Night" series. The fourth in the series is, as are the earlier collections, available as a free download on Noisetrade.

All 8 songs on "Merry Christmas, Good Night 4" are original. And they're all great. Ny favorites include JackRabbit's "Might Feel Like Christmas" and "Love Is Here" from Elizabeth Hunnicutt. But my absolute favorite by miles is the instrumental "Kaire" by Inman. Without the benefit of vocals, "Kaire" conveys the spiritual side of Christmas completely. I can't really explain it well but, as the track goes through its many changes, I felt completely uplifted in the wonder and awe of the season. Your mileage may vary, of course. But, to me, this was yet another triumphant collection from the Morning and Night people.

TEMEZ - BLACK CHRISTMAS

12/16/2014

The Finnish electronic artist known as temez specializes in EDM, Trance, House and what-not. But "Black Christmas" is a nice piece of Ambient. It's the kind of a track you could either wallow in sadness to or take as a contemplative late night snow tune. And that's about all I have to say about that.

VARIOUS - THE BFW CHRISTMAS ALBUM 2014

12/15/2014

BFW WEBSITE
DOWNLOAD AT BANDCAMP

1. Eko_Fisk - Solstice II
2. Kevin Lyons - Between the Woods and the Frozen Lake
3. Daniel Prendiville - Drop A Dress Size For Christmas
4. Stephen Briggs - Time to reflect
5. David Gerard - Approaching Solstice
6. Sound Awakener - Reunion
7. Cousin Silas - One Bright Evening
8. mutanT.R.I. - Underivation
9. William Ash - Noël Wells Comes Home for Christmas
10. Paul Mimlitsch & Roger Sundstrom - Red Bell BC
11. Cousin Silas - Bah Humbug!
12. Stefan Blixt - Flames of Winter
13. The Owl Effect - Redemtion
14. Amygdala - Travelling with the Comet
15. Bing Satellites - Day Of The Really Long Dogs
16. Tim Kays - Moonlight on Christmas Snow (for Lori Shaffer DeGroff)
17. Elypixa - Elytriste
18. Scott Lawlor - Apertio aurium

Another of our annual winter visitors, the BFW label has issued their 2014 Christmas album. BFW specializes in Ambient, so you know what you're getting here, mostly. The album opens and closes with terrific and very beautiful pieces that represent two of my highlights, "Solstice II" by Eko_Fisk and Steve Lawlor's "Apertio Aurium". Tim Kays' "Moonlight On Christmas Snow" is quite moving (though it does run over 10 minutes). If you're looking for a bit more energy, Cousin Silas delights us with a mild Ska beat on "Bah Humbug!". And Stefan Blixt offers up "Flames Of Winter" Shoegaze. As always, "The BFW Christmas Album" is free to download, either through the BFW site or via Bandcamp. You'll find all their previous Christmas sets still available free as well.

VARIOUS - A POLAROID FOR CHRISTMAS (2014)

12/14/2014

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.

KOELINGEIST - MERRY CHRISTMAS DARLING

12/11/2014

I'm in a weird mood, tonight, and that may mean that some music is appealing to me that I might not otherwise bother with.

Here's a good example. I have no idea who Koelingeist is or if that's even the artist. Or is the artist Reiner Wahnsinn? Or is Reiner a DJ? Or are both names DJs? I don't know, its all in German and I'm getting a headache.

And there's nothing especially Christmasy about the track. Just some really nice (and sad) guitar. And yet "Merry Christmas Darling" is appealing to me, tonight, and not much else is.

So there.

VARIOUS - NOISE TO THE WORLD 2

12/5/2014

Earlier this year, we caught up with the 2013 collection from Converse, "Noise To The World", which was lingering from last Christmas. Well, if you missed that one, its gone now. Had to make way for the newer model, "Noise To The World 2". As with last year's set, Converse made all the right moves. The artists are exceptional and so is the music.

I bumped into "Noise To The World 2" on Tuesday. Converse had unveiled two tracks on Monday. They then released another two tracks on Wednesday. And the last two were unveiled today. I figured I'd wait until the collection was complete before I posted. Didn't listen even. And, now, here I am with the opportunity to hear the whole thing......and I can't get past "On Christmas" from the Dum Dum Girls. It's playing for something like the sixth straight time, right now, and I want to hear it again. This one's got legs. It's going to turn up on Christmas playlists to the end of time.

By the end of the day, I'm sure Converse will have racked up the full album download. Or not. As it is, now, the button sends you to Soundcloud where you have to download each track individually. But it's worth it.

LESS WESTERN - HOLOGRAPHIC HOLIDAY

11/29/2014

1. In Reverse
2. Nocturnal
3. Holographic Holiday
4. Hallway Drone
5. Winter Strain

DOWNLOAD VIA BANDCAMP

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.

ANIBAL BRAVO - NAVIDAD 2014

11/29/2014

I love Christmas music from other countries. I mean, you know, some people dig Scandinavian Pop and some people like the Pop music out of Japan. But I've just always been fascinated by sounds and rhythms that come out of different cultures. Christmas music has a universal appeal. I don't speak a word of any other language, really, but I know Christmas.

Chile's Anibal Bravo has given us a new Christmas piece that's undoubtedly Indie Pop, but Indie Pop that has a South American flavor. "Navidad 2014" doesn't have any lyrics to speak of, just some "Ahhhh"-ing, so that's out of the way. And the sleigh bells are kept low in the background. Still, I find "Navidad 2014" undeniably Christmasy. I listen to it and I can feel myself in a horse drawn sleigh with snow gently falling all around me. I'm sure the visuals would be different to someone from Chile, but would no less speak to the Christmas images and custom they're familiar with. I think the song translates very well across borders. And that's not always an easy thing to pull off. Recommended if you like those contemplative quiet pieces I'm obviously so fond of.

REED - HOLIDAY BY MY SIDE

11/28/2014

I'm not fond of all the Twitters and Tumblrs, etc. and so forth. Whatever happened to just having a plain old website? It's a pain in the neck trying to figure out who somebody is when they don't have a regular website (or at least a Facebook page, geez).

So it turns out that reed is Reed Murray of Carollhood. To be fair, Carrollhood does have a Facebook page. But you'd be surprised how many Reed Murrays there are and how many of them are Indie musicians. And, yes, someone who is familiar with the Twitters and Tumblrs could have figured out who reed was in a snap. But I'm not and didn't. Enough of the rant.

Anyway, reed says he wrote and recorded "Holiday By My Side" in his bedroom, but you'd never know it. Everything about this song is awesome. It's an Indie track, sure, but also a bit Ambient. Very pretty and contemplative in any case. It sounds a little bit as I imagine (God, I'm old) Simon & Garfunkles "Sounds of Silence" might have sounded, were they coming up today (of course, lyrically, its apples and oranges). "Holiday By My Side" will be popping up on Indie Christmas playlists for years to come. At least it should. Check it out on Bandcamp.

MYMAREN - HAPPY CHRISTMAS

11/19/2014

When I'm putting a mix together, I want different sounds. So, sometimes, that's what I'm listening for--as opposed to listening for a breakout hit (for lack of a better term). There are a lot of Producer/DJ types that put together synth soundscapes--so many that its hard for them to stand out. But, if I think one sufficiently conveys a Christmas mood and it doesn't become annoying after repeated listens, I'll say to myself, "Yeah, I could do something with that". Sometimes, not only is that enough, but its exactly what's needed.

Mymaren is a Producer/DJ from Norway and "Happy Christmas" is his holiday soundscape. I'm inclined to call this Ambient. It's very pretty and it conveys a certain Christmas-ness. And, yeah, I could do something with this. And I probably will. ;^)