 Indie Alt Rockers VanLadyLove have re-imagined "Little Drummer Boy" into (horrors) something fresh and listenable. Not so far gone as to be unrecognizable and yet comfortably sweetened with Psych so as to be a legally consumable confection in the state of Colorado. Would you like a glass of milk with that? Just kidding; this would be legal anywhere. Free at Bandcamp.
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The Hornets are a Danish band comprised, according to their brief bio on Soundcloud, of two 14 year olds. Dang. now I really feel old. These instrumental Electronic/Electro Pop tracks caught my ear enough to have me posting their songs here when I was swearing off the Free List for the day. It's not they're especially Christmasy, per se, but they are filled with the optimism of youth. I hope The Hornets revisit the Christmas theme when they turn 60. I think that's gonna be a whole 'nuther sound.
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.
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.  This Synth Pop group from Moscow wrote me over a week ago. And I really did like them. Not just this song, either. I watched the videos, listened to the songs on their Soundcloud feed. I really dug the group. But I just never got around to posting "Just Another Year". And, after a day or so, it got picked up and posted by everybody else. So then posting it seemed a little superfluous.
But I really did dig it. And I just wanted the members of Bigundi to know that I did. I like their sound. "Just Another Year" is more of a Pop Vocal/New Romantic number than some of their other stuff. But its well worth posting. Even at this late date (I'm gonna call it a New Years song. Yeah, that's the ticket.). And the video is super cool. I do want to know what is it with European bands and animal masks? And what does the Fox say? And whatever happened to Barman's Fault? Just askin'. Hope to hear more from Bigundi in the future. "Just Another Year" is free at Bandcamp or Soundcloud.  You know what the world needs? More versions of "Last Christmas". Here's a nice Dream Poppy one from California's Sentinel channeling the Cocteau Twins. Free on Bandcamp.  Canada's Indie Pop darling (as she should be) Hannah Georgas is feeling the holiday spirit and just laid a beautiful rendition of "White Christmas" beneath our trees. The song gives us a more classic version initially then kicks into a Drifters inspired Doo Wop. Hannah's "White Christmas" Doo Wop may be the tenderest, sweetest, and most lovely Doo Wop ever put to wax, er, tape, um, bites of digital informa---whatever. Its lovely. And it's free from Hannah on Soundcloud.  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.
A Philly based Indie Rock/Indie Folk band, the Accents have been together since 2010 and they've done quite a few Christmas songs over that time, though not always as the Accents. As soon as I heard their cover version of Lady Gaga's "Christmas Tree", I recognized it as something we shared in 2010 (I even had it on the inaugural "Stubbys House Christmas"). That song (as well as "How The Grinch Folked Christmas") were on a free digital EP and billed as being by Cast Before The Break. Loved it then, love it now. "An Accents Family Christmas" is one of those "growing collections" of Christmas songs, where they just keep adding to the set. The newly recorded song for 2014 is "Mele Kalikimaka", which is mighty fine. But its even cooler hearing Folk Pop versions of Justin Bieber and Darlene Love that I hadn't heard before. And covering Kermit The Frog is pretty cool, too. Grab this fine collection from the Accents, free from Noisetrade.
Fomerly with My Favorite Highway, Dave Cook's new project is The Hemispheres (it's another of those band names for a solo project things). And if his three-song Christmas EP "Santa's Whiskey" is any indication, I'm a huge fan right now. These are brilliantly written pieces which, I'm hoping, aren't entirely autobiographical. Because all three songs are about dealing with the holidays after the one you love has gone. "This Silent Night" contrasts all the happy memories of Christmas together with the emptiness of Christmas alone. "Commercial Holiday" is about how all the bling in the universe is meaningless without the one you love. And "Santa's Whiskey" might be the saddest of all. In "Santa's Whiskey", the implication seems clear (as it doesn't on the other two) that it wasn't a breakup that separated them, but rather a death. Everything has changed and the guy whose "laugh could light up any room" is getting drunk on Santa's whiskey.
"We do our best to move along Like a note without a song And I can't believe you're gone Cause I could swear you're near when the Christmas lights come on" The lyrics are truly gorgeous. The imagery is vivid. And your heart breaks listening. Really, you can't write music any better than this. "Santa's Whiskey" is available as a free download at Soundcloud. And do stop by Dave's Facebook page and give him a "Like". |
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