Category: Various Artists

VARIOUS - UNDER THE MISTLETOE

11/26/2014

1. Last Christmas - Ash Ocego
2. Somewhere Only We Know - Katie Hammond
3. Most Wonderful Time Of The Year - Ash Ocego
4. Amazing Grace - Sabrina Longo
5. Silent Night - Katie Hammond

DOWNLOAD AT BANDCAMP

This was a bit...unusual. Not the music--that's pretty straight up. About a month ago, I came across the listing for "Under The Mistletoe" from the CW Music Group. No songs were listed and the release date showed as November 25. It said Free Download. It also had a write-up that said "pre-order now". I can not ever recall pre-ordering a free download. Is it me or is that odd? I hit the download button and the usual stuff happened. Except of course nothing was downloaded. Come November 25, I get an email saying my pre-order is ready. Go figure. Well, it got me to talk about them anyway.

5 songs, here. Pretty much straight-up Pop. Some, let's call them, theatrical overtones. Katie Hammond comes off as the budding star, here. She's quite good and I think Indie fans and fans of more traditional music would both be happy with her two tracks. Sabrina Longo is quite good as well, but her song is done church style. Not really what I was looking for. Ash Ocego's voice would best be lent, I think, to something less pop and more rock. Punk would suit him, I think. But his delivery here is more Glee friendly. Just sayin'.

So I guess my advice would be to grab "Under The Mistletoe" for the tracks from Katie Hammond and draw your own conclusions on the rest. It is a free download, after all. And "pre-ordering" is no longer necessary.

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VARIOUS - NOISE TO THE WORLD

11/13/2014

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1. (It Ain't) Christmas Without You - Roxy Roca
2. Without You By My Side - Warm Soda
3. Holiday '93 - Fresh Daily & Black Spade
4. Run Rudolph Run - Mother Mercy & The Black Dirt
5. Jingle Bells - Workout
6. December Tide - The She's
7. Deck The Halls - Low Fat Getting High

DOWNLOAD VIA CONVERSE

I know our good friends at Christmas Underground covered this 2013 release thoroughly back in September, but I just stumbled across the Roxy Roca video and the news that they'll be releasing a 7" of "It Ain't Christmas Without You" backed with an all-new recording of "Back Door Santa" later this year.

"Noise To The World" was put out by the Converse people last year. It contains 7 tracks from 7 bands--from Funk to Punk--and it's all good. You can still download the set free via Soundcloud or direct from Converse.

I'm particularly in love with Roxy Roca, right now. Yes, I feel the need to Funk it all up. Roxy Roca is an Austin based band and they make a righteous noise. Visit the band at their web home or on Facebook.

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VARIOUS - NEVER MIND THE BAUBLES

11/11/2014

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SMALL BEAR WEBSITE
1. Accidental Christmas - Phil Reynolds & The Dearly Departed DOWNLOAD AT BANDCAMP
2. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - Reporters
3. All I Want For Christmas - Phil The Tremolo King
4. Jamie Stewart's It's A Wonderful Life - Neurotic Wreck
5. Happy Christmas - The Bordellos
6. Ghosts - Harmony Dischord
7. Casio Lullaby - Marc Elston
8. Honeyfuzzmole Christmas - Honeyfuzzmole
9. Christmas Mantra - Schizo Fun Addict
10. Aunt Milla's Christmas Tree - Dog, Paper, Submarine
11. Some Things Never Change - Postcode
12. Les Visiteurs De Noel - Watoo Watoo
13. Santa Give Me Something To Live For - Matt Bouvier
14. Auld Lang Syne - Nanaki
15. Snow 1993 - The Proctors

Small Bear Records is a small independent label with a philosophy that says its more important to get the music out there than to make humungous profits. So, while physical releases carry a price tag (because it costs money to make them), their digital downloads are available through Bandcamp on a "name-your-price" basis. And we'd very much like to thank them for that. I, for one, hope they live long and prosper.

Small Bear Records has been in business for three full years, now. And, each year of their existence, they've managed to put out a Christmas album featuring the artists in their stable. So this is the third one, then. The titles of the Small Bear Christmas collections tend to be puns and take offs on famous rock album titles and you can see that this year's is a play off of "Never Mind The Bullocks" by the Sex Pistols.

Collections like this tend to be hit and miss, but Small Bear generally features more hit and less miss than many. The music covers a lot of stylistic ground though most of it is squarely in the Indie Alt Rock and Indie Pop vein.

For my money (just an expression--the download's free), the best cut here is the opener. "Accidental Christmas" has so much raw rock power going on, I almost just typed the title as "Energetic Energy". True. But there's plenty more here to stimulate your Alt Xmas Brain. "Aunt Milla's Christmas Tree" is a gas, even if it doesn't sound like sleigh bells in the least. Matt Bouvier's "Santa Give Me Something To Live For" is anthemic and not entirely as bleak as the title would suggest. Watoo Watoo's "Les Visiteurs De Noel" sounded great back in 1997, when they first cut it, and still sounds great today. "Happy Christmas (Alan McGee Is An Arse)" is undeniably catchy, whether you want it to be or not. And Nanaki delivers one of the most original takes on "Auld Lang Syne" I've ever heard.

Plenty of mixtape material. "Never Mind The Baubles". And, if you want to expand your horizons even further (and don't already have them), you can still grab "Tinsel Machine" (2013) and "Enter Snowman" (2012) for the same "name-your-price" deal.

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Here 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.

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