Category: Electro Pop

SASHA BROWN - CHRISTMAS MORNING

12/19/2015

London based singer/songwriter Sasha Brown is known for producing delicious Electro Pop that is not just candy to the ears and fuel for dancing feet, but also has some emotional depth via generally excellent lyrics. Last year, Sasha gave us a video of "Santa Baby" which was't all that different or memorable. Of course, covering "Santa Baby" these days is a bad idea from the outset. Just sayin'. This year, Sasha delivers her own "Christmas Morning" and what a difference a year makes. This is the kind of Christmas tune you can live with for a while--the kind of tune that says we'll be hearing from Sasha for many years to come. The song's original title was "Sunday Morning", but Sasha decided to re-title and rework it and that turned out to be a great move. There's a video coming soon, but the free download is already here via Soundcloud.

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DENMARK + WINTER - AND IT'S CHRISTMAS TIME AGAIN

12/18/2015

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I give up. Denmark + Winter is a ghost. There is not one useful piece of information about them on the Internet. Nothing. They might be from Denmark, or at least they post a lot of pictures of Denmark on Facebook. Or perhaps their names are Denmark and Winter. For all I can tell, they could be Abbott & Costello from Patterson, New Jersey. They've had a lot of songs--usually re-imagined versions of popular hits--placed in television shows. Facebook tells you nothing. Soundcloud tells you nothing. Their official website doesn't have any information of any kind. Their label has even less information about them, as if that could be possible. And any review appearing anywhere begins, "I can't find out a single thing about this band, but...." I could swear that we'd featured them here before, but I can't find that either. I give up. I want to go hang myself, now, for an entire day wasted.

Ah, but then I hear the beautiful music and I can't step away. Truly, if there is something worth living for, it must be this glorious sound. It's rich and lush, with vocals that are of the angels. All is forgiven, whoever you are.

Denmark + Winter has an entire Christmas album out, which completely escaped my attention until I came across this free download on Souncloud tonight. "The Holiday Collection" is 13 tracks long, with re-imaginings of your holiday favorites and a few new songs (I highly recommend their version of Have Yourself A "Merry Little Christmas"). "And It's Christmas Time Again" is another song about missing loved ones who are gone. Either its a popular theme this year or its just kinda close to home for me these days. You can download "And It's Christmas Time Again" on Soundcloud. But, let's be honest. You really are going to need this whole album in your arsenal. Find it at Amazon and iTunes.

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ELLIE GOULDING - O HOLY NIGHT

12/18/2015

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If there's a thing as an Indie Pop superstar, that would be Ellie Goulding. She's topped the British charts and gotten as high as #2 on the US charts more than once and she's sold millions upon millions of records. The British magazine, The Fly, praised Ellie in 2010 for her "sparkling pop with a folky heart and an electronic edge". So when Ellie offers up a free Christmas tune, I sit up and take notice. There's nothing particularly folky or electronic about "O Holy Night"--it's just a beautiful traditional rendition. To get the free download of "O Holy Night", you will have to register here, but that basically means you surrender your email address which we Christmas Music hounds do all the time anyway.

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TUMULTO - RIVER

12/18/2015

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Hey, we get to stick another pin in the Christmas travels map. Although Tumulto is originally from Italy, the DJ/musician and visual artist recorded this for the Greek Fytini label last year. Tumulto has done some work here and there and produced the records of other artists. He's now believed to be working on his debut album.

In the midst of recent economic turmoil in Greece, Fytini issued a 44 track long Christmas concept album last year, "XMAX". I have a few Greek Christmas records in my collection (mostly stuff that was done at one time or another in the Eurovision competitions, then released commercially)--good stuff. So I rushed to download the collection without previewing it first. Let me potentially save you some time. Unless you're into the farthest of the far out--recordings of coughs, sneezing and flushing toilets, and spoken word pieces delivered over the most discordant sounds, there's not much to be done with the bulk of "XMAX". The periodic narrations are actually quite interesting but there isn't as much music as you'd think on a 44 track album and not much of it makes me feel like Christmas. Buried in "XMAX", however, is Tumulto's cover of Joni Mitchell's "River" and that one should be welcome in any holiday collection. Tumulto's Electro Pop rendition retains all of Joni's intended sadness and beauty, and may even add a level or two more.

Tumulto's "River" is included in Fytini's "XMAX", which is free for the taking on Bandcamp. Grab the song (track 34) or the whole album (but preview first...just sayin').

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CLARISSE PICO - MODERN CHRISTMAS NIGHT

12/17/2015

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I downloaded this one a while ago and didn't think about it much further. But, as I was going through my downloads recently, it stuck out as a really nice Christmas Techno Pop instrumental. Made me feel kinda Christmassy, which means I probably should have shared it with you earlier.

"Modern Christmas Night" is composed and performed by Clarisse Pico, who bills herself (on Soundcloud, at least) as 1122Music. She's a young German artist whose music is generally more Club/Dance oriented. Her single "I Need You" appears to have brought some visibility to her talents. I've never been a Club guy (and you really don't want to see me dance), but she got the mood just perfect on "Modern Christmas Night". It's very sweet and sentimental (in a Techno Pop kind of way). Some of her other tracks on Soundcloud are pretty compelling in their own right (even for a non-Club non-dancer like me). You can download "Modern Christmas Night" free at Soundcloud. And keep up on the latest from Clarisse via Facebook or her web site.

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VARIOUS - A VERY RELEVANT CHRISTMAS

12/17/2015

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1. Sugar and the Hi-Lows, "Jingle Bells"
2. Ellie Holcomb, "Christmas For You And Me"
3. Citizen Shade, "Go Tell It On The Mountain"
4. Evan Wickham, "End Of Exile"
5. Hoyle, "Long Winters"
6. Ben & Nolle, "Angels We Have Heard On High"
7. Citizens & Saints, "Come And Stand Amazed"
8. Kings Kaleidoscope, "O Come All Ye Faithful"
9. Fleurie, "Wake Up (O Night Divine)"
10. Kids, "The Bleak Midwinter"
11. The Modern Post, "What Child Is This (feat. Dustin Kensrue)"
12. The Brilliance, "Christ The Lord Is Born"

1. Sleeping At Last, "I Heard The Bells"
2. Kyle Cox, "Don't Make My Christmas Blue"
3. John Mark McMillan, "Joy To The World"
4. Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors, "Hark The Herald Angels Sing"
5. Gungor, "Oh Light (feat. All Sons & Daughters)"
6. Tow'rs, "Auld Lang Syne"
7. Found Wandering, "Lo How A Rose E're Blooming"
8. Andy Squyres, "Here Is Wisdom"
9. Jeremiah Daly, "Away In A Manger"
10. Josh Hoke, "Peace On Earth"
11. Branches, "O Come O Come Emmanuel"
12. The Oh Hellos, Mvmt III, "Silent Night, Holy Night"

If you want to sample a wide swath of CCM--or just listen to a ready-made CCM mixtape, there's the annual collection from the on-line Relevant magazine. They're up to Volume 5, this year, of "A Very Relevant Christmas". It was released in two parts, but its all together now. This is one of those sites where you have to register and then verify your email (or you can "connect with Facebook", which I recommend you never do; Facebook is far too free with the sharing of far too much information for my taste).

"A Very Relevant Christmas, Vol. 5" features lots of artists we've featured before--Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors, Sleeping At Last, Sugar & The Hi-Lows, The Oh Hellos, and Found Wandering, to name a few--as well as bands and artists that were new to me and may be to you as well. A couple of bands that were new to me (probably...I go through so much Christmas music, its hard to remember everybody) that I very much enjoyed were Ben & Noile, who provided a splendid up-beat New Wavey Electro Pop take on "Angels We Have Heard On High" and Fleurie, a Nashville based Folk Pop artist/band whose "Wake Up (O Night Devine)" recalled for me the best of that genre (I'd throw out names like A Fine Frenzy or Tori Amos, but my head's a little crowded right now and I'm not sure those are the right names).

Anyway, some good stuff and free (for an email addy). "A Relevant Christmas, Volume 4" is still available, as are some non-Christmas collections. Register at Relevant.

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SASHA BROWN - CHRISTMAS MORNING

DENMARK + WINTER - AND IT'S CHRISTMAS TIME AGAIN

ELLIE GOULDING - O HOLY NIGHT

TUMULTO - RIVER

CLARISSE PICO - MODERN CHRISTMAS NIGHT

VARIOUS - A VERY RELEVANT CHRISTMAS

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