Not much to say about this one except that Appleme is a Moscow based band (yes, the one in Russia), A little Alt Rock, a little Electronica. And their slightly broken English is charming. But, really, what it comes down to is that it's new, it's free, and it's not really bad EDM...which is mostly what you're going to find on Soundcloud this week. So lend an ear to Appleme's new New Year's tune, "Meet The Happy Year" and download it free at Soundcloud. But be warned...you've just been Appled.
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I've had this discussion before. For the generation before mine, the Christmas movie was "A Christmas Carol" with Alistair Sim. For my generation, it was "It's A Wonderful Life". For the generation after mine, it's "Christmas Story". So what is it for the next generation? Some will answer "Christmas Vacation" or "Home Alone" or "Elf". "Elf" is too recent anyway, so you can rule that one out. The correct answer is "Die Hard". And, with this just released Christmas tribute to the 1988 action thriller, I now have proof. Don't give me polls that say that nearly two-thirds of Americans don't think "Die Hard" is a Christmas movie at all. How bout you just ask the specific generation that's making the choice? The generation that has chosen "Die Hard" as their Christmas movie doesn't care what the rest of us think about it.
"It's Christmas Time, Mr. Falcon!" is ten tracks of retro Synth Pop goodness that take you right back to movies from the eighties. Truthfully, as often as not, these songs more recall "Beverly Hills Cop" than "Die Hard" (no surprise, since the Retro Promenade label also released a comp paying tribute to Harold Faltermeyer, the man who scored those Eddie Murphy flicks, earlier this month). But the two tracks from Who Ha--the only vocals on the collection--clearly come from the "Die Hard" generation and likely inspired the set's theme. They're also easily the best tracks on the set. "It's Snowin" sounds like a cross between Tears For Fears, Men Without Hats, and Simple Minds. Though it's essentially a one-line song that lasts over six minutes, it works. But "Merry Christmas To Me" is the song that lays out all the love for John McClane and the "Die Hard" franchise, while specifically dissing all the other Christmas movie pretenders ("Jingle All The Way", "The Santa Clause", "Home Alone"). "John McClane became a hero on my TV screen. That was Christmas to me." That's all they needed to say. Kondrath's "Solemn Holiday" is also excellent. "Yuletide" by Jurgen Desmet fits the "Die Hard" theme and also sounds sufficiently Christmasy. The one fly in the ointment for me was Dress 2 Kill's "Slopestyle" which gave me a headache. "It's Christmas Time, Mr. Falcon" is free from Retro Promenade on Bandcamp. And, if you look around a bit, you'll find 2013's "It's Christmas Time!" and last year's "It's Christmas Time Again!"--also free. Although I would advise them to stop using the exclamation point as I think JEB! has ruined that forever. 
Wait. Did I know these folks were from the UK? I don't know if I did. I'm an idiot.
Golau Glau is an anonymous collective of artists, musicians and photographers and they can usually be counted upon to release a Christmas EP of fascinating experimental Electronica. This year, we get a single tune, bit one that remains "free and festive". "Adam Lay Ybounden" is an Olde English (technically macaronic English) poem from around 1400 AD. It was discovered centuries later among the poems and songs of a wandering minstrel. Since a wandering minstrel's "job" was to "entertain" (thereby earning tips and whatnot), the songs and poems they carried with them would cover a wide range--everything from deeply religious to depraved and bawdy. Most of their pieces, regardless of their subject matter, were delivered as satire and humor. Macaronic English was sort of a mongrel mix of various languages, including Latin. The term, itself, means "dumpling", a food considered "peasant fare". "Adam Lay Ybounden" is the minstrel's song of Adam following the fall of the Garden of Eden. Adam was condemned to spend "4000 winters" bound in Limbo from his banishment from the Garden until the crucifixion of Christ. "And all this for an apple", the song relates somewhat disdainfully, with the final verse expressing thanks to Jesus for eventually freeing Adam from bondage. At a time when the world was ruled by Kings who did pretty much as they pleased when they pleased--usually at the expense of the serfs and peasants--the tone of the piece was intended for them to relate...in essence: "look how unfair the punishment for the mere theft of a mere apple; praise Jesus for freeing him." And now that you are asleep from this dissertation of mine, enjoy "Adam Lay Ybounden" from Golau Glau. It's free on Bandcamp. 
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.  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.
 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'). 
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. 
01) Alice Bisi (Oh, Alice) - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
02) Hund - I'll Be Stoned For Christmas (Dent May cover) 03) Naughty Betsy - All I Want For Christmas (Yeah Yeah Yeahs cover) 04) Barbados - Just For A Place In Your Heart 05) Elizabeth Morris (Allo Darlin) - The Season (Padda remix) 06) OAK - Holiday (The Get Up Kids cover) 07) Husky Loops - Shy Guy 08) Baseball Gregg - Cyber Monday 09) Steven Lipsticks And His Magic Band - Christmas Thieves 10) Boys Age - Hey Oooh 11) X-Ray Picnic - Northern Exposure 12) Flood Regions - Leprechaun On The Moon 13) Yellow Yonder - The Runner 14) mesic - A Long December (Counting Crows cover) 15) RACE - Jesus Was A Communist (Reagan Youth cover) 16) Iron Only - Airplanes 17) SMASH - Switching Light 18) Qlowski - I Do not Wanna Be Capitalized 19) Wolther Rabbitt - Then there are secrets between us (demo) 20) Homelette - Song For U 21) Le Man Avec Les Lunettes - 15 Dollars For A Sandwich 22) Dj Bitterness - I Get Drunk Like Pizzul Because It's Xmas Without You 
Isn't that one of the best things you've ever heard? I don't even know if its a Christmas song. And I don't even care. And they're from Japan, believe it or not. Just wow. Mind blown.
A lot of our annual gifties have gone away. No Santastic this year. No Suburban Sprawl. No Alternate Root. No Cigar Box Nation. And this will be the last year for our annual present from Beta Radio. On the bright side, we still have Sofia Talvik's annual Christmas song, our stocking stuffer from Joe Algeri (the JAC), and the always superb collection from XO Publicity. My all-time favorite, though has to be "A Polaroid For Christmas". And they're back again this year with one of their biggest and best. Polaroid is an Italian music blog and, every year, the host of the blog asks bands and artists from all over the world if they might like to do a Christmas song--cover or original (or at least a song to keep one company whilst trimming the tree). And from that simple request comes some of the absolutely, hands down, no question BEST Indie Christmas music you will ever hear anywhere. Every year! It's unbelievable how good this stuff is. Some will make it into the circuit via Bandcamp or Soundcloud, but many/most will not. And it's free to download. Every year! We are truly living in blessed times (well, as far as free Indie Christmas music goes). There's always a little something for everyone--nice little Indie Pop tunes, Shoegaze, Electronica, LoFi Indie Rock, Alt Folk, Dream Pop, Punk Country...seriously, they'll run the gamut. Now...it's getting a bit late and, normally, I'd just go later and break it down for you. But Mrs. Katz (not her real name) has another doctor's appointment tomorrow (Shhh. I didn't tell her this time), so I need to get to bed. And, to tell you the truth, I listened to this whole thing and, if I were to list my favorites, I'd be listing about 20 of the 22 tracks. So I'm going to let you find your own favorites (it's all free, after all). I will mention my very, very favorites real quick--tracks 1, 5, 10, 11, 20 and 21. Go get the whole shootin' match from Polaroid. And should you find yourself wanting to dig deeper into the artists and their music (like Boys Age up there), Polaroid has everything all linked up for you. 
Not to over think it, but you could see Scandinavian Dream Pop as one branch of the evolutionary tree that grew from the Beatles. Or you could see them as entirely different things. On their holiday EP "All Best Intentions", The Paperback Throne seem to draw equally from those two sources. Yet they label their own music Alt Folk and Folktronica. Now, me, I just like the music. Call it whatever you want. And, although I will usually sample an artist's non-holiday catalog, I didn't do that here. For one thing, I'm tired (hey, just being straight with you). For another, the music on "All Best Intentions" speaks for itself. And it speaks quite well.
The EP opens with a rocking "Resolution", but its track two that I've fallen in love with. "No Mean Christmas" is just a perfect Christmas song. I believe it's actually at least a few years old, but its new to me. The song features an insistent rhythm lying beneath vocals as soft and airy as a dandelion's white floaties. The chorus and instrumental breaks get downright Grunge and Psych, but the vocals remain pretty much on the softer side of Sears. The tune is perfect, just perfect. So I have to wonder how I missed it for two years. And I have to wonder why there wasn't more chatter about it. "One Simple Kiss" is a ballad, a beautiful composition that sounds almost like it came out of a Lennon-McCartney ballad songbook. And "Killin to Killearn" reminds me a bit of George Harrison's "Within You Without You", without the sitars and Indian influence. The Paperback Throne hail from Glasgow, Scotland, and you could just as easily compare their music to that of Indie favorites Low. The group seems to have been fairly quiet in 2015, not posting much to their Facebook or Twitter pages. But they do have a gig later this month (at Bloc in Glasgow so, no, I won't be there). I suspect they just found social media a bit of a drag (as I do--so maybe that's just projection). Grab "All Best Intentions" at Bandcamp and pray the group has some more Christmas music in them.
Why is it we get so much great music from Scandinavia?
I do not know the answer to that question, but I get that, for a certain kind of sound, that's where you'll go to find the best of it. Specifically Indie Pop and Dream Pop. Featherfin is from Norway. In addition to being a musician (whose experience ranges from Synth Pop to Industrial), and an artist (of the physical kind--paintings and the like), he's also been a blogger. He gave up blogging for a while because he would get so many emails from bands and musicians hoping to get a hearing, that he could never hope to answer them all, let alone review all their music. And that made him feel guilty and a little bit helpless. I hear you, dude. Featherfin returned to blogging when it dawned on him that being able to do even a little bit to promote a few artists was a greater contribution to the music than doing nothing. Musically, Featherfin (real name Knut Lindbjør) is currently in an experimental phase where the music is as much art as is the...well, art. There are elements of Electronica, Psych Pop, Indie Folk, Ambient, Post Punk and Dream Pop in the songs Featherfin writes. One of his best, "If You Were Coming In The Fall", is actually an Emily Dickinson poem put to music. He's not strictly electronic; there are organic elements and instruments used as well, which is part of what makes Featherfin's music alive and unique. 
"Wintersongs" features three tracks, two of which are instrumentals. And those are pleasant enough, but the vocal track--"When The Snow Was Whiter"--is the one that takes my breath away. And you should get the idea straight off. As we grow older, we look back on the days and years past with an idealized view, which was never the reality. I guess it's a bit of a survival mechanism. On the other hand, it's neither true nor healthy nor productive to strive to get back to an era in time that never existed in the way we like to remember it. Living through it as an adult, I never though anyone would be nostalgic for the eighties. But, today, people are. So when Featherfin sings that the snow used to be whiter, what he's actually saying is that we used to be so much more innocent when we were young. When we were young, all we could see was the whiteness of the snow. Now, no matter how hard we look, all we see is the soot. It's the same snow, basically; it's a matter of how our minds and hearts process the information.
The entire "Wintersongs" EP is available as a name-your-price download at Bandcamp. But, if you feel like tossing a coin in the pot, you could be entered into a drawing for a signed and numbered Giclee print of his original artwork for "Butterfly Girl". Just throwing that out there (details at Bandcamp).
I can at least prove that not ALL of the great music comes from Scandinavia. Eardrums Music (Featherfin's label) also counts the L.A. band Winter on their roster. It's not a Christmas song, but go listen to Winter's most recent single "All The Things You Do". You'll thank me later. |
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