Category: Garage Rock

VARIOUS - POP A NOEL

12/12/2015

1. KISSAMILÉ Let It Snow (Cover)
2. MANUEL ÉTIENNE – All I Want For Christmas Is You (Mariah Carey Cover)
3. HOBOKEN DIVISION – Cookies & Milk
4. ORWELL The Man With All – The Toys (Beach Boys Cover)
5. EDDY LA GOOYATSH – Rise Up Shepherd And Follow (Traditional)
6. RICH DELUXE – The Clarinet That Roared
7. JULIEN BOUCHARD – Last Christmas (Wham! Cover)
8. POPANOËL – Interlude I
9. DIRTY WORK OF SOUL BROTHERS & RODGER N FURTER – Rougail Dinde
10. ESSIA ESCH – What Christmas Means To Me (Stevie Wonder Cover)
11. THE WISE DUDE’S REVOLVER – More Snow, Please…
12. ROMAIN THOMAS (LULLABIES) – A Cold Snow
13. TEQUILASAVATE Y SU HIJO BASTARDO – Noches En Posadas
14. TWIN PRICKS – Last Christmas (Wham! Cover)
15. KING AUTOMATIC & RICH DELUXE – Stay Drunk At Christmas
16. RÉMI SANTA AND FRIENDS – I ♥ X-Mas (Je Coeur Noël)
17. POPANOËL – Interlude II

A tip o' the hat to Lie In The Sound for bringing this collection of Indie Pop and Indie Rock to light.

Since I speak neither French nor German, I can tell you that "Pop A Noel" was put together by Europop, Emission Electrophone, and Nancy(?). Who and what they are, I haven't got a clue. Looks like Nancy might be a town. But I can tell you that this is the first such collection AND that there is an intention to do more.

Several of these tracks sound, to me, like opportunities unfulfilled. An artist has a great concept for reworking a seasonal standard but then just doesn't go anywhere with it. As a whole, I suppose I'd give "Pop A Noel" a "B". But there are some tunes that rise above the rest and would be welcome on any holiday mix or in any holiday library. And, hey, it's free and (so far) every track here is exclusive to this collection. So why quibble?

My personal favorite on a first run through was Hoboken Division's "Cookies & Milk" ("You can keep your cookies and milk/I'm drinking whiskey now"). It just sounds like the most fully realized Christmas song in the lot. Other tracks I liked a lot include Tequilasavante's "Noches En Posadas" (there's something winning about a punkish one-man-band singing a Christmas song in Spanish on a French compilation that is otherwise sung in English), King Automatic & Rich Deluxe singing "Stay Drunk At Christmas" (with its double-oh-seven Surf guitar), Rich Deluxe again on "The Clarinet That Roared" (with its relentless circus rhythm), and "Je Coeur Noel" by Remi Santa and Friends, which has the sweetest Indie sound and likely the most staying power for that. "Rise Up Shepherd And Follow" was pretty good, too. The one that got away, as it were--the one I so wanted more from-- was Essia Esch's cover of Stevie Wonder's "What Christmas Means To Me". She found a totally new groove for the song and it could have turned into something super special, but it needed something more--a second gear, or, I dunno-- and it never got there and just kind of gave up. Too bad, she's got a sweet sound. And its still better than 95% of the covers of that song.

Anyway, "Pop A Noel" is free for the taking on the Europop website, available in either MP3 or FLAC. Go get it.

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VARIOUS - A NOTROCK HOLIDAY COMPILATION, VOLUME 7

12/7/2015

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1. Hides A Well - Decorations
2. Sally - Christmas Isn't Over
3. Young Legs - First Day
4. Borrasca - Snowed In
5. Please Exist - Bleed Christmas Dry
6. We Have Ghosts - I Wish it was Christmas Today
7. Zack Frank - Winter Weekend
8. Nicole Grogan - Christmas Present
9. Deja Gravy - Yule
10. Joe Egan - I'll Be Home For Christmas
11. straight creep. - All I Want For Christmas Is A New Cellphone
12. John Fisher & Molly Farrell - Black Christmas
13. Murph - Memory Lights
14. We Use To Love - 12-31-????
15. The McCarthyists - Merry Christmas, or Hanukkah, or Whatever You Like to Call It
16. Tabitha Booth (feat. Jesse Hardy) - Winter Blues
17. Joe Egan - Play Your Flute For Grandma
18. Ezra Lowry - True North
19. Awjita - Linus & Lucy
20. Eric K - It's Time To Go

NotRock is a New Jersey DIY label and this their SEVENTH holiday compilation. They just put out the call--to anyone, really, and artists submit their Christmas songs. Hey, its DIY; that's how its done. So you get a little bit of almost everything, here--from Indie Folk to Punk. Twenty songs is a bit much for me to digest this time of year (I don't even want to think about the other six volumes), and there's actually plenty, here, that doesn't work for my head. There are a bunch I really kinda like. And there are TWO tracks from this collection I am in love with.

One of my two faves is the one represented in video (it does kind of bug me that Bandcamp comp players will just keep going, not stopping after the one song you want to feature; there must be a way to fix that, but I haven't figured it out yet). Awjita proves nothing less than the genius of Vince Guaraldi, as his "Linus & Lucy" sounds absolutely brilliant in this Psych Jazz cover. In general terms, it reminds me of the great jamming bands of the late 60s (Greatful Dead were the kings of it, but everyone was doing the free form thing at the time). Awjita, here, does remind me of a specific band, but I can't put my finger on it. Anyway Free Form Psych Jazz is about as different as you're going to find anywhere. And I like different.

My other fave is Nicole Grogan's "Christmas Present", a Lo-Fi Indie tune with a cool melody, some great guitar work, wonderful lyrics, and miles and miles of attitude. And, from that, you might think I was describing some raucous Metal or something. But, no, the song's genius is in its laid back self assurance. It reminds me a lot of the early days of Indie on the Internets, when some very talented people were making beautiful sounds that, at the same time, were simple, low tech and Lo-Fi.

Some others (the ones I "really kinda like") are Sally's Indie Pop "Christmas Isn't Over", Borrasca's "Snowed In" (also Indie Pop), "All I Want For Christmas Is A New Cellphone" (Pop Punk from straight creep), the atmospheric Alt Rock/Pop Punk New Year's tune from We Used To Love ("12-31-????"), Tabitha Booth's "Winter Blues" (still working out how to categorize that one--sort of a Bluesy Dream Pop...or maybe Shoegaze...or maybe all of the above), the Indie Folk of Zach Frank's "Winter Weekend", and Joe Egan's Alt Jazz/Ambient Electronica "Play Your Flute For Grandma". So that's not bad. I liked half of it. You might find yourself drawn to some of the others. But the two that (IMO) make venturing to Bandcamp for the free download are the tracks from Awjita and Nicole Grogan.

There were hard copy CDs of "A NotRock Holiday Compilation, Volume 7", but they were for the artists and the release show. If any are left over, I'd assume they'll turn up at NotRock's online shop where it looks like they still have copies of the first three at stupid low prices ($3 for a 22 song CD? C'mon, that's like stealing). The download versions are all loaded at Bandcamp and "name-your-price".

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LES DEUXLUXES - LA FILLE DU PERE NOEL

12/3/2015

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I have to confess that, in all my years of pursuing Christmas music--or any music, for that matter--I had never heard of Jacques Dutronc and "La Fille du Pere Noel" until Guuzbourg posted this one at Christmas A-Go-Go the other day. I feel like a bit of an idiot, but there you go.

Les Deuxluxes seem to have reworked the lyrics a bit in this tale of the girl they called Marie Noel, daughter of Father Christmas. If I had to sum up the plot for you, I'd put it like this: while there are no presents for bad little boys and girls, the truly wicked do just fine. And poor Santa--he just ends up frustrated.

Basically, though, this is old school Garage Rock N Roll......in French. And I love it for that. It's name-your-price at Bandcamp.

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VARIOUS - POP A NOEL

VARIOUS - A NOTROCK HOLIDAY COMPILATION, VOLUME 7

LES DEUXLUXES - LA FILLE DU PERE NOEL

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