Category: Gospel Pop

ANDRE BYRD - GIVE IT AWAY

12/17/2015

Always room for a new Soul jam. Andre Byrd, based in Connecticut, ministers through music as he's been doing since he was 15 singing in his father's church. He founded his own music and arts organization in 2009 (180 Degree Enterprises) and has been focused on advancing the careers of other inspirational artists. But now, with his primary inspirational group on hiatus, he's working on his solo career.

For Christmas, Andre wrote this original song, "Give It Away", and that's just what he's doing with it. You can get Andre Byrd's "Give It Away" as a free download from his web site or via Soundcloud.

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SHUREE - GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN

12/15/2015

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More of these types of things don't work than do. But Shuree's "Go Tell It On The Mountain" is just right. The old Gospel warhorse never sounded so lively as on this House mix. If you're looking for Christmas music to get people movin' and groovin' on the dance floor, you can start right here. "Go Tell It On The Mountain" by Shuree is free on Noisetrade (its livelier than their usual fare, too).

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JOSH WRIGHT - CHRISTMAS DREAM

12/7/2015

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A youngish CCM artist from the tiny town of Celeste Texas, Josh Wright is on his third year of annual Christmas songs. For 2015, Josh has wrapped up his 3 original holiday tunes, tied a bow around them, and placed them under the tree for free downloading via Noisetrade.

"Christmas Dream" is clearly the bouncy Pop song of the three and was released, originally, in 2014 (though the EP version is remastered). The new one for this year is "I'm Coming Home", which is fall down beautiful. The strings are marvelous and the song should put anyone in a warm and wonderful holiday mood. And you can listen to the song on a secular level or a spiritual one (It's basically a Prodigal Son tale). And the little bit of "O Holy Night" in there? Genius. Harry Chapin did use "O Holy Night" for his song "Mr. Tanner" (and that, too, was brilliant), but, when Josh sings that line on "I'm Coming Home", you can feel him actually dropping to his knees, laying everything bare.

The 2013 Christmas song from Josh was "Christmas Time Is Here" (not the Vince Guaraldi tune). I'm less enamored of that one, though Josh does have a way with melody and imagery that's undeniable.

I'm sure we'll be hearing more from Josh--and more from Josh at Christmas time. In the mean time, head on over to Noisetrade for his "Christmas Dream" EP.

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JEREMY J. KING - KING AT CHRISTMAS

12/5/2015

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Do you know how, sometimes, you're expecting something and the thing you get is so different from what you were expecting? And, unprepared, it knocks you completely on your ass? And, for a moment, you don't know whether you were really blown away or if it was just the surprise that did it? Alright, just pretend for a second that you understand the gibberish I'm spouting and listen to this.

Now if that didn't just knock you completely on your ass, then, just.....get outta here. Go on. Go.

You sort of have to appreciate that probably 90% of what's on Soundcloud is total crap. And the other 9.9999% is Indie Rock and Indie Pop that is, for the most part, good enough to make it worth your while (barely) to go through that other 90%.

Jeremy J. King is originally from Georgia. He grew up singing in the church choir. He was recruited by the Columbus Boy Choir and sang with them until he was 12. At that point, he figured he was ready to go solo. He's been recording since then....since the age of 12. Not necessarily releasing anything, but recording. If my math is right, he's 22, now.

Jeremy just recently posted an entire EP of Christmas music, "King At Christmas", on Soundcloud. Now, he's still young and learning. So, yes, there are nits I can pik. He can get carried away with that thing Harry Schearer parodied recently, where he tries to fit more notes into a single syllable than he should. And, personally, I think the echo is higher than it should be. But, oh my God, go listen to "Who Would Imagine A King" again. That might be the most beautiful thing I've ever heard on Soundcloud (self produced, mind you).

Not every song on "King At Christmas" is in this vein. There's some contemporary Soul ("Christmas Around The World"), and a couple of nicely covered Pop Rock tunes ("Christmas Baby Please Come Home" and "Jingle Bell Rock"), and an Ambient Jazz spin on "Snowfall" that's nice and unique. The one track that doesn't work is "The Christmas Song"; it needs to be thrown overboard ASAP. But you should download the rest. You absolutely should download "Who Would Imagine A King" right now.

At the moment, the tracks on Jeremy's "King At Christmas" are all, individually, available as free downloads on Soundcloud. That probably isn't going to last forever (about half of the tracks were included on a Christmas EP last year, which is currently $7 on Bandcamp). While they are free, though, you need to get them. And it would be nice, in return, if you would at least check out Jeremy's current Kickstarter campaign. Pledge if you want to, don't if you don't, but at least hear him out. Solid.

1. Christmas Around The World
2. Winter Wonderland
3. Jingle Bell Rock
4. I'll Be Home For Christmas
5. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
6. The Christmas Song
7. Who Would Imagine A King
8. Snowfall

JEREMY J. KING WEB SITE
JEREMY J. KING on FACEBOOK
JEREMY J. KING on KICKSTARTER

DOWNLOAD KING AT CHRISTMAS

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The FREE List

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.

ANDRE BYRD - GIVE IT AWAY

SHUREE - GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN

JOSH WRIGHT - CHRISTMAS DREAM

JEREMY J. KING - KING AT CHRISTMAS

The FREE List

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