Category: Indie

Stubbys House of Christmas

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.

DENMARK + WINTER - AND IT'S CHRISTMAS TIME AGAIN

12/18/2015

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.

ELLIE GOULDING - O HOLY NIGHT

12/18/2015

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.

IAN McNAMARA - (ON THE) EVE OF CHRISTMAS EVE

12/18/2015

I loved this song as soon as I heard it, but I've put off posting it in the hopes of learning more about Ian McNamara. I've come up with nothing. I do not believe this is the same Ian McNamara from Australia. This Ian McNamara is from London. He could be the music teacher Ian McNamara, but there's not enough for me to say yes or no. Doesn't seem to be a website and there are Ian McNamaras beyond the counting on Facebook. And, yes, I also tried "iMC". I give up.

So whoever you are, Ian McNamara, thank you for this lovely Christmas song, "(On The) Eve of Christmas Eve". There's a sort of Peter & Gordon quality to this song (and a necessary message), which is free to download on Soundcloud (as are the other Ian McNamara songs here).

LEGENDS OF COUNTRY - FROM ST GEORGE TO SNOWFLAKE

12/17/2015

We featured this song from Legends of Country last year as the flip of the Christmas single, "It's A Long Way Back From A Dream". But then it wasn't free and now it is. Legends of Country is the side project of Jof Owen of The Boy Least Likely To. It's not quite Indie Pop and not quite Americana. Alt Country? Anyway, "From St. George To Snowflake" tells the tale of an all night drive from St. George Utah to Snowflake Arizona. Whether or not the sound qualifies as Americana, the subject matter certainly does. Nothing more American than small towns with evocative names. Nice tempo, nice lyrics on this one, though I preferred the A-side (which was actually a New Years tune). Grab the tune free at Bandcamp or Soundcloud.

GINGER COYLE - IT FEELS LIKE CHRISTMAS

12/17/2015

Gone are the days when WXPN's The Key would give us an entire album's worth of Christmas tunes (one a day, sometimes more), or so it seems. But they'll still drop one or two seasonal songs from Philly's best Indie acts--usually in the day or two around Christmas. "It Feels Like Christmas" is a sweet Jazzy shuffle from Ginger Coyle that The Key posted last December 26th. Chances are you weren't hunting down Christmas tunes the day after Christmas. So, if you missed it--as we did--you can still grab it free from WXPN's The Key.

JOHN HARDY - LET'S CALL A CHRISTMAS TRUCE

12/17/2015

This is one of the reasons I still sift through Soundcloud. Because, every once in a while, there's a gem like this--an original voice. I've never heard nor heard of John Hardy before (not this one, anyway). My guess is no one outside of England has. He's spent years working in other people's bands and doing odd jobs to pay the bills. Now he's going it solo. "It's taken me a long time to be able to write these songs. Trying to find my own voice," John says, "not to copy and be original is something not always rewarded in music, but it's something I strive to be." He's got a growing following in England's Folk music circles and just released an EP, "Our Mate John", earlier this year.

But who, outside of those who already know him, is ever going to hear this Christmas song? It's essentially a demo and, if it ever makes its way to a physical release, its likely to go through changes. That's why I feel the need to sift through all the muck (and mire) at Soundcloud. It's a rescue mission.

"Let's Call A Christmas Truce" plays well on multiple levels but, on the main one, it's a song about a soldier at war. Most of the Christmas war songs you hear play "big", by which I mean you never actually get the feeling you're looking at any one individual person. Think of one of the greatest war Christmas songs--"Christmas In The Trenches". It's genius; I wouldn't say otherwise. But, even though its a first person narrative, you never really feel you get to know Francis Tolliver. That's not a criticism. Tolliver's role in the song is to be a kind of everyman. But, once in a while, it's necessary to bring the camera in for a close-up on just one person. By being that close up on one soldier, he becomes an everyman by virtue of being real.

"Let's Call A Christmas Truce" has that kind of focus. Instead of a big war is going on and, oh yeah, here's a song about the soldiers in it, this one is here's a guy alone, away from home, depressed, lonely, not much hope for the future, a little bored even and, oh yeah, there's a war going on around him. See what I'm trying to say?

Great lyrics throughout. "The rich get rich, the saints get shot. God don't answer prayers a lot." "The Bible's not replying, so we pray upon these guns. This cigarette could be our last through Matthew, Mark & John. These boys aren't fit for killing, so survive another day. Let's call a Christmas truce today." And the music works it perfectly--bare and intimate with those twinkling sounds we immediately associate with happy Christmas music sounding so sad.

A beautiful song from John Hardy. I hope we hear more from him. "Let's Call A Christmas Truce" is a free download via Soundcloud.

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.

CLARISSE PICO - MODERN CHRISTMAS NIGHT

12/17/2015

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.

VARIOUS - A VERY RELEVANT CHRISTMAS

12/17/2015

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.