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).
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).
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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.
Whether it's personal biases or there are truly significant differences in arrangements, etc., I can't help but feel NSYNC sounds better when anybody but they are singing their music. Loren Smith gives the track plenty of energy and a little bit of Soul, making "Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays" sound like finger-popping fun. And, hey, you "war on Christmas" folks--kindly note that it needn't be either/or; you can say both Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Here's the proof. Loren Smith, by the way, is a Los Angeles based Pop and Soul singer who has been called "the Luther Vandross of the next generation". So he's got that going for him, which is nice. Download "Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays" free at Soundcloud. 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.
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.
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.
The Holidaze are a Pop Punk supergroup featuring members of Good Charlotte (Joel), 5 Seconds of Summer (Ashton), Simple Plan (Pierre), and Goldfinger (John). Along with Alex Gaskarth, the artists got together to record "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" to help promote the Ryan Seacrest Foundation, a 501c3 non-profit that seeks to inspire today's youth through entertainment and education focused initiatives. They ask that you consider making a contribution of whatever you can afford.
"Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" starts out traditional (showing off some serious pipes) but finishes in a rousing Pop Punk flourish. It's intended as a free download. The group has blown through their Soundcloud download allotment, but you can now download the song here.
An Irish lass, Lauren Bird laments that she, as yet, doesn't have enough money to book time in a real recording studio. Everything on "Christmas Time" was played, recorded, and mixed by her. That being the case, there's a part of me that hopes she never raises enough money for the studio. This sweet slice of Indie Pop is perfect the way it is and I can't imagine recording it "professionally" could make it any better. "Christmas Time" has the kind of Indie Pop sound that enchanted me in the first place, way back when. It's simple, light, delicate, innocent, sincere and intimate. While there's certainly a place in the world for the Wall of Sound, there is also a place in the world for a track like "Christmas Time". And though I know she's not talking about turning this song into Roy Wood's Wizard, I'd tell her not to change a single note. It is perfect, just the way it is. You'll find "Christmas Time" written and sung by Lauren Bird as a "name your price" download on Bandcamp (won't even cost you your email) and a free download on Soundcloud.
Michael and Carissa were solo artists from opposite sides of the country, both on a path that figured to bring them success. In 2011, they met, fell in love, and decided to work on music together, forming Us The Duo. They built their success through Youtube and releasing singles through other social media and have since released two full albums. Oh, yeah, they got married somewhere in there. Did I forget to mention that? Us The Dup have released a Christmas song this year, "I'll Be There Soon", and made it available as a free download on Noisetrade. It's one of the sweetest tunes I've heard this season, featuring Indie Pop style with Jazz Pop sensibilities. I could see Michael Buble doing this in duet--maybe with Carly Rae Jepsen (OT, but I'm glad Buble is keeping up with the annual Christmas specials; somebody needed to do that and it was super cool to see Sharon Jones on there this year). Anyway, as I'm sure Michael and Carissa thought when they met, you do not want to let this one get away. Head to Noisetrade and download "I'll Be There Soon" from Us The Duo.
Salton Sea is ostensibly the solo project of Virginia's Mark Strong. Mark has been a longtime stalwart of the Virginia music scene as a member of other bands, but he figured it was time to fly on his own. Primarily an Indie Rock artist, "In Christmas Time" is more Indie Pop--sort of along the lines of Owl City, but a tad closer to Alt Rock. If I had to sum up the theme of "In Christmas Time", I'd say it's "Be the change you wish to see in the world." Yeah, the world is kinda crazy right now and people are miserable to each other far too much. But the answer is neither to up the ante on being rotten to other people (ANY other people) nor to put your head down and withdraw. It solves nothing to do nothing. You wish people were nicer to each other--and not just in December? Make it so. If you, yourself, decide to be nicer to others (regardless of what they do), guess what? You just made the world a nicer and better place. That's how its done, son....one person at a time. Be the first on your block. Start a trend. And, because I know you're going to strive to be nicer to those around you.... Here, have a free Christmas song from Salton Sea. Use the widget up top or trek over to Soundcloud.
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The FREE ListHere 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. Archives2010 FREE List Categories
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