Category: Progressive

BROOKE D - NEW YEARS BLUES

12/29/2015

We were doing Blues on the front page today, so I stumbled across "New Years Blues" by Brooke D, a native of the California coast currently based in Portland, Oregon (I think). Oddly enough, this tune isn't (strictly speaking) Blues. It's a cappella Folk Jazz. What it is is interesting and different. And you know that "different" is one of my favorite words. "New Years Blues" is from Brooke's 2011 EP "A Kinder Winter" and you can download all three tunes free from Bandcamp. Dig around and you'll find a live version that's also free. Brooke is currently working on a real honest to goodness album which hopefully sees the light of day in 2016.

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RICKIE LEE JONES - CHRISTMAS IN NEW ORLEANS

12/18/2015

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I'm pretty sure we gave you the heads up earlier this year that Rickie Lee Jones' new album, "Other Side Of Desire", contained the song "Christmas In New Orleans". Well, Rickie Lee is including that song with two other of her Christmas recordings as free downloads from her web site. The other two--"Oh Holy Night" and "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"--have been around a while longer, so we gave the title above to the new one (and, yes, "Oh Holy Night" is the one recorded with the Chieftans). Rickie has been offering her Christmas songs off and on for years ("Christmas In New Orleans" bumped "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas"). At one time, you could even buy a physical disc (a CD-R, IIRC) of the Christmas tunes from her web site. Now the thing to remember with Rickie's free Christmas downloads is there is no set schedule for their availability. They might be gone by the time I post this or they could last through Christmas. Some years Rickie has offered them for just a couple of days (like, honestly, two days) and then they're gone. So, if you don't already have them, head to Rickie's web site without delay. The version in the video was recorded at/for WFUV. The free download is from the album.

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VARIOUS - A POLAROID FOR CHRISTMAS 2015

12/15/2015

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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.

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VARIOUS - POP A NOEL

12/12/2015

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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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BROOKE D - NEW YEARS BLUES

RICKIE LEE JONES - CHRISTMAS IN NEW ORLEANS

VARIOUS - A POLAROID FOR CHRISTMAS 2015

VARIOUS - POP A NOEL

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