We first featured Bonnie & The Barrows in 2016, when they gifted us the wonderful "Christmas Brand New". The Chicago Alt Country band didn't do anything seasonal last year, but they're back again with a pair of Christmas presents for 2018. "Brighten Up My Year" is the A-side and, with lines like "I may get better, but I'll never be well", you know it's another winner. But let's give a little love to the virtual flip, "A Boy and His Truck". "A Boy and His Truck" is a spoken word Christmas story, which we don't hear much of anymore, told over steel guitars and a loping prairie rhythm. Every year, in a small town, the boy would fire up his truck and deliver presents to the children of the town. But, one year, the boy and his truck didn't show. You can imagine the disappointment. I'll let Bonnie & The Barrows tell you the rest of the story. But it's neato keen...and both sides can you be yours for one name-your-price at Bandcamp.
"It's Christmas, Volume III" is the annual Philadelphia holiday collection, for which all proceeds go to support the ACLU. It's an assortment put together by Sure! (Will DeNola and friends) and contains mostly Pop, some of it lo-fi. The selections from Sam DeMartino and Molly Twigg are excellent, especially their cover of "Always Tomorrow" from the Rudolph soundtrack (there's one that doesn't get covered a lot), and Sure's "I Believe In Santa Claus" is worthwhile. But it's Sam DeMartino's solo effort, the Jangle Pop "Twinkle Lights" that's the standout of this collection. Can't really tell whether his lady love (the twinkle lights that complete his Christmas tree) is really coming home or if he's simply delusional, but let's not waste too much time over-analyzing a sweet and simple Yuletide love song that twinkles like the lights in it's title. "It's Christmas, Volume III", and it's two predecessors, are name-your-price at Bandcamp. And, just a reminder, any proceeds raised support the ACLU (and, boy, we need them now, more than ever; not for nothin', but they're putting numbers on the arms of asylum seeking children, now, before they ship them to that Texas concentration camp and we all remember the last time such a thing was done. I didn't use to be an "open borders" guy, but, in light of the inhumanity of Trump, I am now. I don't like to get political on a holiday music blog but this s#&! has gotten totally out of hand. These refugees and asylum seekers are better Americans than most of us will ever be, and Trump proves it every day.).
O Youth have their own version of an Advent Calendar, combined with the 12 Days of Christmas. Their annual name-your-price collections of Christmas music make one song playable each day up until Christmas, at which point you can grab the whole thing.
Based in Knoxville, O Youth describe their style as Art Punk or Doom Folk, but I think that's more of an inside joke than a genre description as I'm finding everything to be very accessible Indie Folk Rock, Indie Folk Pop, and some Alt Country. Their originals are great, but they breathe surprising life into the covers, too (and, more or less, doing them straight). This is the quintessential example of a group enjoying what they're doing so much that you can't help but enjoy it, too. As the title of "The Seventh Day of Christmas" might imply, O Youth has been at this for a while. So catch up on the first six "days" (from 2012-2017) and, come Christmas, you'll have 12 new packages to open. For you political animals, there's "When Trump Repeals Christmas" on the 2016 collection. And O Youth will always have a place in my holiday music hall of fame for covering the Coca Cola jingle "The Holidays Are Coming" on their 2017 set. I still have to go back and check the earlier "Days", myself. It's all waiting for you at Bandcamp. 
I've been looking for something like this...some mellow Electronica with Beats. There's something very Christmasy about mellow Electronica with Beats. I don't know why, exactly, but why ask why?
"Winter's Eve" is an EP from Los Angeles based Last Summer. The title track is gorgeous and dreamy, but too damn short for my head. Run that sucker for 4 minutes, please. "Frozen Meadow" is even shorter. But "Warm By The Fire With You", as Goldilocks might say, is just right. It's got the right tempo, the right Christmas feel, and it runs a good 3 minutes and 22 seconds. So thank you, Last Summer, I feel much better now. Ahhhhhhhh.... The "Winter's Eve" EP from Last Summer is name-your-price at Bandcamp. 
Cross The Proclaimers with Peter & Gordon and you've got The Brothers Fife. Something about a Scottish accent. Am I right or am I right (or am I right)? The Brothers Fife are Gary Griffin and Uncle Isaac, born and raised in Fife, Scotland...oh, wait, that's the "official" version. They're actually Grant Jeffrey, originally from Kingskettle, and Andrew Lennie, of Newburgh. Lennie, I believe, is the one in the kilt.
Back in 2015, being, uh, cash poor, they recorded a Christmas song (or 3) as a gift for the family. "Christmas Holidays" was something of a local hit. So they followed with "Christmas (I'm A Fan)" in 2016, which was their tribute to the Proclaimers. In 2017, it was "A Little Love For Christmas", reflecting Uncle Isaac's inability to get a date. Deciding that was a bit melancholy, The Brothers Fife went uptempo Folk Pop, this year, with "Wintertime Lovin'"--giving Isaac a full-on love story (the joke is they say they auditioned actors for the video in the belief that Isaac would not be convincing in a romantic lead). So is Christmas music the only thing they've done? Almost. They recorded a sweet Valentine's Day single, "Young Lovers", earlier this year and are now plotting a soccer anthem for 2019. And things are definitely looking up for The Brothers Fife. They're actually playing out live, now, selling the maximum 50 tickets at The Dragonfly in Edinburgh. If you're in the neighborhood, they'll be back for shows on December 21 and 22, playing all their Christmas hits. "Wintertime Lovin'" is backed by "Hey Santa (I'm In Love With Your Mrs.)", which is also fun. Name-your-price at Bandcamp and pick up the rest of The Brothers Fife catalog for the same.
Feels like we haven't had much free Pop Punk this year. I remember when pretty much all the free ones were Pop Punk. I guess we cycle through genres like socks these days. So here's one from a Yonkers group with a somewhat sinister looking logo. Nothing sinister about Shakeout's Christmas single, though. "Happy Holidaze" is just the sort of peppy poppy Pop Punk we've known through the years. The song is name-your-price at Bandcamp, with any proceeds going to VH1's Save The Music Foundation.
(Bouncy Uke music playing)
Tom: Well, gee, is this just gonna be another one of those generic Christmas songs? (Music stops. Long pause.) Michael: Yep!
But it really isn't. That's how Pennsylvania's Box of Books open their Yuletide single "The Christmas Special", leading into the original "Appalachian Christmas". From the title alone, you can tell it's not generic. Box of Books play Indie Alt Folk that borders on Alt Bluegrass (is there such a creature?). Not a single thing generic about that.
I like different sounds in my Christmas mixes. I get bored listening to the same sounds for too long. Box of Books has a different sound. No one's going to be reaching for the Phil Spector analogy here.
"Appalachian Christmas" is nice. It's sort of the Folk version of Squirrel Nut Zippers. But I find myself partial to the Alt Bluegrass feel of Box of Books' cover of the traditional "Star In The East". To tell you the truth, I've noticed a lack of interesting and quality takes on the spiritual side of the season this year. Or maybe I just find them more appealing as we roll closer to the Day. If you, like I, appreciate a variety of sounds on your mix, "The Christmas Special" is name-your-price at Bandcamp.
And speaking of good Pop songs. Well, that was a few days ago, I guess. "Waiting For Santa" is a nice snappy unpretentious Pop song from Anna & Brian. Brian is Minnesota's Brian Heilman, whose Bandcamp site is listed as Boy on the Wall. No clue who Anna is.
No deep meaning behind the song. Good girl, bad boy, waiting for Santa. And that's good enough for me.
The virtual flip is a cover of Hanson's "At Christmas". But it's the A-side I like. Get 'em both from Bandcamp.
I don't know who originated "Helter Skelter Christmas", but, when I saw it on Bandcamp, I had to download it. The version, here, is by The Juggling Potatos, a conglomeration of New Jersey artists (some only identified by first names--perhaps those are the Bedrosians...or the Potatos) and is included on a 42 track collection "A Bedrosian Christmas". The "album" contains pretty much any Christmas song you can think of (including a cover of Bob Rivers' "I Am Santa Claus"). Some of its OK, some of it is meh. But, right in the middle, there's "Helter Skelter Christmas"--a Christmas parody to the classic Beatles tune.
There was a video of "Helter Skelter Christmas" posted to YouTube in 2011...same lyrics, different performance, also from New Jersey. Coincidence? You decide. Regardless, that one was uncredited and unavailable. So I'll take any "Helter Skelter Christmas" I can get. Download the whole 42-song "A Bedrosian Christmas" or just the songs you want a la carte from Bandcamp. 
There are always new Christmas songs that reflect the times in which they're written. "Do You Hear What I Hear?" was written in response to the Cuban Missile Crisis. "I'm Gonna Spend My Christmas With A Dalek" was written...well, you know why that one was written. With the current state of Fake News and Cyber Bullying and a President totally lacking in self-restraint, we get "No Mean Tweet Christmas" from Jazz vocalist Rhio.
Rhio's mother was Cuban, her father Hungarian, and she grew up with a desire to sing. In high school, the head of the music department told her she couldn't sing (What an a-hole. Seriously, what a horrible thing to tell a kid. Deep breath. No mean tweet, no mean tweet...). Thankfully, Rhio did not listen. I, one way or another, write. A wise teacher once told me, "If you can be discouraged from writing, you should be." In other words, if it's within you and it's your passion, no mean words (or tweets) will dissuade you from doing what you must (still...what an a-hole). Long story short, Rhio's been singing and recording music for at least the last decade (her debut album "Mas Amor" appearing in 2009). She's been heard on commercials and in films and continues to record. While Rhio loves music of all kinds, she's been hooked on Jazz for the last few years and it suits her. Since I rarely listen to anything other than Christmas music, these days, or music from artists I discover through their Christmas music, I'd say Rhio is one of those artists whose non-Christmas music appeals to me far more than her Christmas single. "No Mean Tweet Christmas" is fine. Nothing wrong with it. The sentiment is certainly appropriate. It's Christmas. Let's stop being mean to each other. And, after Christmas, let's continue with that. It's not political, not directed at the White House. It's directed to all of us. You want to point at someone else and how horrible they are...but have you been a good boy or girl all year? (Santa knows when you've been bad or good, you know). But it's not the next "White Christmas" (then again, what is?). But, I gotta say, checking out Rhio's latest full-length, "A Rhio Good Thing"...that I like. That I really like. As a Jazz singer, Rhio's a throwback. She's the "canary" in a film noir night club. Songs like "I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl" or "I'm Done With Cryin'"...I could listen to those all night. And "I'm A Jazz Radio Junkie" really swings. So use "No Mean Tweet Christmas" as an introduction and a jumping off point and check out Rhio's other Jazz records, "A Rhio Good Thing" and "Sunshine Girl". And don't ever let anybody tell you not to do the thing you love doing. Ever. You can download "No Mean Tweet Christmas" free from Soundcloud. And, while you're there, grab the virtual flip, as well--"Santa Baby". |
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