I've seen this one around the Christmas sites, but, near as I could tell, it was pretty much a streamer and I don't like featuring streams. My general policy is, if you can't get the music, it doesn't exost. But that's all over, now, as They Might Be Giants have made "Christmas In The Big House" a free download. Yep. See that widget to the right? They're going to want your email, but then the tune is all yours. Or you can go over to their website (where they're still going to want your email).
They Might Be Giants have been around long enough to do several holiday tunes--both Christmas and Hanukkah--and their perspective is always unique. For anyone unaware of it's existance, here's their holiday EP, "Holidayland". Maybe they're working their way to a full album. |
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DOWNLOAD FREE AT CIGAR BOX NATION 1. Waiting for the Wise Men by Jim Morris 2. Sleekit Santa by C# Merle 3. Silent Night by Mark Jeghurs 4. Steve's Christmas Log by Jamie MacBlues 5. Christmas Credit Card Blues by Clint Lavens 6. A Cold and Snowy Night by CDA Ramirez 7. Wickerbee the Wannabee by Chuck Otto 8. Bug's Xmas Song - Have a Thought for Christmas by Buggy 9. Christmas Wishes by Eric Denton 10. Christmas Comin' Round Again by Glenn Kaiser 11. Christmasses Long Ago by Derek Rose 12. Doin' Shots with Santa Claus by RTZ Guitars 13. Into the Light - a Song for Advent by Henry Lowman 14. Love Love Love for Christmas by Mississippi Crawler Andries D 15. Coventry Carol (Trad. 15th Century) by Robert Killen 16. Away in a Manger by Henry Lowman 17. I Had A Beer With Santa Claus Today in My Lonely Christmas by Big Fat Tom 18. Kickin' the Snow Off My Boots by RTL CBGs 19. Kampusnacht by James Conder 20. Merry Cigar Box Christmas by James O Lunsford 21. Oh Yes It's Christmas by Smilingdog One of my favorite annual holiday collections of the last few years is "A Cigar Box Nation Christmas". Cigar Box Nation is a place where musicians who build and play instruments out of cigar boxes gather together and compare notes, swap stories, share songs. If you've never turned a cigar box into an instrument, but would like to try it, you'll find plenty of people there more than happy to help you on the journey. Honestly, hang out for a while and you get the feeling that these cigar box musicians and instrument makers are like kids who get to celebrate Christmas every day. And the instruments can range from the simplest you can imagine to concert ready electric guitars (here's a tip for you; if you're making your first one, start with the simpler designs). Since 2009, Cigar Box Nation's denizens have been putting together these Christmas music collections featuring cigar box instruments--for their own enjoyment and the enjoyment of anyone who stops by. They've always been free and they all still are. The music runs the gamut from Bluegrass to Blues to Hard Rock, although this year's set is heavy on Blues. It's amazing what you can do with a cigar box guitar (acoustic or electric) or banjo. Some of these folks are professional musicians and some are just hobbyists, so you get a full range of sound quality (although one basic rule they employ is that you have to be able to hear it; good rule). Unlike some postings in past years, I've actually had the chance to listen to the "2016 Cigar Box Nation Christmas". This year's collection is a relatively (for them) modest 21 tracks (last year's, in comparison, was 31). You'll find that's just about one song (3 or 4 minutes) too long for a single CD. The members, this year, were pushing each other to submit original songs, so the majority of these tracks are, indeed, as homemade as their instruments. Jim Morris opens the set in style with an original Folk Gospel number (with Celtic overtones), "Waiting For The Wise Men". I actually had to go back and read the discussions to make sure it was original because it sounds so much like all those old Folk carols, I initially thought it had been with us for a couple hundred years. Just a great, great song. My favorites, though...some tracks that truly blew me away...were C# Merle's "Sleekit Santa" and "Silent Night" by Mark Jeghurs. C# Merle's number feaures a Jazz flute playing over a Blues cigar box guitar/bass bed. Of course, I'm a sucker for flute, anyway, but the Jazz-Blues pairing works so much better than you'd imagine it would if someone (like moi) tried to explain it to you. But even "Sleekit Santa" was no match for Mark Jeghurs' Delta Blues "Silent Night". Oh, sure, you think you know "Silent Night", but I guarantee you've never heard this. This "Silent Night" is merely based on the one you know. It is a completely original song--original music (well...Delta Blues), original lyrics. Awesome squared and my pick for the collection's best. "A Cold And Snowy Noght" by CDA Ramirez is a stripped down Progressive Rock tune--another highlight. Eric Denton's "Christmas Wishes" is a wonderful Americana Christmas instrumental that legitimately makes you feel like Christmas. Glenn Kaiser's "Christmas Comin' Round Again" is perfect front porch Blues. I enjoyed Big Fat Tom's contribution, which I'd call Vince Guaraldi inspired Pop. And the one song that bothered me a little was Derek Rose's "Christmasses Long Ago". And it bothered me because it's on the cusp of being a great song, but it needs some collaboration--someone to tighten up the lyrics and music a bit. Do that, record it in a professional studio, and you've got a Jimmie Rodgers Folk Pop hit (the "Honeycomb" dude, not the other one). Of course, you have to remember that most of these folks are not professional songwriters and performers. Some of the music and words are probably very much off the cuff. But these are people having a blast and that always shines through. And, every year, a few of the tunes on "A Cigar Box Nation Christmas" will be among my absolute favorites of the season. Mark Jeghurs' "Silent Night" is going straight into the Stubby's Hall of Fame (or it would if there were one). I'm pretty sure all the old volumes are still available as well, but I don't have links handy (check the Stubby's archives; you'll probably find most of them). Poke around at Cigar Box Nation and you'll find some nice Christmas videos not on this collection. But, first, grab the free download of the "2016 Cigar Box Nation Christmas". PARENTAL ADVISORY (one use of the F-word). Vienna is supposed to be a beautiful, romantic city. But it doesn't matter where you go, there are always going to be lonely people for whom Christmas is just the coldest time of year. Some of them may well find their holiday warmth and cheer in a bottle of whiskey. I do love this anti-Christmas Alt Folk tune from Vienna's Schneida. And it comes in two flavors...English and German. In English, it's "Drunk Christmas". In German, it's "Blaue Weihnachten" (which is technically Blue Christmas, but we're not sticklers for detail around here). Schneida have a particular interest in American singer/songwriters (especially Todd Snider) and their ability to write slice of life songs. That's what Schneida tries to do. And, wherever in the world you are, wherever you're from and wherever you go, those little life moments are ultimately the same all over. Both the English and German versions of "Drunk Christmas" are free for your downloading pleasure HERE (right click, "save as") from Schneida. Kick around the website a bit and you might find an entire "bootleg" you can also download free. But they do ask one thing. "[D]ownload the song, but do something to 'earn' it - donate to your favorite charity, give a homeless person a cigarette, call your parents. Just do something you do not usually do, but do something that makes the world a slightly better place."
There has certainly been a proliferation of CCM artists recording Christmas music over the past 20 years or so. It may be hard to believe, but it wasn't that long ago that the most faithful Christian circles were openly disdainful of Christian artists recording contemporary music. About as contemporary as they wanted their Christmas music was Southern Gospel. Many of the radio gigs I had back in the day included shifts "running the board" for specialty programs. What frequently happened with these shows was that the "host" would record all his voice parts ahead of time (mostly "live" commercials), leave a stack of records, and never actually be there for the show. And one such show was a program of primarily Gospel music. Well, at Christmas (and I'm talking about probably three weeks worth), what do you think I did? Hey, I stuck to the stack of records provided, I swear. But the tracks weren't specified. So I pulled out the hippest sounding stuff I could find--the music on those records that leaned closest to Pop or Rock or straight Country, or Gospel with clear Jazz infliences. Well, a weird thing happened. The "host" would get complaints from the older part of his audience, but the numbers in the younger demographics grew considerably. I got a very mild rebuke (after Christmas). But the point is the same conclusion the church ultimately accepted. If you want to reach people with music, you'll reach more if it's their music. Think "Sister Act". Right? I don't know why I went through all that as the lead-in to this free download (for a limited time) from Free CCM. The website has gathered a diverse group of CCM artists and taken a few choice cuts from their Christmas releases, serving them up to anyone interested. MercyMe is clearly straight up Pop and Pop Rock ("God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" would have gotten me more than a mild rebuke, I promise you). I don't know anyone who doesn't like the Indie Folk Pop music of Sarah Groves. I was very fond of Phil Wickham's "Songs For Christmas", from which we get "Christmas Time". I'm less familiar with Laura Story and Phillips, Craig & Dean, but, again, you're talking about music that should be easily accessible to fans of Pop and Pop Rock. 10 songs in all. Not a bad return for your email address. Head here to get the set.
The LoFi Acoustic Trio would seem, from this number, to be neither Lo-Fi nor Acoustic, but more of an Indie Folk Pop thing. Although this band, based in Italy, have a new Christmas song for 2016 out--which we'll share for you in a bit--last year's "Xmas Time" was my favorite of the two. It's got a real nice Indie Pop sound and structure and a good holiday message.
There's a light that shines in every dark side. D'You know why? 'cause it's christmas time. There's a boy that whistles a song with no name , guess why? 'cause it's christmas time Yeah, I can get behind that. This year's Christmas song, "Xmas Folk", is pretty good, too. It's a bit more on the Alt Country side. But the title kind of confuses me. Check it out below. Both tunes are free to download via Soundcloud. If you happen to speak Italian, stop by their Facebook page and say Ciao.
So you say you're feeling down because the new Sloan Christmas single sold out before you could get one? Is that what's troubling you, bunky? Well lift your head up high and know that you can get a digital download of at least one side of the single for free. "The Noisetrade 2016 Holiday Mixtape" has arrived and, right off the bat, they hit a home run by having Sloan's "Kids Come Home At Christmas". The collection has lots of other good Christmas music, too. Old favorites like Sleeping At Last, Andrew Belle and Sugar & The Hi-Lows are joined by artists you may be less familiar with like Saintsenaca, Old Sea Brigade, and Trelia. There's even a nod to the Festival of Lights as the LeeVees classic "How Do You Spell Channukkahh" is included. Sure, the star, here, is Sloan. But there are no loser tracks and it's all free. After a quick sample, I'd say it's well worth your while to check out Trelia and Benjamin James. One thing of note. The collection does not appear to be streamable, so you're going to have to download it to hear it. But that's not a great inconvenience, being as it is a free gifty.
The Bartlett is a live music venue in Spokane, Washington. Not a huge place, but not a hole-in-the-wall either. A nice mid-size bar and live music place. It appears they have some appetizers at the bar, but I'm not sure what. I do know they've managed some pretty well known acts...David Bazan, Polyphonic Spree, Bonnie Pribce Billy, The Cave Singers, and more.
They opened in 2014 and, I guess to help get the word out, they put out a little free Christmas EP on Bandcamp at the end of the year. This is year 3 for "Bartlett Christmas" so now it qualifies as a tradition. My mind is telling me that the first year's was fairly folksy (but my mind does lie...a lot). Last year's collection was memorable for a couple of less folksy numbers...Wonder's "Cathedral Pearls" and Loomer's Shoegazy cover of XTC's "Thanks For Christmas". Volume 3 is a nice mix of both the Indie Folk and Indie Rock. I instantly fell in love with Folkinception's "358 Days", which demonstrates that lots of people dread Christmas for lots of different reasons. The kid who has to give up his bed for a week to his Uncle, the man who lost the woman he loved to his brother. It's been 358 days Since this godawful year began All I really want for the very next one Is for Christmas to just go away That's followed by a winning bit of Synth Pop from Lavoy, "Merry Christmas I Miss You". Americana from Prarie War and Jenny Anne Mannan is balanced by the Alt Rock of Violet Catastrophe. Mini Murders offer up a Dream Pop "Under The Ice" and the festivities close with Curran Long's heartfelt Indie spin on "I'll Be Home For Christmas". The balance offered by this year's "Bartlett Christmas" makes it a worthy entry, even if it weren't free...which it is. Grab it from Bandcamp. And pivk up the first two volumes while you're there.
1. The Diamond Center - Christmas Is Here
2. Soft Science - Marshmallow World 3. Bummer & Lazarus - A World Without Christmas 4. Josh Goodman - Christmas In The Valley 5. Bright Ideas - When You Think About Christmas Time 6. 2014 - You Gotta Love Christmas 7. Dylan Barnes - O Holy Night 8. Red Hot Fire - I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm 9. Knock Knock - White Christmas (Fog Version) 10. Charles Albright - White Christmas Minority 11. Gangee - Festivus (For The Rest Of Us) 12. The Strange Party - N(eg)ativity 13. Andy Tate - All I Want 14. Dylan Barnes - White Christmas 15. Danny Offer - The Christmas Party 16. Kittens Having Kittens - It's Warmer When You're Near 17. The Crow Canyon Boys - You Left Me On Christmas 18. The Enlows - Winterman 19. Matt Crap (from The MOANS) - Scary Christmas To All (And To All A Ghoul Night) 20. White Women Love Jazz - Yule Shoot Your Eye Out 21. The Ninja Family Orchestra - Jingle Bells DOMESTIC HONEY BLOG 22. Dylan Barnes - Carol Of The Bells FREE DOWNLOAD FROM BANDCAMP 23. The Croissants - Corn Cob Pipe PURCHASE CASSETTE FROM BANDCAMP 24. Tell el-Armana - First To Arrive 25. Han's Father - Christmas On Tatooine 26. The Caganers - (Poo Poo) Caga Tio 27. The Four Eyes - The Christmas Mash 28. Dylan Barnes - Silent Night
Remember this one? "A Christmas Comp For You From Sacramento" was the subject of a post we did years ago called "Stubby's Holiday Screw-Up". Feel free to look back at laugh, if you have a free moment. Earlier this year, the guy who put this together contacted me (having just learned that we had featured him back then). He had long wondered, he said, how people from all over the place had ever heard about this very, very local project done for fun. Well, he seems to think Stubby's had something to do with it. Maybe, maybe not. But the BIG news is that the comp is FREE TO DOWNLOAD AGAIN! YAY! And they had a new supply of cassettes, but they've been selling well and I see they're down to 3 remaining. If you must buy, run right over. If a free download'll do ya, well, hell, run right over. You never know when I'm going to screw up again. And, rather than write it up new, here's what I originally said about the album before I screwed up.
I have to say this is one of the most fun collections of Christmas music I've heard this year [2014]. Domestic Honey is, according to his profile, "just a dude in Sacramento that tricks his friends into recording stuff he can put out." It was as recently as September that this "dude" (Cody Scott) decided to go for it--get a bunch of local Sacramento musicians and bands to write and record Christmas music. So they definitely made good time. The music covers the Indie waterfront, with most of it tending toward Rock and Pop (but there's lots of variety). With so little time to pull it together, there's a raw sound to the compilation, with a few tracks in the Lo Fi range. And every song has its charm. This reminds me of a lot of early Indie Pop and Indie Rock. The spirit's there. I can't even tell you the highlights. It's easier to tell you the tracks I don't like......there were none. On a collection of 28 tracks, do you know how hard that is to pull off? It's a million to one shot. The songs are mostly short (some clocking in at under a minute) and Dylan Barnes' organ interludes are a special added delight.
Zombie lovers, there's a track for you from Matt Crap of the Moans. Star Wars fans, you're covered. And there's Lo Fi Alt Bluegrass from The Crow Canyon Boys. Or maybe its Punk Bluegrass. Who even knew there was such a thing? Electronica? Yeah, we got that from White Women Love Jazz (and, ok, that was my least favorite). Bummer and Lazarus rework a Peter & Gordon classic into "A World Without Christmas". The Four Eyes give a spritely Alt Rock version of "The Monster Mash". And the "Silent Night" closing is priceless ("Dylan, keep going damn it, I'm not done"). "A Christmas Comp For You" has got something for just about everybody. Now, true enough, I like more things than I don't. But I think even the biggest Grinch is going to find at least 6 or 7 tracks, here, that they absolutely love. And, if you can't find just one--just ONE--song, here, to use on your mixtapes, I dunno; I'd have to guess you're too conventional for my taste. It's free, for crap sake. Just download it and try it on for size. You'll find "A Christmas Comp For You" on Bandcamp. I love this. The video is entertaining as hell. So watch it first and read about the tune after (I don't have much to say, anyway). Too many great songs this year but, boy, most any other year.... Genius. Genius, I tellz ya. Fireflake is a bit of a renaisance man. He sings, he dances, he writes, he produces. Born in Austria and having spent years in England, his initial inspiration was Jim Steinman (the guy who wroye all the Meatloaf hits). In addition to a flair for storytelling, Fireflake likes mixing genres in unique ways and "Simply Christmas" stands as a testament to that. Download "Simply Christmas" free from Fireflake's music page (MAC users, right click on the download button). If you scroll down, you'll see a bunch more free Christmas tunes free to download. The only one I tried, so far, was "Christmas Is", which is very Steinman. Alright, seriously. Where, other than Stubby's, are you going to hear Christmas carols sung in Igbo? Huh? Huh? Igbo is the language spoken in southeastern Nigeria. Igbo music is very upbeat and heavy on percussion and beat. This specific "style" is referred to as IgboHip, which (I think) is a combination of Igbo and HipHop. I'm sure someone will turn up to correct me on all that. The Igbo people are primarily Christians, and Ccioma said she drew inspiration for this medley of traditional carols from her early years in the church. Coming to Stubby's isn't just a good time; it's an educational experience. Ccioma is a popular artist in that part of Africa, having been the featured vocalist for Rox Nation as well as Tim Godfrey & Xtreme. Yes, I know these bands....about as well as you do. And that's about all I can tell you (the Google is rather unforgiving in its links to African bands and vocalists. Or maybe they just don't do the whole website thing). What I do know is that "Ccioma's Carol" is a free download. If you're as fascinated as I am, you've gotta grab it. It's a full on "free download blitz" for the lady and you can get the song here, here, or here, to point out just three places it can be found. |
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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