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1. bing it 2. silver butts 3. hello shoppers 4. macaulay 5. killarney 6. goop on ya grinch 7. studdard muffin 8. chestnuts 9. right christmas 10. tomorrow never snows |
This was covered by Christmas Underground, last year. Of course, you may have been around last year, but I wasn't. Anyway, this deserves the extra attention. And, if I do decide to do a Stubby's mix this Christmas, something like this would almost certainly have to be on it.
You know, normally, when I go to listen to Christmas music online, I'm hoping for something really good. I want it to be good. I want to will it to be good. Naturally, I'm disappointed more often than not. And you sometimes wonder about unrealistic expectations.
But I desperately wanted to hate this. I dunno. One of the tags is "drone" and I'm not big on "drone". But another tag was "dream pop" and I love "dream pop". Alright, I'll give it a chance. I was determined to hate it. First note, boom, I hate it already. 10 seconds in, I'm scoffing. 30 seconds in, I'm thinking, "interesting." After about a minute and a half, I'm swooning. "Oh my God, this is the best thing I've ever heard! I love this! I want this! I need this!"
Husbands is an Oklahoma City band and, as the title might suggest, "Xmas 2" is their second Christmas set (2013's "Xmas" being the first). "Xmas" (which I only listened to after hearing "Xmas 2") shows a band with an idea. "Xmas 2" shows that idea fully realized. The record is meant to be listened to as an entire piece, drifting dreamily from originals to seasonal standards totally re-imagined so that they're completely familiar and completely new at the same time with soundscapes expertly weaved into the fabric such that they seem random and not random at all. My analogies always bug somebody, if not everybody, but the sensation of listening to "Xmas 2" most reminded me of hearing The Beatles' "Abbey Road" for the first time...except it's a Christmas album! And the true test of a record like this is "does it make me feel like Christmas"? And, boy, does it ever!
If you visit our Festive Friends, as we always hope you do, then you already grabbed this after Christmas Underground reviewed it last year. If not, nothing I say here matters. Just listen. And then download it. And then listen again. And again and again and ag--hey, it's Christmas already! Husbands, I'm not entirely sure what you guys are up to but, please, never stop.
You know, normally, when I go to listen to Christmas music online, I'm hoping for something really good. I want it to be good. I want to will it to be good. Naturally, I'm disappointed more often than not. And you sometimes wonder about unrealistic expectations.
But I desperately wanted to hate this. I dunno. One of the tags is "drone" and I'm not big on "drone". But another tag was "dream pop" and I love "dream pop". Alright, I'll give it a chance. I was determined to hate it. First note, boom, I hate it already. 10 seconds in, I'm scoffing. 30 seconds in, I'm thinking, "interesting." After about a minute and a half, I'm swooning. "Oh my God, this is the best thing I've ever heard! I love this! I want this! I need this!"
Husbands is an Oklahoma City band and, as the title might suggest, "Xmas 2" is their second Christmas set (2013's "Xmas" being the first). "Xmas" (which I only listened to after hearing "Xmas 2") shows a band with an idea. "Xmas 2" shows that idea fully realized. The record is meant to be listened to as an entire piece, drifting dreamily from originals to seasonal standards totally re-imagined so that they're completely familiar and completely new at the same time with soundscapes expertly weaved into the fabric such that they seem random and not random at all. My analogies always bug somebody, if not everybody, but the sensation of listening to "Xmas 2" most reminded me of hearing The Beatles' "Abbey Road" for the first time...except it's a Christmas album! And the true test of a record like this is "does it make me feel like Christmas"? And, boy, does it ever!
If you visit our Festive Friends, as we always hope you do, then you already grabbed this after Christmas Underground reviewed it last year. If not, nothing I say here matters. Just listen. And then download it. And then listen again. And again and again and ag--hey, it's Christmas already! Husbands, I'm not entirely sure what you guys are up to but, please, never stop.
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