Category: Electronic

Stubbys House of Christmas

VARIOUS - THE CHVRCH OF SANTA

12/11/2018

Late in every season, all these great free comps come out and I almost never have time to listen to them all the way through. Well I listened to "The Chvrch of Santa" all the way through. It's the latest in a long line of annual Christmas offerings from Friends Friends Friends Records. The Nova Scotia "label" evolved from the Raw Rock Militia. That's why "The Chvrch of Santa" is only Friends Friends Friends IV, even though there are Christmas comps dating back to 2010. These days, the Raw Rock Christmas project works like this: early in November, they send out a call to anybody and everybody to send in their Christmas tunes. A month later, they've got an album. It's worth noting that, most years, a limited edition CD will follow (given the turnaround time and all, the CDs usually get listed a few days before Christmas).

1.   Whisperhawk - Merry Christmas (I'm Sorry)
2.   Rawrwar - Christmas Miracle
3.   The Holly Jollies - Daddy's Really Santa Claus
4.   Up n Adam - Snowglobe Inverted
5.   Blue Acres - If We Make It Through December
6.   Alex Babineau - First Christmas Alone
7.   Brett Redshaw - Christmas Is The Best
8.   Rawrwar - Cuba
9.   Nicholas Burgess - Santa Planet
10. The Super-Krewe - Xmas Potpourri
11. Katie King - Gingerbread Man
12. Alex Babineau - Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy
13. Jeremy Waterman - Father Christmas
14. Sprout - What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?

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Although I listened all the way through, I'm not going to do a track-by-track. But this year's set is a good one. There's our old friend Nicholas Burgess with "Santa Planet". And I'm always happy to see Katie King on these; I love her stuff. The Holly Jollies go all Neo-Beach Boys on "Daddy's Really Santa Claus". There's an acoustic "Father's Christmas" from Jeremy Waterman, a straight-up Folk cover of "If We Make It Through December" by Blue Acres, some very nearly Punk Country from Alex Babineau covering Buck Owens, and even some Second Line Jazz from The Super-Krewe, "Xmas Potpourri". But beyond Nicholas and Katie, my favorites were the two tracks from Rawrwar and the Indie Pop tune up top, Whisperhawk's "Merry Christmas (I'm Sorry)". Importantly, there wasn't a single track where I was even tempted to pick up the virtual needle and move on. Great work, as usual, Friends Friends Friends. Find "The Chvrch of Santa" on Bandcamp.

VARIOUS - RING THEM BELLS

12/8/2018

Sometimes you find something that you almost wish you hadn't. Oh, not that the music on "Ring Them Bells" is bad. It's a fine collection of "lo-fi jugband junk, electro-country, 3AM melancholy, folksy baroque, 60s garage trash, [and] whistling choir". It's just that...

4-4-2 Music is a tiny label in Sydney, Australia. And, as a tiny label (they favor the word "boutique"), they do pretty much what they want. They aren't concerned with hitting the charts or having a "sound". They put out small quantities of CDs (sometimes CD-Rs) and, occasionally, vinyl. And, every year, they do a free or name-your-price Christmas compilation of their artists and friends on Bandcamp. It's the Christmas music the way they'd like to hear it. And that's the thing. Don't think I've ever come across any of these before and they go all the way back to 2008's "A Whale In A Manger". Where, exactly, am I supposed to find the time to listen to all that?

Well, I did listen to "Ring Them Bells", so I suppose we start there. In addition to the groovy Electro Country take on "Do You Hear What I Hear" from Joshua Isaac, I very much enjoyed the lo-fi Indie Pop of the ABC Jugband, the banjo driven "Unto Us A Child Is Born" by the onestarband, and the straight Folk cover of Paul Kelly's "How To Make Gravy" from Blay. Kinda like the lo-fi Electronic title track, a Bob Dylan cover, from The Flying Go Go Girls. So I suppose, when I get to the older sets, I start with those groups. Right? In any case, there's enough good stuff on this one to warrant a name-your price download from Bandcamp. Below the tracklist, you'll see a video of "Nothing For Christmas", the ABC Jugband's contribution to last year's collection. And I was also happy to see a cover of "Closing of the Year" on the 2015 collection, "At Least I Bring You Hope".

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1.   The Vicars - All I Want For Christmas Is You
2.   Blay - Here We Come A Wassailing
3.   Anita Clare - How To Make Gravy
4.   Los Naranjitos - The Time When Old Rose Leaves Home (There Is No Christmas Like A Home Christmas)
5.   Joshua Isaac - Do You Hear What I Hear?
6.   The ABC Jugband - Last Christmas
7.   The Bells - For The Beauty Of The Earth
8.   the onestarband - Unto Us A Child Is Born
9.   St Jambience - On The Fifth Day Of Christmas
10. The Flying Go Go Girls - Ring Them Bells
11. Giggleswick St Saviour Olave VI Royal Latin School's Whistling Choir - What Child Is This? (feat Alberta Bottles)
12. The Christmas Story
13. The Silly Dilberries - Lord Keep Us Safe At Night

STRAWBERRY STATION - CHRISTMAS PRESENT EP

12/7/2018

England's purveyors of Future Funk, Strawberry Station are into sampling and Synthwave, providing a bit of a merry beat that may be a bit too deconstructed, at times, for my taste. Overall, though, I quite liked it. It was cheery and Christmasy and you can definitely dance to it. My favorite track was probably the brief opener "I'm Dreaming of A Funky Christmas", which is very 70s, 80s and 90s all rolled into one. "The Gift" (which is a reworked "Christmas Wrapping") is also quite winning. I'm a little less enthoused by "Macross Roasting on an Open Fibre". This one's name-your-price at Bandcamp.

CURXES - I BELIEVE IN FATHER CHRISTMAS

12/5/2018

After losing what, from my perspective, was better than two days to computer issues or whatever they were, I'm way behind on everything and got a lot of catching up to do. But the first thing I saw this morning was this lovely Synth Pop version of Greg Lake's "I Believe In Father Christmas" from Curxes. You may or may not recall that we used their 2012 Christmas single "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" on our Christmas In July collection.

To my ears, Curxes was always a little bit sad and a little bit Punk...which makes for an interesting mix (though, to be fair, that could just be me). So "I Believe In Father Christmas", which was always a bit...wistful, now sounds (to me) completely full of a kind of post-apocalyptic regret. Like, hey, remember Christmas before we dropped the bomb? Yeah, I might be in need of some therapy. The good news is that this Curxes Christmas present is name-your-price at Bandcamp.

THE GIFTED CHILDREN - CHRISTMAS, VOLUME 08

12/23/2016

1. Christmas Is The Time To Say I Love You
2. Wonderful Christmas Time
3. December Will Be Magic Again
4. Christmas Was A Friend Of Mine [Ambient Redux]
5. Driving Home For Christmas
6. Thank God It's Christmas
7. Christmas In Hollis
8. Last Christmas

THE GIFTED CHILDREN WEBSITE
THE GIFTED CHILDREN ON FACEBOOK
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Rochester Indies The Gifted Children take some 80s Christmas classics out for a spin. I think they're at their best when completely reimagining the songs as on the Shoegazey and Dream Poppy "Wonderful Christmas Time" and "Christmas In Hollis". Their Loungey Chill "Last Christmas" works well, too. Happy to see someone cover Kate Bush's "December Will Be Magic Again," but I would have liked to see them get a little crazier with it. All in all, not a bad little record to name your price for. Poke around a bit and you'll find Volumes 5 & 7.

SUNNY INTERVALS - LIKE SNOWFLAKES

12/23/2016

The cover art drew me in. I tell people that cover art's important and, every year, we get crap. Now look at this cover art. It's not terribly involved. Just one color, really, light and dark--plus white. But it drew me in.

"Like Snowflakes" is pleasant enough. DIY Indie Pop from London. Sunny Intervals (presumed to be a single individual) has the whisper vocals and bedroom keyboard sound going on. Truthfully, 5 songs of this is a couple too many for me. After a while, you get the feeling of a guy who doesn't want to wake mom and dad. But the two I'd point you to would be the title track, "Like Snowflakes", which I liked a lot, and "New Year's Day", which I liked even more. I think he's onto something with "New Year's Day"...nicely layered, Ambient feel. Anyway, Sunny Interval's "Like Snowflakes" is on Bandcamp. It's there for you to be had.

VARIOUS - A WIRETAP RECORDS CHRISTMAS COMPILATION

12/23/2016

WIRETAP RECORDS
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1. Get Married - Christmas (Have A Wonderful Life) *
2. The Stragglers - Oi To The World
3. Avenues - This Christmas *
4. Margate - Snow Day
5. The Dollyrots - All I Want for Christmas Is You
6. The Record Collection - Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)
7. Spanish Love Songs - Santa Cant Stay (Dwight Yoakam Cover) *
8. My Double, My Brother - The Days to Be Home
9. Brenna Red (From The Last Gang) - Punk Rock Christmas
10. The Lucky Eejits - Santa On 98th
11. Sons of Strangers - Blue Christmas
12. Ryan Allen & His Extra Arms - Jesus Christ (Big Star Cover) *
13. Brendan Scholz (from Mercy Music) - The Christmas Song (Weezer Cover)

L.A. Punk label, Wiretap Records, has put together a nice holiday comp. In addition to a couple we've mentioned before, including Brenna Red's "Punk Rock Christmas" (but it wasn't free before), there are several tracks from Wiretap's stable recorded especially for this free compilation. And, while there's plenty of energy, here, if (like me) you find yourself in need, there's also a good deal of variety. Spanish Love Songs do a nice Electro Punk Country cover of Dwight Yoakam's "Santa Can't Stay". My Double My Brother cleverly borrow a riff from the ancient Folk tune "Christmas Day In The Morning" to come up with something that's both fresh and familiar. I was kinda hoping the Avenues track was somebody finally doing something different with the Donny Hathaway song (please, somebody, do something different with that song, or don't bother recording it), but, no, "This Christmas" is an original. I dig "Santa On 98th" from the Lucky Eejits. Hated "Blue Christmas" (of course). And the record closes with a Lo-Fi Weezer cover from Brendan Scholz. But the best track, to me, was the opener from Get Married, "Christmas (Have A Wonderful Life)." That's probably music to the ears of Wiretap as their most recent release is Get Married's EP "Into The Cosmos". You can check the tunes from the Get Married EP on Bandcamp, but its also available in limited edition grenadine red or alien skin green 7" vinyl from the label.

NEW YORK BOYS CHOIR - LIGHT UP

12/22/2016

Last year, The New York Boys Choir were a Hanukkah hit with a Rock version of "Nes Gadol". This year, they've gone EDM on "Light Up". Not sure how that's gonna play out for them, but the download is free from Soundcloud.

BODYLINE - MAGICAL ROOFS

12/18/2016

Now this is the kinda stuff I love coming across. I don't even know that it's intended to be Christmas or winter related, but it twinkles like mystical snow on Christmas Eve and that's good enough for me.

Bodyline is a Vaporwave/Chillwave artist, apparently from Italy though releasing music through DMT Tapes FL and Verbatim Consciousness Recordings in Florida. "Magical Roofs" comes from an entire 12-song digital album, "Twinkly". Like all of their music, "Twinkly" is free (if you ever see a "buy" button or shopping cart, just click on it with no fear and it'll take you somewhere to download free).

I'm sure it's a real stretch to say "Twinkly" has anything at all to do with Christmas. But that doesn't stop me. "Magical Roofs" is the track that said Christmas to me more than any of the others--a light combination of twinkle and soul. "Double Glow" is another nice New Agey track. And "Wandering Heart" is an excellent Ambient piece. Grab "Magical Roofs" or the entire set free from Bandcamp. Or don't. But I think you're missing out on something cool and original.

UMMAGMA - WINTER TALE

12/18/2016

I guess we're fully international today as Ummagma is a Canadian/Ukranian duo. "Winter Tale" shows the Dream Pop pair are finding their "voice" (so to speak), stripping away some of the devices hey've used on earlier recordings to fully showcase their layering skills and, of course, the ethereal vocals of Shauna McLarnon (she being, presumably, the Canadian half, while Alexander Kretov is the Ukranian half).

"Winter Tale", a name-your-price download from Bandcamp, features a pair of re-mixes from Dream Pop pioneer A.R. Kane who, to my untrained ears, seems to put a little more Shoegaze into one and a little more Ambient into the other. They're all dreamy and fascinating but I have to say it's rare you hear re-mixes that sound so completely different than the original.

Very cool stuff.