Category: Experimental

PHIL AWFUL & THE EXPERIMENTS - CHRISTMAS IS AWFUL

12/12/2018

So I'm going through some of the stuff I've downloaded this year, trying to figure out how to pare it down for our Stubby's collection (if the computer lives long enough) and I come to this one--"Christmas Is Awful" from Phil Awful & The Experiments. Three of the six songs from this California band I'd say are Ramones style Punk. There's an "Experimental" cover of Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas" (which, personally, I think is a long overdue mocking) and the record closes with a Folk Punk tune that offers up the possibility that this might be your "Last Christmas" (nobody really knows). But it's the opening track that I love. "Merry Christmas?" is Rock N Roll with attitude and a point of view and just the sort of thing I'd love to have on the Stubby's House collection--a perfect Rock anthem to close 2018. I don't mind the politics (Phil really doesn't care for our current President but, to be fair, he doesn't have a very high opinion of any politician), but I do try to avoid profanity. My attempts to clean it up were unsuccessful. So "Merry Christmas?" won't make the Stubby's House collection, which is sad. But there's no reason you shouldn't download it for your own head and/or mixtape. It's on Bandcamp.

The other highlight, for me, of "Christmas Is Awful" is "Cuz It's Christmas". It's a Punk raver where Phil laments that we're locked into a certain pattern of holiday behavior whether we give a crap about Christmas and convention or not. "Cuz It's Christmas" could still make the Stubby's House cut--it's short, that helps--though I'm swimming in worthy music of the season (maybe I should pull a Sufjan and put together a 5-disc set).

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VARIOUS - RING THEM BELLS

12/8/2018

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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".

NAME YOUR PRICE AT BANDCAMP

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

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VARIOUS - CHRISTMAS ON ACACIA: A BIRDMONKEY MIXTAPE

12/8/2018

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