No deep meaning behind the song. Good girl, bad boy, waiting for Santa. And that's good enough for me.
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.
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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). ![]()
Another great find from Christmas A Go Go. Born in Cameroon, Andy Allo first performed in public at a Sacramento open mike night in 2008. Her debut album was released in 2009. And, by 2011, she was part of The New Power Generation, Prince's band (singing, playing guitar, and writing songs with The Artist). Her 2012 solo album "Superconductor" debuted at #1 on the R&B charts in three countries (yes, the US was one of them). Andy's also an actress, having appeared in the TV show The Game.
Musically, Andy Allo calls her style Alt Hip Soul...a combination of Alternative, Hip Hop, and Soul. Last year, she put together this wonderful seasonal EP "This Christmas". As a lover of both Blues music and Christmas music, you know I've heard more than my share of covers of "Please Come Home For Christmas". It's always been my sense that, no matter whether you're a Rock artist, a Country artist, a Jazz artist, a Soul artist or an Indie artist, the song still ends of sounding like a Blues song. Not that that's a bad thing. But it is refreshing as heck to hear a version that doesn't sound like a Blues song. Andy found the Soul at the heart of the Blues. The rest of the set is every bit as good. You can, and you should, get Andy Allo's "This Christmas" for free by visiting her website.
London Indie Pop/Dream Pop outfit Night Flowers is out with a name-your-price charity single. Although you can download Night Flowers' cover of the Pretenders' "2000 Miles" for free, any proceeds raised will go to CALM. The Campaign Against Living Miserably is a suicide prevention organization in the UK. Night Flowers does a real nice job on "2000 Miles". One thing I noticed--might even be unrelated--one of Night Flowers' tags is "shoegaze" and, although it never occurred to be before, "2000 Miles" is kinda shoegazey...in'it? In any case, this charity single can be found on Bandcamp. And feel free to donate directly.
Any radio geeks out there? Radio call signs are 4 letters long. In the east, they start with "W", in the west it's "K". But out San Diego way is a radio station whose call sign is XETRA. 91X is an Alternative Rock station and on Sunday Nights they host the Loudspeaker program. Loudspeaker has put together a yuuuge collection of the kinds of Christmas songs they like to play. Some old, some new. All with attitude. MC Flow's "Pot In The Latkes"? It's in here. How about "It's A Tom Waits Christmas" from Pony Death Ride? Yep, got that too. You got yer Punk, you got yer Rap, you got yer Alt Country. And, of course, you've got all manner of Alt Rock. I'm rather partial to "This Christmas" by Louis XIV. And for a truly retro feel, take Dave Scott's "Christmas With You". 26 tracks in all. It's a "Holiday Grab Bag" and everybody's comin'. On Bandcamp. ![]() 1. MC Flow - Pot In The Latkes 2. Safety Orange - Frosty The Snowman 3. Pony Death Ride - Hobby Lobby 4. The Frights - I Want Christmas Everyday 5. Dave Scott - Christmas With You 6. A Scribe Amidst The Lions - Evil Santa 7. Bad Credit - Two Fat Beats 8. Jason Lee and the Riptides - Coronado Christmas 9. Louis XIV - This Christmas 10. Pony Death Ride - It's A Tom Waits Christmas 11. The Tighten Ups - Christmas Eve Booty Call 12. Red Flag - Xmas Tree Graveyard 13. Get Back Loretta - Poor Folks Christmas 14. The Nervous Wreckords - All I Want For Chri$tma$ Is $$$ 15. Joel Piper - Joy To The World 16. Cathryn Beeks - This Time Next Year 17. The Sugar Plum Punks - Oi To The World 18. Bart Mendoza - Warm This Winter 19. Action Andy - Drunk Every Day For Christmas 20. Red Flag - Black Xmas 21. Gary Wilson and the Blind Dates - A Sled Ride Tonight 22. Marie Haddad - Holiday Cheer! 23. MDRN HSTRY - Merry Mash-Up 24. Hocus - It's Christmas Time 25. Hocus - Ugh, Christmas 26. Tim Pyles - The Night Before Christmas
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).
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.
Jake Duda and his band are based in Minneapolis and they play Country, Bluegrass, Folk and Blues. And they clearly have an ear for a catchy tune and cheeky lyrics. "Corn Dogs For Christmas" was originally recorded as a Christmas card for family and friends last year. But it would not be contained. The title track has become something of a seasonal trucking anthem in the Mid-West. "Spanish Midnight Mass" is a banjo driven piece that speaks to getting drunk at Christmas and waking up in the midst of Spanish Midnight Mass with no clue how you got there. "The Kid And The Judge" are instrumental mood pieces...slices of Americana in their own right. And we're back to the bottle in "Talkin' Christmas Morning Blues" (or, more accurately, the morning after). I've always enjoyed this kind of music. It may not mean much to many of you, but Jake Duda and his band remind me a bit of Cincinnati's Jake Speed & The Freddies. And that's high praise from me. Good stuff...and free at Bandcamp.
I haven't had a lot of time to check in with our Festive Friends, lately. So, this morning (well, my morning, which starts after Noon), I figured I'd sneak a peak. Christmas A Go Go had this great track from The Grapes & Friends right on top. As they pointed out, this seasonal Austin outfit is channeling Hall & Oates on "Ms. Claus", and doing so quite effectively. But then I head over to Soundcloud and find that Christmas Underground has put together an entire collection (stream only) of seasonal singles from The Grapes & Friends. So how have I missed these guys all these years? Or have I just forgotten stuff I used to know? These questions will have to wait for January. Meantime, you definitely want "Ms. Claus" from The Grapes & Friends. And it's free from Soundcloud (note: you might want to properly label it after you download).
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".
Music from the Scottish Indie Underground! A couple months back, we shared with you some of the annual Christmas singles from The Bird And The Monkey, the Experimentalist duo, Sarahjane Swan & Roger Simian (Swan & Simian, get it? The Bird and The Monkey). Just what we needed--more monkey business. What I think I was unaware of is that these annual singles were done for Acacia Radio's annual holiday show, "We Wish You A Metal Christmas and an Indie New Year". Celebrating half a decade of Indie Underground festivities, Sparks From The Mothership has released this collection, "Christmas On Acacia: A BirdMonkey MixTape". It features all of the tracks we featured before from The Bird And The Monkey, plus their "Christmas On Acacia" Theme and a Bird & Monkey holiday ID (which is really cool; oh, so's the theme...a nice little Indie Pop lead-in for your holiday headtape). In addition to all of the Christmas chaos from The Bird And The Monkey, the mixtape includes two tracks from Dawn of the Replicants, one from The Stark Palace, and a comedic piece from Mr Twonkey, Paul Vickers & The Leg. The highlights are the show pieces from The Bird And The Monkey and their "Come Home (For Christmas)". But ranking right up there are "No Room At The Inn" from Dawn of the Replicants and "Saw What Your Momma Did" by The Stark Palace. And it's all name-your-price at Bandcamp.
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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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