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).
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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? |
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.
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