1. Whatever You Want - Sports 2. Fire - Barcelona 3. You Think That I Know What You Would Do To My - BRONCHO 4. Christmas Time - Sherree Chamberlain 5. Mele Kalikimaka - Horse Thief 6. Swingin' Christmas - Jacob Tovar 7. Throwback Holiday - Bronze Radio Return 8. BloodNog - Samantha Crain (feat. Brine Webb) 9. U Gotta Get Down - Hector Comancho DOWNLOAD FROM BANDCAMP |
"A Blackwatch Christmas Vol. V" opens with an Indie Pop Rock/Alt Soul tune from Sports. If Sylvia ("Pillow Talk") had fronted a Grunge group, "Whatever You Want" is the kind of song they'd have done. It's a slow Funk groove that you might enjoy, but be tempted to gloss over. It's not gonna let you. "Whatever You Want" is deceptively engaging and it's going to stick with you long after it's done.
Blackwatch sticks with the Alt Soul sound for Barcelona's "Fire". Barcelona is a band from Seattle, Washington, whose most recent project was a 3-EP series, collectively called "The Melodrama", which was an attempt to explore in song the history of a relationship--based on factual experiences but greatly exaggerated. Though not included on those EPs, "Fire" easily could have been as it (I dunno, maybe this is just what's going on in my head) makes an analogy between Christmas Eve passion and a four alarm fire. Musically, it sounds a bit like Prince on ludes (and I mean that in a good way).
Not really getting the Christmas connection from BRONCHO's "You Think That I Know What You Would Do To My", but it's otherwise reminiscent of some of the best yet most experimental music of the New Wave/COR movement of the mid to late eighties. Its got fuzzy guitars, a driving beat, and a delightfully annoying (yet inescapably hooky and catchy) "pow-pow-pow-pow-pow" chorus (at least I think you'd have to call it the chorus).
Sherree Chamberlain may well be the star of Volume Five. The sometime school teacher gives us an infectious Indie Rock/Synth Pop tune that walks the tightrope between minor and major keys. "Christmas Time" is the kind of tune you could listen to alone in your room or hit the dance floor to. Again, it reminds me of mid-80s New Wave (I'm thinking Black or O Positive--but then I'm always thinking Black or O Positive when I think of mid-80s New Wave). And it reminds me a bit of "Christmastime" by Aimee Mann and Michael Penn (they sound very different, but the feel is similar to me). You might recall that Sherree had a song called "Christmas Time" on Volume One. This is decidedly Not that song. They aren't even from the same universe.
Horse Thief does a Fuzzy Psych turn on "Mele Kalikimaka" (but with a beat you can dance to--I give it an 89, Dick). Out of nowhere, Jacob Tovar does his best Rudy Vallee on a retro megaphone era Jazz pastiche (but with Rock guitar), "Swingin' Christmas"--have to call it neo-neo-swing, I guess. Bronze Radio Return (a Connecticut band) provide a nice transition, starting retro, moving to modern Alt Rock and finishing almost futuristic on "Throwback Holiday", a song with a truly beautiful melody.
And returning favorites Samantha Crain and Hector Comancho close out Volume V. Samantha (with Brine Webb) gives us another of those Halloween vibe Christmas tunes, "BloodNog". Samantha is talented enough (and Brine's vocal additions here are creepy enough) that it works, though I still prefer "Breaking The Ice". And you can always count on Hector Comancho for something truly amazing, fun and original [though requiring a Parental Advisory, if the "s" word bothers you]. This time, it's a purposefully menacing yet thoroughly fun Hip Hop number, "U Gotta Get Down", with a whole lot of (I kid you not) "Walk The Dinosaur" thrown in for good measure. That group has got to be a total Mardi Gras live (do they play live?).
"A Blackwatch Christmas, Vol. V" is free via Bandcamp. As are the first four editions, so get those, too, if you missed any.