

Following the triumphant Spice Girls performance at the London Olympics, Scary Spice (Mel B) is lobbying the group to do one final tour and one final Christmas single. All the women seem to be on board with the idea except for Posh (Victoria Beckham) whose plate may be a bit too full for a tour. But it would seem that Posh could find the time to squeeze in a recording session for a Christmas single. Just sayin'.
Two long-time Contemporary Christian artists are teaming up for a Christmas album this year. Jennifer Knapp & Margaret Becker. Jennifer's been singing mostly Indie Folk Rock since about 1994, professionally, while Margaret has been rocking Christian radio since about 1985. They'll also be teaming up for a December tour. I'm expecting something along the lines of Indigo Girls meet Melissa Etheridge, but that could just be me. If you're looking to get a jump start on the project, Jennifer recorded "What Child Is This?" last Christmas and, for the time being, you should still find it available as a Free download from her web site.
Award winning sax man Dave Tofani is planning on a Jazz holiday release this October. Dave will be backed on the record by a Jazz trio. No other details are available at the moment. But Dave has previously recorded Thad Jones' "A Child Is Born", if you want to check him out.
On the Disney front, Caroline Sunshine of the show "Shake It Up" was recently in the studio recording a Christmas song. So I'm guessing we'll get some kind of new Disney Christmas comp this coming Yuletide season.
And a cappella group Plantatonix--winners of the third season of NBC's "The Sing Off"--have revealed that they, too, are currently recording a Christmas album. They'll also be appearing on an upcoming episode of "Glee".

Hey look, no snark at all, I miss the 80s sounds. A lot of them, actually. I wouldn't want every band to sound like that, but as one item on a much broader menu, it's a very cool sound indeed. For me, Scarlet Club is definitely scratching an itch.
Anyway, Scarlet Club released their first record, "Scarlet Club" (clever title) in December of 2011 and they'll celebrate the anniversary with a Christmas record this year. And (and I mean this sincerely), as much as I may like that 80s sound, I sure as heck l o v e that 80s sound on Christmas records. I have long lamented that many of those groups (cough*ABC*cough) never got around to recording holiday music. So this Scarlet Club set could be super cool. Mostly original stuff, too. How do we know? Because Scarlet Club has already provided us (subject to change, I'm sure) a tracklist! Look for the album December 3 (likely a digital release). The single, which drops in November, will be "Party Susan".
And, if you head over to SoundCloud right quick, you can even download a few of the band's earlier (non-holiday) tracks. Definitely dig worthy (Dig worthy? I gotta stop writing these things at 4 in the morning).

1. It’s really Christmas
2. Party Susan
3. Lists for Santa
4. Buddug’s stockings
5. Beautiful Angel (featuring OJ Junior)
6. Robots need Christmas too
7. Christmas in Vegas
8. God rest ye merry gentlemen
9. Little Miss Mistletoe (featuring Iuliana)
10. NYE1999
11. Fishes need Christmas too
12. The Christmas log competition
13. In the bleak midwinter
14. The advent calendar girl (featuring SPOMP)
15. The bauble at the bottom of the tree

Back when New Wave was new and everyone was experimenting with everything, I could dig where bands like The Cure and Bauhaus were coming from. Or at least where they were going. Or at least I could wrap my head around the music. Siouxsie & The Banshees? I loved them. But the moment came and went. I thought.
I don't really get the new Dark Wave. It's much weirder than it was then. Much more theatrical (hard to fathom), much more kitschy, and, yes, much....darker. I don't get it. Sorry.
But my "Holy Crap!" moment came when I saw that Projekt--the same label that brought you "Excelsis: A Dark Noel" in 1995--has, not one, but TWO holiday CDs on the release schedule. TWO!?!? It's freakin' ponderous, man (sorry, inside joke that only some DJs and Casey Kasem fans will understand).
Anyway, the first Projekt project comes from the "Diva of Darkness" herself, Jill Tracy. If you're not familiar with Jill Tracy, she's very retro kitsch--dark and dramatic--twisted cabaret inspired by Hitchcock and Bernard Hermann. Some have described Jill as a much darker Tori Amos. I dunno, think about a soundtrack for "Nosferatu". Something like that.
"Silver Smoke, Star Of Night (In The Shadow Of Christmas)" arrives on October 16 and features "Coventry Carol", "What Child Is This?" and a nine-minute version of "O Come, O Come Emmanuel". More to the spirit (pun intended), Jill contributes the original "Room 19", which is about a ghost haunting an old hotel room following a 1947 Christmas Eve suicide. Yummy!

Projekt will also unveil an all new compilation, "Ornamental". "Ornamental" will contain one whole disc of reimagined interpretations of Christmas and winter classics AND one whole disc of all new original material. That's right! "Ornamental" is a 2-CD set of goth, steampunk, dark cabaret, shoegaze, dreampop, and a bunch of other genre words you've never heard before!
The cast list includes Jill Tracy, Abney Park, Paulina Cassidy, LoveSpirals and Black Tape For A Blue Girl with their first new recording since 2009. Each disc closes out with an extended (some would say ambient) soundscape. 19 totally new tracks recorded for this compilation as well as three tracks only available on other very obscure discs elsewhere. In short, as the literature assures us, "Ornamental" is designed to "take the chill off the long, dark winter nights with this merry-cholic potpourri of Yuletide moments."
Like Jill Tracy's dark holiday set, "Ornamental" drops October 16.

Inspired by those old Grindhouse movies, "A Cadaver Christmas" was hard to find in theaters, but won a ton of independent film awards. It was impressive enough that a big time distribution company picked it up for release this October 9. If you dig comedic horror zombie flicks, check it out. You'll die laughing. (C'mon, who didn't see that coming?)
Here's a trailer from the picture to close out today's mishegoss.