Just a quick reminder that you've got a week left to get "A Stubby's House Christmas 2018" before it melts away forever. And it does contain a pair of great New Year's tracks...Sofia Talvik's "Poem At Year's End" and Emma Rowley's rendition of the classic "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?". Now on to some songs for New Year's.
Everything else in this post will be new (or newly discovered) and free, but we open with a nice bit of Funk that you may have missed which is neither. Recorded for the Sounds of Memphis label by Kannon somewhere between 1975 and 1985, "New Lang Syne" was unreleased until 2015, when this collection, "Groove With A Feeling" came out. If you want your New Year to be funky, this one's a good start. You can find it on Amazon.
One song available for free download that I didn't get to before Christmas (and even forgot to include in our Boxing Day post) is "Leaving The Party" from the Synth Folk group from Glasgow, The Paperback Throne. But, you know, it almost feels more appropriate for New Years. We remember The Paperback Throne from their lovely 2015 Christmas set "All Best Intentions" (which, by the way, includes the track "Resolution"). "No Mean Christmas" is still one of the best tracks I've heard since opening shop at Stubby's; if I ever did a "Best of", that would be on it. So it's good to see The Paperback Throne back in the seasonal music game. "Leaving The Party" is name-you-price at Bandcamp.
Every year since 2007, DJ Earworm (Jordan Roseman) has condensed the most popular music of the year into one bright and glorious Mash-Up. This year's mix is "Turnin' It Up" and features Ariana Grande, Drake, Cardi B., Post Malone, Maroon 5, Halsey and a whole bunch more. To tell you the truth, the Mash-up, itself, is pretty amazing, but I can't imagine the skills necessary to Mash-up a video of the same. Cool stuff, as always. And you'll find a free download at Soundcloud.
Speaking of Mashups, I went looking for some good new New Year's Mashups and didn't really find any. But I did find this one, which more than works, "I Love Celebrations" produced by Don Hector and included on the latest "Best of Bootie" collection. You can get this one at Soundcloud or Sowndhaus, or just download the entire "Best of Bootie" collection (assuming you don't mind non-holiday Mashups, and why would you?).
Christmas A Go Go found some of this year's best free New Year's songs, including The Greyhound Factory's "New Year's Eve" and this Sugarbabes' cover of "New Year" from Darling Buds, which is only available until January 2 at Bandcamp.
Gotta have at least one Folk tune included, even if Tim Marrison's "New Year" is a bit Emo for my taste. Marrison recalls that the song reflects a New Year's Eve where, rather than going out to celebrate, he elected to stay home and get drunk. "A lot of good songs come out of being morbidly drunk," Tim says. "The trick is to remember them in the morning!" "New Year" by Tim Morrison is free at Soundcloud.
New York Punk band Cash Registers found the proper New Year's spirit in 2016, but I can't recall having heard "60 Seconds to Midnight" before now. It's true. We make a big deal out of New Year's, in spite of the fact that most of us don't really give a crap. Meet the New Year, same as the old year. "60 seconds to Midnight. No one even cares. Goodbye old New Year." Name-your-price at Bandcamp.
And, now, back where we started...with assorted versions of "Auld Lang Syne".
Katherine Etzel is best known as a member of the Americana group Bobtown, but when she does something solo, she goes by The Existential Bell. There are no instruments on this version of "Auld Lang Syne"--every sound you hear is being made by Katherine's voice. The result is a very Ambient, somewhat Dream Pop version of the song which seems to carry with it much of the sadness of the year gone by (or maybe that's just me). It's free at Soundcloud.
Katherine Etzel is best known as a member of the Americana group Bobtown, but when she does something solo, she goes by The Existential Bell. There are no instruments on this version of "Auld Lang Syne"--every sound you hear is being made by Katherine's voice. The result is a very Ambient, somewhat Dream Pop version of the song which seems to carry with it much of the sadness of the year gone by (or maybe that's just me). It's free at Soundcloud.
How 'bout a Jazz version, this one from Wisconsin's Reegan Van Camp. It's just one song on a "name your price" EP of "Holiday Sketches" at Bandcamp.
Here's an excellent instrumental version of "Auld Lang Syne" from members of the Minnesota Indie Rock band Breakthrough, led by brothers PJ & Drew Medin. It starts with a single guitar before breaking into a Rock anthem that's somewhere between TSO and Boston (excellent guitar work on this). Also free from Soundcloud.
The Australian group Paisley Sky take the old song even further, going all Jimi Hendrix on "Auld Lang Psych". Also free on Soundcloud.
Of course, you might prefer your "Auld Lang Syne" more traditional. And it doesn't get more traditional than bagpipes. Jimmy Armstrong's cover starts with the bagpipes, then switches over to a full orchestral arrangement (with a few words from Jimmy) before closing with the bagpipes again. Quite dramatic and quite affecting...and free for the download at Soundcloud. Happy New Year, everybody.
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