One of the great Christmas album series is "Cashing In On Christmas", the sometimes almost annual collection from Punk label Black Hole Records. And Volume 4 allegedly arrived without the usual fanfare around December 1st. You can get the download via Bandcamp, but you may want the limited edition colored vinyl version (which should come with a complimentary CD version, I think). At the moment, everybody is "out of stock". That could be because it's sold out, or because it hasn't actually been released yet (as sometimes happens with Indie efforts). Check the availability at Interpunk or direct from Black Hole.
01. The Authority – O Come Emmanuel
02. Blessed Muthas – Blessed Christmas
03. Broken Heroes – New Tradition
04. The Dirty Shirleys – Johnny Thunders X-mas
05. Dog Company – Snoopy’s Christmas
06. Explosive Head – All I Want For Christmas
07. The Flyswatters – Santa’s On Acid
08. The Gonads – The Greatest Cockney Christmas
09. Guitar Gangsters – Christmas Time Is Here (Oh Shit)
10. Hateful – Hateful Merry Christmas
11. Jenny Woo – Christmas To Me
12. Mad Pigs – City Of Nightmares
13. Missile Toads – Ultra Christmas
14. Plan Of Attack – Hey Santa
15. Splodgenessabounds – Fairytale Of Mongolia
16. Toughskins – It Could Be Worse
17. Missile Toads – Ultra Christmas (Radio Edit)
Another bit of vinyl (well, flexi almost vinyl) that escaped our attention until it was all sold out, Joyful Noise released Kishi Bashi doing "It's Christmas, But It's Not White Here In Our Town" as a limited (to 1000) white snowflake flexi on December 4. Sold out within a week. What're you gonna do? All proceeds, at least, went to the Ear Candy Music Charity. The same won't be said of purchases on the secondary market. It's a great song, though, which you can still get as an mp3 via Amazon and the usual suspects. And you can listen to it right here, right now.
1. Will You Be There (Jivin' Gene)
2. White Christmas (Don Rich)
3. Merry Christmas Baby (Lynn August)
4. Merry Christmas Wishes (Johnnie Allan)
5. Please Come Home for Christmas (Warren Storm)
6. Winter Wonderland (Tommy McLain)
7. White Christmas Makes Me Blue (Willie Tee)
8. This Christmas (Ken Marvel)
9. Christmas Fais Do Do (V.J. Boulet)
10. Christmas Comes but Once a Year (Charles Mann)
11. A Letter to Santa (Bring My Baby Back to Me) (Jivin' Gene)
12. Signed Merry Christmas and Happy New Year (Ken Marvel)
13. It Won't Be a Merry Christmas for Me (V.J. Boulet)
I'd happily buy it but it seems iTunes, in their desire to force everyone to upgrade their computers to Mountain Lion, has disabled my ability to purchase from them. And a 99 cent song isn't worth me spending 2 grand I don't have on a new computer. I've been trying to resolve the issue with them, but they (so far) are telling me the new software update should be compatible. The software itself, however, says differently. So I guess they don't want my money. Tough luck for the Rockaway Waterfront Alliance.
Eclectic Indie Pop label Matinee Records has been running a pretty cool Advent Calendar. The songs are posted to Soundcloud and, while there haven't been any free downloads, it makes a heck of a holiday soundtrack. The Math And Physics Club has been garnering the most plays with their "Cold As Minnesota", but I'm partial to Northern Portrait's "Leave The Trees Alone" (of course, that's the latest add--might explain the low number of plays). Just sayin'. That one comes from the 2010 "Matinee Holiday Soiree" collection, still available on CD-EP from Matinee or as a download from Amazon.