And the single from Bette Stuy, "Be Like Santa", is now available through CD Baby. We premiered the video of the tune right here at Stubbys. And its very cool to have a place where you can get the song if you want it. Now, let's get to it because a lot of singles have been coming out lately, even though we're still waiting for Katy Perry to release her Christmas song commercially.
Now on with the singles (and a couple of EPs).
"Stone Cold Santa" is included on Matt's latest album "Pass It Around", which is available through Amazon and iTunes. But you can only get the 7" vinyl single from Matt's online store. The flip, if you're curious, is "I'm Yosemite Sam".
Mark Northfield is an eclectic singer/songwriter from Berkshire, England, most often producing music that broadly falls in the Folk Rock arena. "Christmas Eve, Gracechurch St.", which features Gareth Forster on vocals, is actually from last year, but I can't recall coming across it then.
"Christmas Eve, Gracechurch St." is about a man who has little, but still shares whatever he has with those who have even less. The song is dedicated to Richard Hanson, who was such a man. Hanson died from leukemia a while back and, in his honor, the money raised goes to Crisis UK, a charitable organization that provides support of every kind to the homeless in an effort to end the epidemic altogether. Last year, the single raised £700 for Crisis, and Mark's hope is to reach the £1000 mark this year. It's a great song, both musically (weaving in bits of familiar Christmas carols) and lyrically. The flip is a kind of variation on the theme, "Good King Wenceslas", an apt companion for "Christmas Eve, Gracechurch St." You can purchase the single through Bandcamp.
We've featured Tim Angsten in these pages before. Back in 2011, he released an EP of Christmas classics. We very much enjoyed "Joy To The World". Tim followed up in 2012 with "The Soldier's Christmas Song". For 2015, he's released his versions of "The First Noel" and "O Holy Night". Tim's got an easy to listen to voice and style that's a little bit country, a little bit soul, and just a little bit Rogue Wave (think of Rogue Wave as easy Pop). And the great thing about Tim is he really loves to sing Christmas songs. And it always shines through. Grab "The First Noel" by Tim Angsten via Amazon or iTunes. Grab "O Holy Night" at Amazon or iTunes. Heck, grab 'em both.
Cyndi Lauper has a new Christmas song out. "Hard Candy Christmas", of course, is the old Dolly Parton tune. Technically, it isn't really a Christmas song, but its long been treated as one. The most interesting thing about this one, I guess, is that Cyndi actually sounds a lot like Dolly. Had never noticed that before and I intend no offense to either. "Hard Candy Christmas" is available on Amazon.
There's got to be at least one weird tune for the mixtapers. For this post, that's Sphynx and their holiday ode to the "Christmas Weed". And, yes, that's the weed this Texas Glam band mean. It's all set to an 80s Disco beat and I can hear some mixtapers freeing up room as we speak. Personally, I think goof wears thin quickly. And I'm wondering if these dudes will regret doing this one day when they need a real job. Then again, it might be legal by then. Pick it up!