Category: Emo

Stubbys House of Christmas

SOCIAL CLUB - NEW YEARS

12/28/2012

Music's a funny thing. It either hits you or it don't, er, doesn't. Quick cut to Social Club, a Miami (Christian?) Hip Hop outfit and their new single "New Years". From the opening film-noir jazz background notes to the first line from the vocalist rapping, "I feel like all four members of Color Me Badd" and on into the soulful chorus, this one hit me. It hit me good. Although "New Years" is offered as a "sad rap", it had me smiling all the way through. Hey, what do I know? I'm just a guy with a blog. But I liked it. I liked it a lot. Catch the Social Club "New Years" train free at Bandcamp.

VARIOUS - THE BFW CHRISTMAS ALBUM 2012

12/28/2012

1. Amygdala projects - Betelgeuse
2. Bing Satellites - New Horizons
3. Eko_Fisk - Outside 'Angels' 241285
4. JCM - 24th Rusharound
5. Killer Haven's Insanity Claus - MF Xmas
6. Poodleplay Arkestra - The Heavenly Tea Dance
7. The Reverse - First Christmas
8. Magic Mountain - Sublight
9. ROGUE SPORE - The Beguiling Black Ice Nymph
10. Jon Johnson - Peppermint Twists
11. Shane Morris - The Ghost of Christmas Future
12. Elypixa - The rain subsided
13. Cousin Silas - Lights Aglow On Christmas Island

FREE AT BANDCAMP
THE BFW WEB SITE

Finding the "All Is Calm 2012" set reminded me of another annual collection I think of when I think of Ambient music, "The BFW Christmas Album". And sure enough, the eclectic label, for the third year running, issued their free digital Christmas set. Though BFW initially made their name with Ambient, they tend to be far more wide reaching, and the variety I was looking for from "All Is Calm" is much more in evidence here. I'm still not in an Ambient state of mind at the moment. But I did think the Bing Satellites track on the BFW album, "New Horizons", had more energy and direction. Cousin Silas charmed, here, once again with a lovely Ambient number, "Lights Aglow On Christmas Island". But, beyond the Ambient, there was an interesting assortment of sounds. As a wonderful change of pace, BFW included a pretty much straight Indie Folk effort from The Reverse; "First Christmas" might seem out of place, but it works exceedingly well, probably because it's such a well written song about a first Christmas without someone dear. From "we hold these cliches dear", I was putty in their hands. "The BFW Christmas Album 2012" also features some electronica, some music that's much more New Age than Ambient, and a dash of Zombies up top from Amygdala Projects. All in all, another nice package from the label where everything's free, BFW. Download it at Bandcamp, and pick up their previous holiday sets while you're there.

VARIOUS - ALL IS CALM 2012

12/28/2012

1. Chris Russell - Borealis
2. Michael Meara - Hymnal
3. Phillip Wilkerson - Snow Is Glistening
4. Lattice - Bathing in December Streetlight
5. Benjamin Dauer - The Softest of Light
6. Cousin Silas - White
7. Gregg Plummer - Winter's Dream
8. Steve Brand - Host
9. Jack Hertz - Winter Breeze
10. Bing Satellites - Fireside
11. eyes cast down - Snowdance in Starlight

NAME YOUR PRICE AT BANDCAMP
FREE FLOATING WEB SITE

Completely missed this this year. Mind you, it's only been out a week. But, usually, since one of the primary guiding forces behind the "All Is Calm" collections is Brad Ross-MacLeod (aka The King of Jingaling), I'm usually watching for it more closely.

In addition to being a Christmas music enthusiast and the beloved ringmaster at FaLaLaLaLa.com, Brad is also the host of the ambient music program Free Floating which, last time I checked, was part of the StillStream network.

At some point, Brad decided it would be a natural evolution to combine his love for seasonal music with his love for the Ambient art form and "All Is Calm" was born--a free download compilation of original winter works and compositions submitted by artists oft featured on Free Floating. "All Is Calm 2012" is the third such compilation of meditations of the winter season. And, yes, there's little doubt the "All Is Calm" collections focus more on the winter time than on Christmas itself, though that's not a requirement for inclusion.

This year's collection seemed to be a bit less varied than previous year's sets, with Chris Russell's "Borealis" setting the tone for much of what follows. Some of my annual favorites are here--The Bing Satellites with "Fireside", Phillip Wilkerson with "Snow Is Glistening"--and most of the 11 tracks are musical soundscapes of some length. And the thing about Ambient music is that you have to relax and just dissolve into it and let it carry you. And I'm just not in that mood this year, I guess. I did very much like "White" by Cousin Silas, which, for my money, seemed to capture some of the beauty and majesty of the season. And "Winter Breeze" by Jack Hertz was (pardon the pun) kinda cool. But I mostly found myself outside the music and that simply doesn't work with Ambient. Not for me, at any rate. The fault, here, likely lies in myself and not in the stars. I'll take another swing at it when the time is right.

If you find yourself in the proper mood for a little winter meditation and electronic space walking, pick up "All Is Calm 2012" as a Name-Your-Price download from Bandcamp. And, by all means, check out "All Is Calm 2011" and "All Is Calm 2010" as well.

As a bit of a bonus, this year, Free Floating has also released the Winter inspired "The Sidereal Cycle 3" by Altus. It's one huge 55 minute piece of Ambient composition, also available as a Name-Your-Price download at Bandcamp. In the early minutes, at least, that one sounded a little more to my taste of the moment.

CHRISTINE BERGER & BEN DE VRIES - LEISE RIESELT DER SCHNEE

12/26/2012

So, right before Christmas, I got the most amazing gift from Lie In The Sound, a German blog run by Brigitte and Christoph that seems to have an overabundance of holiday spirit each year (made manifest by the many free holiday downloads they manage to find).

First of all, there was this really sweet write-up. Not the kind of thing we all write about fellow bloggers from time to time when we're trying to point you to a worthy site, but a very personalized...."Christmas card" I'd call it. But the gift beneath their endearing words was the gift of turning me on to a traditional German folk song that seems to have escaped my attention all these years. And that's no small feat.

“Leise rieselt der Schnee” roughly translates as "Snow Is Falling Gently" (Brigitte even took the time to try and translate the lyrics into English...because we all know I don't speak anything else) and you should definitely check them out. It's a song about the growing excitement as Christkind draws near (rather than Santa, Christkind is an angel-like girl, Brigitte explains, who wanders the woods bringing presents to the children). Not stopping there, our friends at Lie In The Sound found a few videos and this lovely free download of “Leise rieselt der Schnee” performed by Christine Berger and Ben DeVries. It's a lo-fi folk recording, but no less beautiful for that.

What's more, the song was part of an entire FREE compilation of Christmas music from Canadian DIY label Badgerland released last year, "A Very Badgerland Christmas". AND what's even more, the Badgerland label has been releasing holiday comps of homemade music since 2009. Needless to say, that's a lot of music I haven't had tome to sift through just yet, but they're all free, so you might as well get them, right? (This Christmas music obsession is a sickness, I tellz ya.)

So, first, go read the Lie In The Sound "Christmas card" to Stubby's. Then check out “Leise rieselt der Schnee” by Christine Berger and Ben DeVries. And then grab all the Badgerland Christmas comps via Bandcamp. You've got some work ahead of you, so go get started. (And thank you, Brigitte and Christoph for a most wonderful gift.)

SONGS FOR CHRISTMAS (2009)
THEE CHRISTMAS MIXTAPE (2010)
A VERY BADGERLAND CHRISTMAS (2011)
YULETIDE ENTERTAINMENTS (2012)

MAC MILLER & ARIANA GRANDE - BABY, IT'S COLD OUTSIDE

12/25/2012

The combinations get odder and odder, don't they? On the heels of the John Travolta & Olivia Newton John (ahem) reunion, here's a pairing I would never have seen coming. Mac Miller (aka EZ Mac and, on this recording, Larry Lovestein) is a rapper from Pennsylvania while Ariana Grande is an actress and singer from Florida, the star of the Nickelodeon sitcom Victorious. And, together, they tackled one of the all-time classics, "Baby, It's Cold Outside". And, strangely enough, it works. Mac's not rapping here and, thankfully, he's not even trying to compete with the glorious songbird that Ariana can be. So she coos and he mumbles and, in a way, it makes the song far less about a creepy guy trying to trap a helpless female and much more about a sensuous woman playing coy (she's 19, now, so I can say that, right?) and a bumbling guy who lacks confidence or clue. She's clearly the one with the power in this virtual relationship. Anyway, that's how it struck me. Oddly enough, Mac's own (least I think it was his--he's the one that posted it on Facebook) upload to hulkshare was pulled by the freaking out hosting sites as a copyright violation (what is the world coming to when an artist can't share their own song?). But it's still available through 2 Dope Boyz.

VARIOUS - A POLAROID FOR CHRISTMAS 2012

12/21/2012

1. Monnone Alone - Everywhere At Once
2. Vadoinmessico - Sleigh Ride
3. PICA PICA (Rebekka from Maribel) - Winterwonderland
4. Life & Limb - Only The Lowly
5. Joyce In Pola - End Of The Ocean
6. She Said Destroy - Brigitte
7. Derby Sunshine - Italo Riviera
8. Neverending Mojitos - Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy (The Tams cover)
9. Johnny Render - Have a Very Render Christmas
10. ED - All You Need Is Love (The Beatles cover)
11. Montgomery feat. Tempelhof - 1979 (Smashing Pumpkins cover)
12. Wolther Goes Stranger & Federico Fiumani - SOMEtimes (Bombanella mix)
13. Love The Unicorn - Sssuperstarsss
14. Setti - Sasso Natale
15. Spakkiano - Africa et cetera DOWNLOAD FREE FROM POLAROID

One of our absolute favorite "off the beaten path" annual holiday collections comes from the Italian blog, Polaroid. Every year, the writer of that blog contacts a few of his friends from the Indie music world and asks them if they would mind recording a seasonal track; or, if not a seasonal track, at least a little something to keep him company while he decorates his tree. And, man, does this cat have friends! They always come through with some spectacular stuff that you're not going to find anywhere else. Not all of it is holiday related, but it's all great. I mean, I'd love to dial up a musician friend and have them record a cover of The Tams "Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy" some time--Christmas or whenever. Fortunately for those of us with either fewer or, perhaps, less talented friends, the whole collection is shared out so the rest of us have something to keep us company on those long winter nights.

There's a bit of synth pop and techno pop and a dollup of experimental electro noise pop, but most of the set falls squarely in the Indie/Alt Pop and Indie/Alt Rock vein, some on the Lo-Fi side, but that's actually quite a wide swath of musical sounds and it's all wonderful. And the artists are all linked up, so you can learn more about them. For example, Rebekka of Maribel (who have their own new Christmas single out, "Christmas Blues") contributes an absolutely dreamy version of "Winterwonderland" as Pica Pica. Italian artist Setti offers up a sweet Indie Pop number in his (their?) native tongue, "Sasso Natale". Alt Pop/Rock fans should enjoy Vadoinmessico's "Sleigh Ride", and Monnone Alone's "Everywhere At Once" is great fun. She Said Destroy give good garage on "Brigitte". ED gives us an awesome Indie cover of the Beatles' "All You Need Is Love". And, speaking of the Beatles and dreamy, the original "Have A Very Render Christmas" from Johnny Render is not only dreamy, it sounds like it could have been the closing track from a late 60s Beatles Christmas album; it would certainly do nicely as the closing number on your mixtape. But, hands down, my absolute favorite on "A Polaroid Christmas 2012" is the previously mentioned cover of "Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy" by the Neverending Mojitos. It might not be a Christmas track, but it has the feel of a bunch of (very talented) friends sitting around the tree on Christmas morning and sharing a song. It made me smile from ear to ear. A lot. My face hurt, I smiled so much.

Head straight to Polaroid and grab the whole bunch. Poke around a bit and you might find some of the earlier sets, as well. Enjoy. And "Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy". It's nearly Christmas after all.

BUTTERFLIES ON STRINGS - LOOKS LIKE SNOW

12/20/2012

As of this writing, the latest free mp3 post over at Lie In The Sound is a really pretty post-pop track from the British Indie band Butterflies On Strings. Happily, the imagery of the lyrics to "Looks Like Snow" matches the imagery of the band name. And the music is very pretty as well; reminds me a bit of the Left Banke but without the over-production. Or soft-rock era America, only much better. Just gorgeous stuff that'll improve the quality of your mixtape 200%. Get it free (or name-your-price) from Bandcamp. Here's hoping this is the first of many Christmas singles from Butterflies On Strings.

LAST CALL - THE DUKE'S REAL NAME WAS MARION MORRISON

12/19/2012

Pop Punk band Last Call from Las Vegas has an original acoustic Christmas song they're offering up as a Name-Your-Price Bandcamp download. It's a very affecting wish for friends to lose their fears and be who they are. It might work electric, but making it acoustic adds a certain sincerity to the track. A little bit emo but, as original Christmas songs go, "The Duke's Real Name Was Marion Morrison" has got a real nice vibe to it.

KISSING PARTY - DALE VOORHIES

12/18/2012

Dale Voorhies by Kissing Party by EKBMedia

If you've been around Stubbys for a while, you know we're big fans of The Kissing Party, Denver's Indie Alt Rock/Twee Rock band. In 2010, we were proud to post "Winter In The Pub" on our Free List and, last year, we were equally thrilled to share "Merry Christmas Darling (Maybe Next Year Things Will Change)". And you know how in the previous post, I said I dig the moody depressing stuff? Well, that's the thing about The Kissing Party. This year's Christmas gift is "Dale Voorhies" which the band themselves call "morose". But it's "morose" that you can dance to. In fact, I can scarcely think of a more depressing song that makes me feel this good. It's weird. It's genius! Grab "Dale Voorhies" free from the band at this address. And you can check out "Winter In The Pub" and "Merry Christmas Darling" on YouTube. But grab this one now--it won't be free forever. Check out the band's 2011 release, "Wasters Walls", on Amazon and pay a visit to their web site and Facebook page (they do Twitter, too, but I don't). And, crap, call your local radio station, cause this is the kinda stuff I would die to hear on the radio.

I SAID THE SPY - CHRISTMAS COVERS

12/16/2012

1. Last Christmas (2007)
2. I Don't Want A Lot For Christmas (2008)
3. Do They Know It's Christmas? (2009)
4. Fairytale Of New York (2011)
5. Stay Another Day (2012)

FREE DOWNLOAD AT BANDCAMP

British Pop Punksters I Said The Spy have added the latest to their growing collection of "Christmas Covers". For 2012, the band has tackled East 17's "Stay Another Day". Last year's treat was "Fairytale Of New York". Missing 2010, there are 5 "Christmas Covers" in all. And you can grab the whole set as an instant download (no email addy or nuthin') right now at Bandcamp.