New Jersey's American Classic has added their footprint to the Christmas music snow, covering Jose Feliciano's "Feliz Navidad". The Alternative Rock band goes acoustic on this one and it's a fairly straight ahead cover version. You can learn more about American Classic on Facebook or MySpace. And you can download "Feliz Navidad" using the widget above.
New Jersey's American Classic has added their footprint to the Christmas music snow, covering Jose Feliciano's "Feliz Navidad". The Alternative Rock band goes acoustic on this one and it's a fairly straight ahead cover version. You can learn more about American Classic on Facebook or MySpace. And you can download "Feliz Navidad" using the widget above.
0 Comments
Bradford Cox of the Psychedelic band Deerhunter decided he'd like to try some different things, maybe a little electronica or some ambient rock. And thus was born Atlas Sound. "Artificial Snow" was recorded for Bradford's roommate who, apparently, is putting together something called "David's Annual Christmas Compilation". Whether this is going to be a public release or just a friends and family deal is kind of unclear from the Atlas Sound blog. But we do have five mixes of the song Bradford Cox recorded for the comp. They range from the highly rhythmic to a more sedate "Campfire Metalophone" version. It's a pretty good song, too, upbeat and harmonic ambient rock, though it's going to take me awhile to determine my preferred version. You can download "Artificial Snow" at the Atlas Sound web site. Eyes Lips Eyes used to be known as Elizabethan Report. And the Californian band was originally based in Utah. Details, details. What matters is the music and Eyes Lips Eyes does it good. They've basically taken the New Wave sound of the 80s and made it new and they've taken the Indie sound of today and given it a mainstream makeover. What you'll hear in "Slept In Through Christmas" is highly accessible pop rock with a catchy beat and good energy. It's not the most Christmasy of Christmas songs, but its fresh and original. And, anyway, I'm happy to have stumbled across Eyes Lips Eyes for my future non-holiday listening pleasure. Oh, and I love the video. To download "Slept In Through Christmas" go to the band's Nimbit page and, where it says "enter promotional code", enter NewYearsSLC then hit the green "redeem" button and check out. Our friends at Mistletunes uncovered this one, and we all owe them a great debt of gratitude for doing so. This is a straight up novelty record--the kind they don't seem to make much anymore. On some level, this Sci-Fi hoedown is intended as a children's record, but, like a Bugs Bunny cartoon, there's certainly enough here for adults to chew on and enjoy. "The Night The Hippies Hijacked Christmas" tells the story of a couple of good ol' boys who witness an invasion more frightening than aliens and Al Quaeda combined. Danged dirty hippies! The Amoeba People are favorites of the Dr. Dimento Show, for obvious reasons, and their Christmas "A" side has been featured on his program. But what about the "B" side, hmmm? Well, "Christmas Ferret" is no Hippie invasion, but it's quite a bit of fun, nonetheless. Pick this one up on Bandcamp, space cadets, then prepare to defend the 'Murken way of life. So stop me if you've heard this one. Two Indie bands from England embark on a Scandinavian tour during the blizzard of the century and one of them ends up in jail while the other gets stranded because of the weather. There's no punchline. That's apparently what happened when Sex Beet and Jerry Tropicano got together for a winter tour (with some nice racy posters, too). Jerry Tropicano is the one in jail. Sex Beet is the one stranded far from home. It's of great comfort to us (not so much to them) that they celebrated the pending tour by recording a little Christmas number before they left. It's got that kind of Indie pop lo-fi spontaneity that makes for recordings that, ironically enough, have staying power. Get "Christmas Line" at Dots And Dashes. Ireland's Clockwork Noise get all wrapped up in Christmas. For the second year in a row, the rock band is laying some seasonal spice on y'all with a free Christmas download and video. This year's effort is a cover of Mud's classic "Lonely This Christmas". You can download it free from the band's home page. The boys take the ballad in a Power Pop direction rather effectively. Look a little deeper in the Clockwork Noise archives for 2009's lo-fi take on "Blue Christmas". I have a weakness for Boston bands, having developed the taste when I went to college there. So when I saw the blog Chromewaves mention the Boston band Wheat had a Christmas record, I was on the case immediately. Wheat is an Indie Rock outfit and they've been kickin' it since 1996. For the "A" side, Wheat tackles the standard "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" and I liked their take a lot, though I can't really describe it well. There's a bit of ELO styled vox and a synth orchestra before the band launches into their rock and slightly psychedelic take. Anyway, it's very nice and perhaps someone else will offer up a better explanation. The "B" side is an original, "It's Snowing, I Love You", and that one's a little stranger, though quite hypnotic. Pick this one up at Wheat's web store. Click on the tiny cover art, hit "purchase now", and check out. Don't worry, it's free. Hey, all you metal maniacs. New Christmas single from Baltimore's Tre Watson and Drewsif Stalin (cute). "God Rest Ye Merry Djentlemen" is about what you'd expect from the Death Core duo, or maybe more so. There's an instrumental version, too. It's been posted to Bandcamp as a "name your price" deal. Remember "0" equals free. And the boys say "Merry Effin' Christmas" to y'all. Seattle's New Heights will begin recording their new album in January. To fund the project, the band has begun a Kickstarter campaign. Some nice rewards, there, and virtually any pledge will get you a digital copy of the band's last album. But the band is willing to give something to you even before they ask for your financial assistance...their first ever Christmas song. If you've had a particularly rough year in 2010, and I know a lot of folks have, maybe you can hitch your star to the optimism in "This Is Christmas", which, in a way, hits on a lot of the themes of the Obama campaign--hope, change, we are the ones we've been waiting for. Musically, it's a terrific pop rock song with a melody that may stick with you (in a good way)--sort of an intelligent "Last Christmas". Sorry if anyone takes that as an insult; certainly not intended that way. Anyway listen and download for yourself. "This Is Christmas" is free at Bandcamp. Beach House is an Indie rock duo from Baltimore. They have that sort of "eternally depressed" sound about them that a lot of Indie bands and artists thrive on. Indeed, Beach House is thriving on just that, widely believed to be one of the year's top Indie bands. Still, there's dissent from some quarters where it's believed that expressing only one "mood" or sound is not enough to justify consideration at the top of the heap. It's a delicate balance. Make your sound more mainstream to please one group and risk losing the hard core followers. But these are not disputes for Christmas music collectors to worry about. Short of a future all-time classic, you simply hope for a good song that's representative of a group's sound. And "I Do Not Care For The Winter Sun" is nothing if not representative of the Beach House sound. Personally, I love the tune, but I doubt I could sit through 45 minutes of that. No offense. You can download it free at The Beach House web site. |
The FREE ListHere we hope to direct you to some of the Christmas music on the web that can be yours absolutely free. We will not direct you to mp3 or sharity sites, here, but only to artist sites, label sites, and other authorized and unquestionably legal locations. ArchivesDecember 22-31, 2010 Categories
All
|