2. The Songs The Season Brings
3. Auld Lang Syne
4. The First Noel
DOWNLOAD FREE THROUGH NOISETRADE
DOWNLOAD FREE THROUGH BANDCAMP
1. Oh Holy Night 2. The Songs The Season Brings 3. Auld Lang Syne 4. The First Noel DOWNLOAD FREE THROUGH NOISETRADE DOWNLOAD FREE THROUGH BANDCAMP Somehow, I seem to have missed Beta Radio on Boxing Day. Works out alright, though, as it gives me another "Auld Lang Syne" to point you to. Most of the covers of "Auld Lang Syne" are really short, but Beta Radio gives us nearly 3 and a half minutes worth. Really, though, the best tunes on this Indie Folk EP are "Oh Holy Night" and the title track, "The Songs The Season Brings". Download it for them and consider "Auld Lang Syne" a nice bonus.
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Our first New Year's freebie in these waning days of 2011 is the collaborative effort of Frank Turner & Jon Snodgrass. Turner is a British artist who has done everything from Punk to Folk in his career. Snodgrass is an American Alt Country artist whose musical exploits have included stints with the groups Armchair Martian and Drag The River. Late in 2010, the pair got together to record the album "Buddies" in less than two days. Surely, they reasoned, they could write and record a New Year's song in under two hours. They actually accomplished the feat in under a half hour. So there. Head to The Ruckus to download "Happy New Year" for free. 1. Christmas Is For Our Hearts - Find Vienna 2. When The Night Gets Long - Gillian Grassie 3. Christmas Eve For Two - Summer Fiction 4. The Xmas Song - Matt Santry 5. Christmas Time Is Here - Atomic Square 6. Coming Your Way - Scot Sax & Suzie Brown 7. I Want A Present - Angel Band 8. Best Day Of The Year - JD Malone & The Experts 9. The Valley, A Christmas Song - Kingsfoil 10. Christmas Balls - John Flynn 11. I Got A New Tattoo For Christmas - Ben Smith 12. Evergreen - Ali Hoffman DOWNLOAD FROM THE KEY Ever wish every day could be Hanukkah? (Just go with me on this, OK?) Well now it can be, thanks to Michael J. Epstein & Sophia Cacciola. This is a bit of an Alt Rock/Alt Folk tune with a Polka beat...and a dream. Think of the practicality. For every day to be Christmas would require 365 Christmases. BUT for every day to be Hanukkah, there only have to be 46--and that even covers leap years and there's enough days left over to celebrate double Hanukkah for a few. It's genius, I tellz ya! Genius! Everybody: "8 More Days of Hanukkah!" Catch this one on Bandcamp or use the Soundcloud widget above. 1. Intro Story 2. Missile Toez 3. O! Holy Night 4. Rand Swanson 5. Yule-Tide Bombz 6. Baby, It Chilly Out Dey 7. Voice Mail 8. Winter Song 9. Choopy Kabra 10. The Prose Pecans of Christmas 11. Turn On The Lights (intro) 12. Turn On The Lights! 13. Christmas Is The Piss, For The Poor 14. Time Heals All Wombs 15. Kotton Kandy Kane DOWNLOAD FREE AT NOISETRADE How have I missed these guys all these years? Bandrew is a group of musicians (and whoever is hanging out in the back alley behind the bar) from Oklahoma. And, it appears, they exist solely to gather before the holidays and take the most irreverent and twisted view of the holidays known to mankind--the only goal, seemingly, to be more irreverent than the year before. As each new volume is released, the last one disappears, never to be heard again. It's music. It's comedy. It's two mints in one. As usual, I haven't had time to listen to the whole thing. I will say, it IS funny...and not for the faint of heart, your local minister, or anyone in your family with evangelical tendencies. Did your Aunt Martha give money to Jim and Tammy Baker? Last week? Don't play this for her, then. I loved the opening story, the twisted "Baby It's Cold Outside" ("Baby It Chilly Out Dey") and the title track. And since those are the only three tracks I had a chance to sample, I'm giving "Kotton Kandy Kane" by Bandrew a big Stubby's thumbs up (though it's likely there's another finger that would be more appropriate). Visit Bandrew on Facebook. Or just hang out in the alley behind the bar and maybe you can be on next year's set.
Canadian Indie band Mother Mother played this holiday original live at the CBC's "Canadian Indie Christmas Concert" and thought it nice enough that they went into the studio to cut it. "Hit Er Miss Christmas" is an Alt Rock/Alt Folk tune about a hapless celebrant who "can't even get a kiss underneath the mistletoe". But "it's alright, it's OK, it's alright, it's OK". Mother Mother is offering it up free via their web site, or just use the widget above.
We just visited Ireland so, while we're in the neighborhood, let's hop on over to Scotland. I'm sure its just me, but it seems like every bit of music that comes out of Scotland is either totally frivolous (e.g. The Bay City Rollers) or totally epic (e.g. the late Bert Jansch). "The Christmas Before Last" from The Stormy Seas would fall into the latter category. It just sounds like they are telling some ancient Scottish tale of myth and magic. Not that there's anything wrong with that, nor with frivolous music either. Just making an observation. This one is free at Bandcamp. As one blog put it, this is "sea shanty meets sleigh bell". Damn, wish I'd said that. I saw "Blue Christmas" by this artist on the Irish music blog 2 U I Bestow and followed the Soundcloud link back in the hopes of finding more Christmas music. This time, I was rewarded. In addition to "Blue Christmas" and "When A Child Is Born", you can also find "The Christmas Song" and "Wonderful World" (not to mention a host of songs that aren't related to the season), all available for free download. I don't care much for "Blue Christmas", whomever the artist, and I kinda liked the sound on this one. The Making are a four piece Irish band fronted by Brendan McCahey. Their sound, generally (I'm told), has bits of Rock and even Glam, but their Christmas pieces here are more Folk and acoustic in nature. Head to Soundcloud to listen and download. While you're there, listen to "Lennon's Dream", Brendan's tribute to the late John Lennon. That one's worth a download as well. 1. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Andrew Belle DOWNLOAD FREE AT BRITE REVOLUTION 2. O Holy Night - Tyler Ward 3. Merry Christmas Everybody - He's My Brother, She's My Sister 4. A Moon Song - David Berkeley 5. You Make The Cold Disappear - Amy Stroup 6. The Season Sends Us Home - Humming House 7. Our Remedy (Live) - Kopecky Family Band 8. The Smile Of Rachel Ray - David Mead 9. The Winter's Chill - SPELLS 10. See Amid The Winter's Snow - Jessica Campbell 11. River Carol - Concerning Lions 12. Christmas Time - Andy Davis 13. This Year - The Young International 14. Happy Xmas - Gabe Dixon 15. Santa Clause Is Coming To The USA - The Kicks I'm not familiar with Brite Revolution, but it appears they're a magazine, no they're a free music download site, no they're a magazine--they're two mints in one! I don't think you have to sign up to download these particular songs, but, if nothing else, signing up ensures that they'll notify you when new music arrives. "The Winter Warm-Up Mixtape" is pretty cool--15 songs with a winter or Christmas theme. Outside of The Kopecky Family's "Our Remedy", I've not come across any of these elsewhere. The music ranges from Electro Pop to Indie Pop to good old Rock n Roll. The one bummer is that there doesn't seem to be any way to download all of the songs at once. I hate when that happens. So let me direct you to a couple that I think you should grab, whether or not you download the rest. Amy Stroup's "You Make The Cold Disappear" is a wonderful slice of Indie Pop. Jessica Campbell delivers a countrified "See Amid The Winter's Snow". I'm not entirely sure how I'd label Concerning Lions--Alt Rock? Folk Rock?--but whatever they're doing is mesmerizing. "River Carol" is the one song here that I simply cannot stop listening to. And, finally, you simply have to grab the rocker from The Kicks, "Santa Clause Is Coming To The USA". Everything else here is wonderful, too, but that's the cream that rose to the top of my coffee. Get a few or get em all at Brite Revolution.
01. Dennis, Jim, Evan and Bryan - Enter, stage left 02. Dennis, Jim, Evan and Bryan - Best Christmas Gift Ever 03. Jim Page - Going to Boston 04. Evan Purcell - Christmas Heart and Soul 05. Bryan Bowers - Good King Wenceslas 06. Bryan Bowers and Jim Page - Change From Within/Brandy 07. Jim Page - Interlude 08. Bryan Bowers - Angel on a Christmas Tree 09. Jim Page - Pretty Boy Floyd 10. Evan Purcell - Mistletoe 11. Jim Page - A Reindeer Man 12. Bryan Bowers - Hot Buttered Rum 13. Evan Purcell - Two Angels 14. Jim Page - Great Calamity 15. Jim Page - Jesus and the Laughing Deity 16. Bryan Bowers - Joy to the World 17. Jim Page - And I Never Learned to Sing the Blues 18. Bryan Bowers - Mance Lipscomb DOWNLOAD FROM WFMU'S BEWARE OF THE BLOG 19. Evan Purcell - I'm on My Way Back Home 20. Dennis, Jim, Evan and Bryan - Exit, stage right 21. Ellen Norton with the Evan Purcell band - Christmas Heart and Soul As long as we're on the subject of WFMU's Beware Of The Blog (see below), now might be a good time to bring this diamond in the rough to your attention. One of the many people I've come to know a little bit through this Christmas music obsession of mine is Dennis Flannigan. One December night in 2007, Dennis asked some musician friends to come into a recording studio for a night of song and story. But not just any old group of musicians. These three are legendary folk artists. Jim Page has been writing music since the late 60s and recording albums since at least 1975. You might be familiar with his songs "On The Street Again" or "Time Enough For Questions When The Killing's Done". Bryan Bowers is one of the world's best and best known autoharp players. He's probably best known for his 1980 cover of Mike Cross' "The Scotsman", which got a lot of play on The Dr. Demento Show. As a long time Mike Cross fan, that's basically how I first came to hear Bryan. I admit to being less familiar with Evan Purcell, though he's been a major force in the Pacific Northwest for nearly 30 years. Chuck Pennington did the graphics for the set, Tim (no last name given) was the recording engineer at ContactCreate studios, and Don Chapman and Videoland in Olympia, WA produced the discs which were only distributed to a handful of other obsessed Christmas music collectors. But a special thanks to Dennis for arranging and producing this evening of fun and festive frivolity, and for sharing it with the world as part of the 365 Day project--a Beware Of The Blog sub-project if you will (and even if you won't). There's plenty more holiday music to be plumbed from the archives of WFMU's Beware Of The Blog, but "Previously Unreleased" is one that you simply should not miss. And you can catch Dennis Flannigan on the Internet simulcast of his weekly radio show on KBRD at Noon (Pacific Standard Time) every Sunday. |
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