One of our favorite people around here is Nashville singer/songwriter Joel Rakes. Joel generally records a Christmas set every year and then gives it away until the New Year. You can still download all of Joel's past Christmas sets for a couple more days, at which time they'll go back into the attic with the Christmas decorations. But Joel didn't have time to record a new Christmas set this year (he was busy getting married). In lieu of that, he offered up all the past volumes. And he did record two versions of "Auld Lang Syne"--one upbeat and happy and one slow and sad. Choose the version that best suits your mood or the kind of year you had in 2011. You'll find "Auld Lang Syne" from Joel Rakes on Noisetrade and Bandcamp, though the Noisetrade download is likely to be around a bit longer. Joel is joined on the "happy" version by his sister Rebekah.
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Do I know who Cait Black is? Haven't got a clue. But what I do know is that this is one of the prettiest new Indie Pop/Indie Folk versions of "Auld Lang Syne" you're likely to hear this year. Get it through Bandcamp. Too bad it's a mere minute and a half. Amazing what you can do with just a ukulele and a few human voices, isn't it? 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.
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 One of this year's unexpected success stories came from Utah and a collective of Christian musicians known as The Lower Lights. Their Christmas album, "Come Let Us Adore Him", was received very well by critics and listeners alike. 13 songs long it was, and, delightfully, the digital album is on sale at Amazon right now for just $4.99. Hard copies are available, too--through Amazon and Bandcamp. This song, though, which isn't on the album, is free. A Christmas present from The Lower Lights, this is "He Sent His Son". What can I say? I love the Blues. Dave Boyd is an artist from Gainesville, Georgia. He plays that countrified folk blues kinda thing. Dave's "Christmas Morning Blues" is a track from his latest album "Dave Boyd & The Shade Tree Smugglers". Not sure where you can get hard copy CDs, though I know he's got some. The digital version can be had through Amazon, iTunes and eMusic (to name a few). And you can follow Dave on Facebook or Reverbnation. The Christmas track can be had for just a Tweet or a Facebook post. Go here and do what you gotta do. That dude with the Red Nose gets all the press, but he's not even one of the original 8. What about the rest of Santa's Reindeer? What's their story? Canadian singer-songwriter Ryan McAllister gives us the "true" story of Blitzen. And it's a much more interesting story than a young doe or buck being teased about a red nose. Blitzen, we're told, was rescued from a blizzard and near starvation. But he got his day in the end. This is really a very nice tune, extremely well done, and I'm happy to see Blitzen get his own backstory and tribute, rather than having another invented reindeer that "you don't know". "My Name Is Blitzen" is free at Bandcamp, as is "Whiteout Christmas" and both songs appear on Ryan's holiday EP, "Whiteout Christmas", available on iTunes. This is another song we owe to the German site Lie In The Sound, and we (and Blitzen) are very thankful to them, indeed. 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. Sarah McLachlan does Christmas music well. So well. This terrific new original eclipses even her beautiful full-length "Wintersong", I think. Well, maybe that's a bit strong. But "Space On The Couch For Two" is a really great song (written by the students of her school of music) and it's free. For charity. Free for charity? How does that work again? Well, the idea is the song is free, but Sarah is hoping you'll feel the spirit and drop a dollar in the pot. Sarah's raising money for her free school of music for children, something she decided was necessary when schools began cutting all their art and music programs because at least one party in government (and probably both) don't see the value. Damn DC punks. Anyway, watch the cool video, then head over to the web site Sarah set up for this. Whether or not you contribute is entirely up to you. Admittedly, I just grabbed the song. |
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