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.
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.
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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.
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. 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) Here's a fine funky groove from Jesse Fischer, keyboard player for the Funk/Jazz quintet Soul Cycle. Jesse, here, does his best to follow in the footsteps of Jimmy Smith and other funky organ players of a bygone era of Funk/Jazz. Multi-talented, Jesse also plays the drums, bass, guitar and vibes on "Let It Snow". He's not bad on those bongos either. Head to Bandcamp for a fine performance from Jesse Fischer, one man band. 1. Intro 2. The Christmas Song 3. Charlie Brown Christmas feat. Rashaud Knight 4. Interlude 1 5. When I Fall in Love/ To the ghetto 6. Interlude 2 7. X-Mas Together feat. BZe 8. I'll be Home For Christmas 9. Silent Night 10. Merry Little Christmas FREE DOWNLOAD AT BANDCAMP FREE DOWNLOAD AT DAT PIFF SELF CONSCIOUS MUSIC FACEBOOK PAGE Modern soul incorporates a lot of sounds--from Hip Hop and Rap to classic smooth Soul and Funk to Jazz and mixmasters. Frank Ocean, one of this year's breakout stars, is an artist making his way with these new hybrid sounds, and this one reminded me of him. This little set of "Unwrapped Presents" from Danny Fantom's equally new Self Conscious label out of Texas is a fine example of urban alternative. Credited to Jei Soul, "Unwrapped Presents" also features contributions from Rashaud Knight and BZe. Interspaced with clips of A Charlie Brown Christmas and other "interludes", Jei Soul shows off a marvelous set of pipes on music that's both fresh and familiar. One of the better examples of the modern style turns up on a medley (of sorts) of the beautiful "When I Fall In Love" and a gritty chorus of James Brown's "Santa Claus Go Straight To The Ghetto". The new style is all about combining disperate elements into a cohesive and unique expression. It's all about making sense out of chaos. "I'll Be Home For Christmas", thanks to the acoustic backing, sounds a bit like a standard soul ballad combined with Country Blues a la Huddie Ledbetter. "Silent Night" is delivered a cappella, and with noticeable sadness and just a touch of irony. My personal favorite, though, is "X-Mas Together", which is a fairly straight forward Hip Hop/R&B track with a dope rhyme from BZe and some really nice Jazz undertones. Christmas is over, but this set can keep you warm all winter long, so grab it quick at Bandcamp or Dat Piff.
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. Back around 2007, the Scottish Indie Rock band Frightened Rabbit recorded a Christmas song that has really become a favorite of a whole lot of folks, "It's Christmas, So We'll Stop". I would even count the tune as influential in the direction Christmas music has taken since. Sure, you still get your Michael Bubles, your Justin Biebers, your Blake Sheltons, and the occasional complete weirdness of a John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John album. But Indie Christmas music has exploded since then and I think Frightened Rabbit's track played a role in that. It was so underground at first, that it was over-ground, if you know what I'm saying. Throw in the Sufjan Stevens stuff (before it was released commercially), and Indie Christmas was definitely bubbling up all over. Scott Hutchinson, the lead vocalist and lyricist for the band, wrote a new Christmas tune for 2012 and what we get on "She Screams Christmas" is a hauntingly lovely acoustic basement performance, which, has it happens, suits the song very well. Tried to get this up earlier today but Scott's first upload exhausted its allowable bandwidth very quickly (a couple hours, tops). Undaunted, Scott handed the track off to Stereogum and you can now download the track there. I suspect you'll be hearing a lot of this tune...certainly next year and for years to come. Nonetheless, I'm sure you'll want to download it now. I mean, who knows how much bandwidth Stereogum has? Scott asks that, if you like "She Screams Christmas" (and you will), consider making a donation to the Cystinosis Foundation UK. Scott's young niece, Morven, suffers from Cystinosis and the Foundation's work will help her to survive as the disease attacks her kidneys, eyes, and other organs (a kidney transplant is inevitable). One other little detail, the mp3 is properly tagged (so many aren't) and lists the "album" as "As Christmas As We Come". Is a Frightened Rabbit Christmas album in the offing? Let's hope so. I mean, why the hell not, right? 1. Priorities - It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year (Andy Williams Cover) 2. Divide & Conquer - I Sat On Santa's Lap And All I Got Was This Restraining Order 3. States Away - Skipping Seasons 4. Portland! - I'll Be Home For The Holidays 5. Golden Gate - Christmas Without You 6. On Call Heroes - Santa Claus Is My Deadbeat Dad 7. You Vandal - Stocking Stuffer (Full-Band Version) 8. Cut The Brakes - Grizzly Bears In Pulaskis 9. Adalie - I Won't Be Home For Christmas (blink-182 Cover) 10. Sunning - This Christmas, This New Year (Feat. Kelly Murray) 11. Wake The Giants - Christmeth 12. Angry Bears - Holla-Daze 13. The Directive - Yukon Cornelius 14. Madison Lights - Merry Christmas, Ya Filthy Animal NAME YOUR PRICE AT BANDCAMP 15. The Lost Boys Club - Last Christmas (Wham! Cover) 16. Bad Case Of Big Mouth - Now I Have A Machine Gun... Ho, Ho, Ho 17. Singled Out - Jingle Bell Rock (Bobby Helms Cover) We've mentioned the Easycore folks before, though I'm a little too tired to go hunting it up right now. Easycore is an online community of sorts (with journalism, features, music and forums) devoted, primarily, to the Punk, Pop Punk, and Hardcore genres. These days, for those less adventurous, Pop Punk is more pop than punk, but its usually an extremely uptempo, rockin' pop sound--lots of hooks and such--though, occasionally, the genre moves into more hardcore territory. Basically, if you like bands like MxPx or even Green Day (sacrilege, I know), you'll probably like Pop Punk. Easycore artists lean a little heavier toward the hardcore sound, and that's a good thing since much of Pop Punk these days is just Pop posing. No posing, here, but the songs are still very catchy. Haven't had the time to give this a proper listen, yet, but, everywhere I dropped my virtual needle, it sounded fantastic. And you gotta love titles like "Now I Have A Machine Gun...Ho, Ho, Ho" and "I Sat On Santa's Lap And All I Got Was This Restraining Order". There are a couple of covers, but most of this set is all new. And I think I've only come across one of these tracks as a stand alone download this year. If you feel like, maybe, your mixtape needs a burst of energy, this one's a triple shot of espresso, seasoned with Jack Daniels. Go for it. You wanna learn more about the bands, stop by Easycore itself and look around a bit (the bands are linked up in their track list). Oh, and when you're finished listening to "A Holiday Compilation, Vol. 2", stop by and pick up "A Holiday Compilation, Vol. 1" which is free again (came out in 2010) for the holidays on Bandcamp. Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals.
Sweet Talker is Colorado singer/songwriter Kevin Fisher. Unsigned at the moment, Kevin's "It's Christmas, Please Come Home" puts most holiday efforts from American Idol alum to shame. It's a nice little pop number with pop punk undertones (imho). What's more, it's free--an exclusive offering of 81twentythree.com (home of Kevin's management company). Head to 81twentythree and click on the artwork there to get the track. |
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