Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp (NYOP)
Sometimes you find one of those songs that you get so excited about that you both want to tell everyone, and nobody, about it. This is one of those situations… hold it until it is revealed on your mix (which is not set in stone yet, so anything can happen still!), or help the wider community impress their friends with a fantastic song. Well, I’m going with the latter as I’m sure a bunch of you are going to enjoy this one…
As for the review, I’m not going to get too specific, because I really just want you all to press play and smile. However, I will give a little background to this fantastic song. Nashville psychedelic indiepop band Arlie put this song together back in 2018 and tried to get it fully-cleared to be on Spotify/Tidal/etc, but alas, the music publishing gods had other ideas. Thus, it existed under the radar for several years, with not much on the net about it beyond a few Tiktoks that use the song, as well as one where Arlie addresses the song’s unfortunate fate. Somehow, with zero press, the song still amassed over 10K streams on Soundcloud – the only place (until VERY recently) where one could find this full song. I reached out the Nathaniel Banks, the frontman of the band, a few weeks ago just to make sure that he’d be cool with me writing about the song, as I didn’t want to stir up any trouble for him. He was happy to give me the green light – and even put the track up on Bandcamp for you all. So… warm up whatever finger you prefer to smash play with, and proceed.
Be sure to check out Arlie’s excellent full-length record, Break the Curse, as it is not on the Arlie Bandcamp. You can find it on your favorite streaming service… or perhaps from your favorite record store. Bands get WAY more money from a purchase than a stream, and everyone’s got to eat, folks.
Bottom Line: This one is going to bring a smile to many faces. And remember, name your own price means you can drop a dollar in the pot, so please do so.
Christmas Underground 