Category: Singles/Tracks

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matt pond PA “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)” (2014)

matt pond PA - Give Me Love

Self-Released
Buy: Free!

I just got an email from matt pond PA, a band that I have followed for well over a decade. I remember being madly in love with The Green Fury in college, and it still holds up. Well, mpPA is holding a holiday contest of sorts, where they are requesting you to comment on Facebook with the next song they should cover. You simply post the suggestion, and tell them why. The post with the most likes by 12/12 will be the winner. They have started off the festivities by offering up a free, Christmasy download of George Harrison’s “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth).” All that is required is your e-mail address. Of note… unless I’ve missed something, I don’t believe I’ve ever noticed a synth in mpPA before. Interesting…

Bottom Line: Great song, done well. I’d say it has a good shot ending up on some of your mixes for sure! 4/4

LISTEN:

Download here!

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Glow Kit “Christmas Daze” (2012)

Glow Kit - Christmas Daze

Self-Released / Mastermind Records
Buy: Bandcamp

Well hot damn. After reading about this track on Snowflakes’ blog, I knew I had to (legally) have it. Hailing from Aarhus, Denmark, Glow Kit recorded “Christmas Daze” back in 2012 and released it on Youtube, followed by a very limited (24 copies) lathé cut 7″ by Danish label Mastermind Records. Supposedly it was a free download on Soundcloud, but I could never get it to work. HOWEVER, after contacting the band, they have been kind enough to finally set up their Bandcamp page! So, now you can legally download a MP3 (or FLAC!) of this fantastic indie rock Christmas song. Please keep in mind, while they are offering it as a free download, they would greatly appreciate a donation. All the money made off this song will help with the ongoing recording of their new album. Musicians need money to make records, and if we want to continue to get fantastic music, we’ve got to support them.

Bottom Line: Really, I love this song. You should love it too. 5/5

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The Smoking Trees – Round Christmas Time (2014)

Smoking Trees - Round Christmas Time

Ample Play Records
Buy: 7Digital MP3/FLAC | Amazon UK MP3

For those looking for psych Christmas goodies, Cornershop’s Ample Play Records has a 2-song single for us. Given the challenge of following Ample Play’s excellent Festive Compilation EP last Christmas, this single by The Smoking Trees has lived up to expectations. Premiering tonight on Louder than War, the title track, “Round Christmas Time,” echoes “Why do you always love me more ’round Christmas time,” the kind of melancholy that any reader of the blog knows I dig. Throw an organ on there, and I’m in. The b-side, “Let the Psychedelic Lights of Christmas Shine” was previously released on the excellent aforementioned Festive Christmas EP, and will certainly scratch that psychedelic Christmas itch if you’ve got one. I would love to hear The Smoking Trees pick up the pace on one of these songs, just for fun. Throw a live version at us!

Bottom Line: Excellent psychedelic Christmas tunes continue Ample Play’s history of fine Christmas releases. 4.3/5

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Wolves & Moons “In the Bleak Midwinter” (2012)

Wolves & Moons

Self-Released
Buy: Stream

Wolves & Moons are a french band with an English singer, who offered up a lovely cover of “In the Bleak Midwinter” on their Facebook page on Christmas Eve last year. (Turns out it was on Soundcloud in Dec. 2012.) They chose Bert Jansch’s arrangement, which is simple, beautiful and short – and what a perfect choice it was. The arrangement, coupled with Richard Allen’s vocals, give this song a feeling of authenticity that the extremely sugary-sweet versions that I tend to find just don’t have. It may have been a free download on Soundcloud, as their profile page suggests, but there is a server error. So alas, you will have to get creative to fit this onto your mix, but I’ve got faith in you.

Bottom Line: Beautiful, short, with a feel of authenticity that is not found very often. 4.8/5

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Pulled Apart by Horses “Merry Christmas Everyone” (2014)

Pulled Apart by Horses - Merry Christmas Everybody

Too Pure Singles Club
Buy: 7″ Vinyl @ Norman, Rough Trade, Piccadilly, Banquet or Action Records

Pulled Apart by Horses has taken this Slade song that I am normally pretty bored with, and ripped some shit up. I don’t know if you can rock this song out any harder without losing the melody. I especially love when they layer the vocals, with one voice screaming while the other sings. I’m trying not to use any more profanity, but this song makes you want to swear. This is the a-side to the DZ Deathrays track, and while I can’t find it digitally yet, it is available for preorder from all the fine retailers you see above.

Bottom Line: Fresh, fucking urgent take on a “classic” song. 4.8/5

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The Garlands – Christmas Song / I Don’t Intend to Spend Christmas Without You 7″ (2013)

SNOWFLAKE 2 The Garlands front cover 600px

Snowflakes Christmas Singles Club
Buy: 7″ Vinyl | 7″ Vinyl Bandcamp | 7Digital MP3 (US) | Amazon UK MP3

The Garlands‘ contribution to last year’s inaugural Snowflakes Christmas Singles Club is a perfect indie pop Christmas single. For the uninitiated, the SCSC format is 7″ records with an original A-side, and a cover B-side. The Garlands A-side, “Christmas Song,” is as beautiful as anything they’ve ever done. These Swedes can do English-indie pop better than most native speakers. I find myself liking it more with every listen – there is this part where the tone takes a somber dip, and damn I love it. The B-side cover of Claudine Longet classic is equally pretty, as they somehow found a way to pour more sugar on an already sweet song. Claudine would be proud.

You can still pick up this release, but there are only 500, so I’d get it sooner than later.

Bottom Line: Indiepop Christmas at its finest. 4.6/5

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The Explorers Club “Christmas Must Be Tonight” (2013)

The Explorers Club - Christmas Must Be Tonight

EC Records / Burger Records
Buy: Free!

Philadelphia’s The Explorers Club released a gem of a cover last year, picked up by a number of my fell0w bloggers-in-Christmas, but worth highlighting once more for its general level of excellence. This is a faithful cover of The Band’s original, so nothing much has changed. However, this version does differ in subtle ways, best experienced during the chorus where they inject just enough energy to fill that gap I (personally) feel in the original.

Bottom Line: The Explorers Club took a great song, and upped the ante. 5/5

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Naive Thieves & Summer Twins – Christmas With Naive Twins (2010)

Christmas With Naive Twins

Self-Released
Buy: Free! | Also Free!

Way back in 2010, Naive Thieves and Summer Twins, two LA/SoCal-based bands, teamed up for a 2-song Christmas release, Christmas With Naive Twins. The result is a lovely little piece of indie-rock Christmas that sounds like Little Joy & Local Natives got together to record some seasonal sounds. Both “Holiday in the Sand” and “What Better Time than Now” have a timeless feel, contemporary, but harkening back to a 60’s feel at times. These tracks really are something special that should be heard by more people. While it was posted on the Summer Twins Bandcamp page at one point, it no longer resides there, nor on the Naive Thieves Bandcamp. I’ve tried contacting them through Bandcamp and Facebook multiple times, but to no avail. I, for one, would love to pay them a few bucks for FLACs, but for now we’re going to have to settle for the free downloads that still exist on Soundcloud. Thankfully, they are high-bitrate MP3s.

Bottom Line: Both tracks are superb. 4.8/5

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Psst. There are free mp3s over here.

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The Weary Band “Christmas Mourning” (2011/2014)

The Weary Band - Christmas Mourning

Self-Released
Buy: Bandcamp

Years ago, I found the track “Christmas Mourning” while doing research into whether a different band’s “Christmas Mourning” was an original song – and while theirs turned out to be Julian Cope cover, the Bristol-based Weary Band‘s original stayed with me. They have re-recorded it for 2014, with all sales going to the Bristol-based charity Survive. It’s a melancholy song, with lyrics like “We’re older now / Old and blue. / How many wishes of yours came true?.” It’s grounded in a reality that gives it power, and perhaps if you take a listen, you’ll feel the same.

Bottom Line: There is something beautiful here. 4.8/5

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Ice Choir – Pure Holiday (2014)

Ice Choir - Pure Holiday

Cascine
Buy: 7″ – Norman (UK) – Saki (US) – Juno (UK) – Amazon UK | Boomkat FLAC

This is the kind of stuff I love – thanks Stubby. Ice Choir, with their shimmering 80s sound, offer up two Christmas tunes that live in another world. This synth Christmas gem will make all your friends wonder “Who the hell is this?” as they rattle off “Tears for Fears!” or “Spandau Ballet!” You shall cooly say, Ice Choir of course. Fronted by Kurt Feldman, former frontman of the Depreciation Guild and current drummer for the always-excellent Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Ice Choir has taken the sounds of yesteryear, mashed it up with a bit of modern chillwave, and created a 7″ whose digital bliss will take you away to a Christmas of big hair, bright colors, and Club Med.

Bottom Line: Not 100% how it’ll fit on my mix, if it will at all. But I really appreciate how great & how different it sounds than most everything out there this year. 4.7/5

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