Tag: 4+

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Shy Nature “My Christmas Tree (Is Looking At Me)” (2016)

Shy Nature - My Christmas Tree is Looking at Me

Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp

YES! Shy Nature is back, and thus, a tradition is set in stone, and they will have to do some serious negotiating to get out of this gentlemen’s agreement to put out a Christmas song every year. “My Christmas Tree (Is Looking at Me)” shares some emotional complexity with last year’s “Christmas Lullaby.” It starts out sweet, with excited children wanting to go down to the tree. The food, the fun, the battleground of presents. However, as the song progresses, it gets darker. No one wants to sing, you’re losing your hair, and it’s getting colder. “Those magic times / Won’t be magic forever.” The emotional arc is quick, poignant and most certainly relatable. The magic we have as children never lasts, no matter how much we still love Christmas. It will never be the same.

Hold on to it for as long as you can.

Bottom Line: Shy Nature excel at writing emotional, thoughtful Christmas songs, and “My Christmas Tree (Is Looking at Me)” is a wonderful addition to their Christmas collection.

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Saintseneca – The Mallwalker EP (2016)

Saintseneca - Mallwalker EP

Anti-
Buy: Bandcamp

Columbus, Ohio’s Saintseneca has released one of the strongest indie rock Christmas releases I’ve heard, perhaps the best since labelmate Dr. Dog’s in 2013. The 5-track EP compiles four previously released songs, with one new song for 2016! The refreshing lyrical approach makes this entire album different than… well, anything else I’ve heard this year. None of these songs feel like Christmas songs… and that is probably why I love it. Really, all I can do is ask you to listen to it – if the first track “All the Best” doesn’t grab you, then this fantastic, wonderful, mix-worthy record is just not for you.

Presently, I’m heavy into trying to finalize my own mix right now, so I’m having a tough time writing a ton about this record. So consider this my worst review ever, for perhaps the best EP of the season. I also just realized that this is a compilation of 4 previously released songs and one new one. I’m familiar with “New Coats”, and see that “Mallwalker” was released a few years ago. Which one is the new one, got me! Perhaps I’ll be able to amend this later.

Bottom Line: Saintseneca have created a beautiful, gritty, sweet, thoughtful holiday EP whose proceeds benefit Water For People (www.waterforpeople.org), a charity whose mission is to get clean drinking water to people. You’d be an awful person, with terrible taste in music if you didn’t buy it. Just sayin’. 🙂

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Charles Cave “This Fucking Time of Year” (2015)

Charles Cave "This Fucking Time of Year"

Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp | iTunes

Charles Cave, the bassist and lyricist for the British post-punk band White Lies, released a great, 80’s synth Christmas jam last December that is making the rounds again thanks to a new video. This song is dramatic in all the ways you want an 80’s synth Christmas song to be.

If you’re gonna leave,
Go on and leave;
Leave my heart in the cold snow
When you go.
But if I wanna drink,
Well then I’ll drink.
I’ll drink to forget I drink alone.
So alone.

‘Cos I don’t want to lose you
I don’t want to lose you, not again,
At this fucking time of year.
I don’t want to lose you
I don’t want to lose you, not again,
At this fucking time of year.

This is a hot track. It’s just what I needed when I woke up this morning… the montage was epic. There was singing into a hairbrush. There may have even been dramatic turns to a mirror. I put on a great, ill-fitting suit slicked back my hair and got into my Ferrari. My best friend Alf and I took off and headed for our Club Med vacation. We’ll see you all in the new year, 1987.

Bottom Line: Yeah yeah yeah, technically from last year, but I actually HEARD about it THIS year. And I love it. So there.

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Winterval – At Christmas Time (2016)

Winterval - At Christmas Time

Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp (NYOP)

So… lots of folks tweet at me with Christmas tunes. I do appreciate it – please keep doing it! The nature of the beast is that I’m never going to be able to listen to them all, nor give them all the proper time that they may deserve. Why? Because all the music comes out in a span of only 3 weeks… it’s nuts. But damn… I found myself with a little time and listened to one today while walking to my car, picked a random track, and found myself transfixed. Winterval, a home recording project from Moseley, UK, has written a whole album of Christmas originals over the past 7 years… and it is pretty damn fantastic. The production perfectly captures his voice, which has a touching sincerity during the more contemplative songs. The song that I randomly chose was “Hang the Lights on the Tree,” and the way his voice floats amongst the ringing guitars is just perfection. “Hang the lights on the tree / one for every memory.” The simplicity of these captured moments aren’t anything grand, but that is where their power comes from. I honestly haven’t had the time to give this record the deep listen it deserves, though rarely does an entire release reveal itself so quickly to be worthy of attention. I mean… I didn’t even have to dig. Shoot at another song – “Christmas Every Day” – just fantastic. “At Christmas Time” – beautiful. “Puffy’s Song” – even that elf song is great! Truly, this record has been an absolute indiepop pleasure.

Bottom Line: This is a modest, home recording project that is fighting well above its weight class.

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The Heathen and The Holy “Best Christmas Yet” (2016)

The Heathen and the Holy - Best Christmas Yet

Self Released
Buy: iTunes | Amazon.uk MP3 | Amazon.de MP3 | Amazon.fr MP3

The Heathen and The Holy are a seasonal project from Noah and the Whale’s Fred Abbott and Tom Hobden. So far, this is their third year, and with their pedigree you might expect a bit of new folk-infusion into the music. Surprisingly enough, Fred and Tom embrace the classical large production values of Christmas tracks of yore. Choirs, pianos, backup singers and big, swinging melodies. This year’s soulful jam isn’t normally what I’d get into musically, but damn if I’m not feeling these lyrics and their overall attitude.. “We’ve lost our way / (break down the walls) / Gave into hate / (open the doors) / It’s been a year / a year to forget / so let’s have ourselves / the best Christmas yet.” This song kind of sums up the year, the folks we’ve lost, the faith in our brothers and sisters that has been shaken, the year that awaits you on the other side… it’s all so heavy this year. Perhaps this song can do a bit to release the tension.

It’s been too hellish a year.

Bottom line: The Heathen and The Holy have provided the first real political song that rises above gimmicks or snapchat. Certainly worth your time, and perhaps worth a spot on your mix…

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Night Flowers – Christmas (2016)

Night Flowers - Christmas

Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp (NYOP)

London’s Night Flowers have just released a fantastic 2-track indiepop Christmas digital single (of originals!) that continues this year’s trend of beautifully written indiepop Christmas songs. I’m going to jump straight into the lyrics of track 2, “Christmas Eve,” the uptempo stomper that I just adore:

I broke the silence with a beating heart
hoping I wouldn’t break the spell
you whispered softy in my ear
a song I’ve never heard again and disappeared
the seasons pass
slowly my dear
I wonder where you’re gonna be on Christmas eve?

That is some seriously beautiful writing. It leaves enough space for you to put yourself into the song, and thus you feel it more. Just beautiful.

The leadoff track “To Rest” is much more in the classic, slow, chiming sound of treble-heavy indiepop. Certainly beautiful as well, but perhaps without the crossover (from indiepop) appeal that “Christmas Eve” may have. That said, this could be a highlight for your indiepop Christmas mix – which is a mix I’d like you to send me. Because I dig that shit, obviously 🙂

I really have to stop qualifying with “only for those who love indiepop” when dealing with fantastic indiepop singles. I mean… duh. If you like it you’ll like it. Indiepop is the flipside to punk, and punk means to reject mass appeal. Indiepop sort of is too… it’s almost recorded as if it’s meant to be a secret between you and the band. And here I am… spillin’ secrets.

Bottom Line: 2 great indiepop tracks, a name-your-own price on Bandcamp, and all proceeds going to Mind and the Teenage Cancer Trust. Take my money, please.

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Les Bicyclettes De Belsize “Christmas Card 1983” (2016)

lesbicyclettesdebelsize

Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp | Stream

Charlie Darling of Les Bicyclettes De Belsize is what one might call a purveyor of fine indiepop Christmas tunes. He is so adept at it, that I imagine him running a small shop, selling Christmas songs a la carte to his walk-in traffic. His current seasonal project is an Advent calendar, to which he is releasing a song a day on Soundcloud. Did he write 24 new songs?? No, not exactly, but he has 10 and he did re-record his excellent older Christmas releases! So new versions! You may recognize #2, which was featured on Christmas Underground last year. Charlie tipped me off to today’s release, as it was going to be a new one. “Christmas Card 1983” is a wonderful piece of Christmas indiepop, and I love it simply for its dreamy atmosphere groove, and the brass colors are fantastic. However, what left me sitting here listing to this song a few times in a row was personal realization I stumbled into. I often have to fight the urge to throw a bunch of downers on my mix, as I tend to find darker music more complicated and fulfilling. I especially worried about this year, as I am not in the best state when thinking about the future of my country, nor the world. But I don’t think I have to worry about my mix… I am sitting here medicating with glimmering nostalgia, rather than drowning melancholy or anger. “Christmas Card 1983” most certainly scratches that itch, with mixtape Christmas presents, buying records at HMV, and old movies. I can’t wait to hear the rest of Charlie’s project, even if there is a downer in the bunch. I think I can take it, thanks to “Christmas Card 1983.”

Bottom Line: Pure indiepop Christmas wonderfulness. As always with indiepop, it may not be your taste… but those who like it, will very likely love “Christmas Card 1983.”

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Erik Koskinen “On Christmas Day” (2016)

Erik Koskinen "On Christmas Day"

Real Phonic Records
Buy: 7Digital | iTunes | Amazon.uk MP3 | Amazon.fr MP3

Minnesota’s Erik Koskinen will be on tour supporting Low, and damn… that is a good pairing. Start the night off with some fantastic alt.country as you enjoy a few beers, then setting in the the majesty of a Low set. It is quite appropriate that Erik bust out a Christmas song when accompanying the godfathers of indie Christmas, and equally appropriate of him to make this song downright fantastic. “On Christmas Day” begins with a simple guitar, Erik’s voice, and a whisper of a drum. “It seemed like old times again, / like when the snow fell heavy and the maple burned. / Everyone was happy / and everyone was gay. / They came to me / on Christmas day.” Then the music turns up a notch, with new colors fluttering in like flames from a fire. “You came like an ocean / you came like a wave / you came like a dream / on Christmas day.” There are some truly beautiful turns of phrase here. The atmosphere is warm, the lyrics are beautiful, but it’s those touches he adds to the music that really make “On Christmas Day” something special. Do yourself a favor and listen early and often.

Bottom Line: A folk/country/alt.country highlight of the season, no doubt about it.

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Low “Some Hearts (at Christmas Time)” (2016)

Low - Some Hearts (At Christmas Time)

Sub Pop
Buy: Bandcamp | iTunes | Amazon.uk MP3 | Amazon.de MP3 | Amazon.fr MP3

Low… what can you say. If you are reading this blog, you know all about Low’s underground Christmas legacy. What I have not (personally) been into, are their Christmas tunes post-Christmas EP. Well, that changed today, as I heard their new track “Some Hearts (at Christmas Time).” It is somber and lovely, heartbreaking and wistful. The production and experimentation within  harkens me back to a slightly less out-there Bon Iver (latest record), and I think it suits them well. In fact, Justin, why don’t you produce their next record? I’d love to hear that.

Bottom Line: Low is regarded one of the titans of underground Christmas music, and this year, they reminded us all why.

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The Crookes “You Bring the Snow” (2016)

The Crookes - You Bring the Snow

Anywhere Records
Buy: Bandcamp | 7Digital (FLAC) | Amazon.uk MP3 | Amazon.de MP3 | Amazon.fr MP3

Christmas is time of year (for me) where nostalgia becomes the currency, and this year, the Crookes have a million bucks. Their new song, which debuted on The Line of Best Fit today, is a wonderful, emotional crystal ball to the Christmases when you were young. “I wanna know where did the magic go? / This year, I swear I’m coming home. / So let the sleighbells ring, / people dancing and they’re having fun. / All I wanna have / One more Christmas like when we were young.” The lyrics, the synthesizer atmospherics, all the way down George Waite’s vocals paint a heartfelt yearning for when Christmas was truly Christmas. You know… that time in your life that planted that seed, and why you are reading this blog now.

Bottom Line: The Crookes can always be counted on for Christmas (silver and) gold.

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