Tag: Amazon

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UPCOMING: “Indie for the Holidays, An Amazon Original Playlist,” “Acoustic Christmas,” and “Christmas Soul” (2017)

Amazon
Buy: Coming soon

Well, it looks like Amazon is continuing their tradition of providing high-profile indie Christmas tunes to the masses via their popular Indie for the Holidays and Acoustic Christmas playlists. Likely, the new tracks will just be tacked on to the already existing playlist, so they shouldn’t be too hard to find. EDIT – Those playlists will be updated on December 1. In addition to these two returning playlists, be on the lookout for Christmas Soul, being released on Nov. 24 via Amazon Music Unlimited and Prime Music.

Some highlights to look forward to…

Indie for the Holidays has so far announced contributions by Kevin Morby, Lemon Twigs, Best Coast, JEFF the Brotherhood, Albert Hammond Jr. and Jessica Lea Mayfield.

Acoustic Christmas teased out a song on Brooklyn Vegan today, “I’ll be Home for Christmas,” a cover by Courtney Marie Andrews, as well as listing off a few more contributors: Josh Ritter, Nicki Bluhm, Sera Cahoone and Lori McKenna.

There is much more info out there about Christmas Soul, as a few tracks have been released (linked below), as well as a large roster of participating artists: Tamir, Dawn Richard, JC Brooks, Joey Dosik, Buscabulla, Spacebomb House Band feat. Andy Jenkins, Blu and Exile, Ural Thomas & the Pain, Demo Taped, The Texas Gentlemen, Jacquie, Jungle Fire, Diane Coffee (!), Major, Robert Finley, Nicole Atkins, Marc Broussard, Ruth B, Davie, Open Mike Eagle, Gemma (feat. Adrian Younge), Taliwhoah, Liz Brasher, The Soul Rebels and Don Bryant.

EDIT: There is also the All is Bright playlist, which is getting an update again this year too. Why anyone is recording “Baby It’s Cold Outside” anymore is beyond me, but Willie’s doing it.

BOTTOM LINE: I’ve got my eyes on a few of those names, but still too early to get this grumpy gus too too excited 🙂 Amazon keeps their stuff so close to the vest (and aren’t my favorite people – I’ve got a history…. ever notice that I push Bandcamp and 7Digital whenever I can?)

LISTEN

 

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UPCOMING: Indie for the Holidays, An Amazon Original Playlist (2016)

Amazon Music
Buy: Amazon MP3 | Amazon.uk MP3

So… today is nuts. So much. So much. Amazon not only has an Acoustic Christmas playlist, but they’ve also resurrected Indie for the Holidays! Last year’s playlist had some gems – Oscar, Ivan and Alyosha and Sondre Lerche & Jherek Bischoff. It was generally pretty solid. Now this year we are being treated to…

01 “Sister Winter” – Joseph
02 “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” – Savoir Adore
03 “When Christmas Comes” – Los Campesinos (This is a new, more stripped down version)
04 “Carol Of The Bells” – Melvins
05 “Hard Candy Christmas” – Inger Loree & the Nymphs
06 “Christmas (The Way It Was Back Then)” – Chris Staples
07 “Azusa” – The Album Leaf
08 “Plastic Mistletoe” – Glint
09 Santa, Baby” – Red Rosamond
10 “Holiday Road” – Tennis
11 “Headphones For The Holidays” – Blake Hazard
12 “Silver Bells” – Dandy Warhols
13 “Ritmo De Vida” – Nortec Collective Presents Bostich + Fussible
14 “Snow” – Sam Evian
15 “Come On Home (It’s Christmas)” – PINS

Looks damn solid to me. Can’t wait to hear more tomorrow. I’ll likely update this post to a review as well.

Bottom Line: Looking good so far – can’t wait to hear the Album Leaf, Tennis, and PINS tracks specifically.

LISTEN

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UPCOMING: Amazon’s “Acoustic Christmas” Playlist (2016)

Acoustic Christmas

Amazon Music
Buy: Amazon MP3 | Amazon.uk MP3 | Amazon.de MP3

Today is a day of upcoming posts apparently. Amazon looks to be creating their own Christmas tradition with their holiday playlists. They like to mix it up, and this year they have moved on from the indiepop and rock of yore, and on to the fertile grounds of Americana. Texas Monthly recently debuted three songs to be featured on the collection, and it certainly looks promising. Hayes Carll covers himself (hehe) by polishing off “Grateful for Christmas,” Bob Schneider lays down a studio version of his “Christmas Street,” and Shinyribs add a little boogie woogie to the mix with “Birthday Cake for Jesus.” Be on the lookout for additional tracks by G.Love, Trampled by Turtles, Son Little, BILLY BRAGG & JOE HENRY (together???). You might have an idea of who I’m most interested in hearing from…

Edit: Shoutout to Arum Rae! You’re on this playlist! GREAT SONG!

Bottom Line: Again… haven’t heard it yet, but Amazon’s got the money and exposure to not only bring in some great names, but also support some newcomers.

LISTEN

Head on over to Texas Monthly yo to hear Hayes, Bob and Shinyribs. You know the deal… ‘sclusives.

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UPCOMING: Indie for the Holidays, An Amazon Original Playlist (2015)

Indie for the Holidays cover

Amazon
Buy: Stream

Amazon has announced a follow-up to their (IMHO) “meh” 2014 playlist, All is Bright. Their playlist was expansive, 43 songs, and with such a wide scope, there was no way that they were going to make this indie grinch happy. Too many expected covers from too many a coffee-shop friendly artist. This year, however, Amazon has tweaked their formula, and decided to curate a more adventurous playlist. The first song, Sondre Lerche & Jherek Bischoff‘s “Surviving Christmas” is presently streaming exclusively over at Stereogum. Its lovely throwback production is unsurprising, as I feel Sondre has been moving toward crooner for a years now (certainly not a bad thing – he’s great!). The lyrics are most certainly poignant, while sometimes remaining playful – Frank Sinatra would be proud. I am, however, very curious what electropop wildcard YACHT‘s track will be like, or serially grumpy Guided by Voices frontman Bob Pollard‘s What Begins New Year’s Day.” Rogue Wave have tried their hand at Christmas tracks before, as has (to a lesser extent) Langhorne Slim. There are also some newcomers (to me), such as Irish singer/songwriter SOAK, Seattle folk-pop band Ivan and Alyosha, and Swedish gothic pop singer Anna von Hausswolff that all have interesting biographies that make me want to hear more. I am most definitely intrigued, and hope that something great will come out of this for my 2015 mix. The entire playlist will be released on November 20th, so until then… just gotta wait.

LISTEN

EDIT: I’ve added all available (free) streaming songs to a playlist.