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2009-11-09

Artist Spotlight: Northern Light Orchestra


Sometime in mid-June, I began getting references in my RSS feeds to a band called Northern Light Orchestra, which supposedly had free Christmas music available for download.  At first, I dismissed these blog posts as spam for a number of reasons: first, they were rather poorly written, as if they had been written in another language and then auto-translated into English; second, when I clicked on the links in the posts, I could never find the music that had been promised; finally, well... who writes about Christmas music in June anyway?  Still, I was curious, and as time went on, I began to learn a little more about Northern Light Orchestra.  When I discovered that musicians like David Ellefson (former Megadeth bassist), Dizzy Reed (Guns N' Roses keyboardist), Bruce Kulick (former KISS guitarist), and members of bands like Whitesnake, KoRn, and Quiet Riot were involved with the project, it became something I simply had to hear.
 
After reading a couple of these blog posts each week for several months, I was finally rewarded in the last week of October when the link led to a page with actual downloadable MP3s.  I downloaded the MP3s and began listening to them immediately.  Since I had been waiting to hear this music for such a long time, I can't possibly think of a more appropriate way to officially begin the 2009 free Christmas music season.
 
As might be expected given the musicians involved, Northern Light Orchestra's sound is primarily rock and metal based.  I was immediately reminded of Trans-Siberian Orchestra, but I think that is more due to the fact that there just isn't that much rock-based Christmas music around.  My favourite song so far is "God Was Born a Baby", which starts off with the sound of a choir before launching into an excellent rock groove.  Just when it sounds like the song is over at around four and a half minutes, it picks back up for an epic guitar solo, which lasts almost two minutes, and then winds down with an orchestral outro.  "Joy to the World" features a great instrumental breakdown with a drum solo and soaring guitar leads.  There are mellower songs, too.  "Joseph's Song" has an adult contemporary feel to it, while "We Have Come to Worship" you is a nice ballad with gorgeous vocal harmonies.  "Goodnight" is a pretty little piano- and vocal-based lullabye sung to baby Jesus.
 
There seem to be alternate versions of some of the songs on the band's iLike page.  "Joy to the World", for example, features some additional orchestration and vocal harmonies as compared to the version on the band's website.  This exemplifies the only real problem I have with NLO - namely, a great deal of confusion.  Their website states that their album, The Spirit of Christmas, contains nine songs, and that they have another nine songs in production "for next year" (not sure whether they mean 2009 or 2010 by that); however, the amount of songs available for download is neither nine nor eighteen, and the songs that can be downloaded have different album names and track numbers between the different versions.  It's not enough to stop me from listening to the music, but I can't help but feel how much better it would sound as an album with a proper track list.
 
Though Trans-Siberian Orchestra may have popularized rock-based Christmas music with their trilogy of albums, Northern Light Orchestra proves that there is still room for more of this type of music.  Their take on Christmas music is a thoroughly enjoyable one - this is something that I would gladly pay for if given the chance to have it as a proper album.  I hope you enjoy it too - please leave a comment here or send me an email to let me know what you think of it.  Happy listening!
 
URLs:

2009-11-03

Free Christmas Music Index

Well, here we are in November again.  This is usually the time when I begin listening to and writing about Christmas music, and this year is no exception.  I've been listening to a few new albums over the last couple of weeks, and I'll be posting about them here as soon as I get a chance to write about them.  Before I start posting about new music this year, I wanted to put together an index of everything that has already been posted.  Posts are organized into a few broad categories which will hopefully make it easy to locate what you're looking for.
 
Last updated 2009-11-02
 
Free Christmas Music Resources
 
 
Albums
 
The 8bits of Christmas (The 8bitpeoples)
Beautiful and Unique Snowflakes (various artists) (unavailable)
The Christmas EP (The Layaways)
December (Fisher) (unavailable)
Divine (The Violet Burning)
Emmanuel (Sarah Brown)
A Familyre Christmas (various artists) (unavailable)
The Gift (Hairy Larry)
Green Christmas (Mojo Green)
Holiday Hits 2008 (various artists) (unavailable)
Love Came Down at Christmas (Barbara Gallagher)
MiMi Loves Xmas (various artists)
Rhodes Christmas (John Conahan)
Seriously Westcoast Vol. 2 - Happy Holidays (various artists) (unavailable)
Sounds of Bethelehem (Jennifer Avalon)
Tidings (Allison Crowe) (partially unavailable)
Winter Wishes (various artists)
 
Songs
 
"Last Christmas" (various versions)
"We Wish You a Merry Christmas" (Gary U.S. Bonds) (unavailable)
 
Artists
 
Dolores Dagenais (unavailable)
Joel Rakes (unavailable)
 
Quick Reviews
 
 
Auld Lang Syne
 
Auld Lang Syne 2007 (partially unavailable)
 
Miscellaneous
 

2009-09-14

Some questions for anyone who sees this post

I use Google Analytics to track basic usage patterns for all of my websites and blogs, and one thing that I couldn't help but notice is that a lot of people seem to be finding their way to this blog lately.  Now, I don't think it's a secret that I am a huge fan of Christmas music, and I like to start listening to it as soon as I can, but that usually means after Halloween is over - I think September might be too early even for me!  However, I wouldn't be totally opposed to the idea of perhaps listening to a few albums and throwing some quick reviews on here in the meantime, if anyone would be interested.

To anyone who comes across this post before November, I'd like to ask a few quick questions; if you could respond in the comments (or via email), it would really be a big help to me.
  • What were you looking for when you came across this blog?
  • Did you find what you were looking for here?
  • Would you like to see some new content on this blog before November?

Thank you for taking the time to read this.  I'll be back to regular posting sometime in November, and possibly sooner if enough people are interested.

2008-12-30

Song Spotlight: Auld Lang Syne (2008 edition)

Last year before New Year's Eve, I made a post rounding up all the free versions of "Auld Lang Syne" that I had found. I've found a few more this year - some are brand new, some from years past, but all of them are pretty cool in their own way - and I thought it might be cool to make an annual tradition out of an "Auld Lang Syne" post, celebrating the end of another year of great free Christmas music and allowing the new year to be rung in with style.

Here are this year's versions of "Auld Lang Syne":
  • Mojo Green's version from their Green Christmas album. This is my favourite version, with their rock instrumentation balancing nicely with the more traditional sounding piano accompaniment.
  • Richard Rayer's version from A Garritan Community Christmas Volume 5. This is an orchestral, instrumental version (done on a computer, like all Garritan Christmas recordings).
  • Navada Van der Veer's version from Voices of Christmas Past. Being from 1921, this is by far the oldest version of the song I've heard, so the historical value alone makes it worth hearing.
  • The Sleeping Brothers' version from The White Christmas Album. This is a short, countrified version.
  • Peter Buffett's version from Star of Wonder, with vocals by Kim Robertson. This is a pretty, softer version with some Celtic overtones. (this one requires registration with amiestreet.com. I registered there earlier this year for free, and as far as I know, it is still free to register. If anyone has any problems registering or accessing this album, please let me know)
The funny thing about this song is that I've never actually gone looking for it - all of these versions are part of Christmas albums that I've found - but it's really become a favourite of mine. That's certainly a long way from just thinking of it as "that New Year's song", after hearing it used on TV and in movies any time a New Year's Eve scene comes up.

I guess that's it. Thanks so much for reading this blog again this year. I've had a lot of fun tracking down, listening to, and writing about the music I've featured here, and I can't wait to do it again next year. In the meantime, if you're up for some free non-Christmas music, the Totally Free Music blog has a years' worth of posts in it now, and I should be actively posting in it again really soon (actually, I just made a post about a metal compilation called Christmas Carnage Vol. 1 - there's no Christmas music on it, but the artwork does have some pretty bows and a skull wearing a Santa Claus hat!). Happy New Year, and happy listening!

URLs:
http://www.archive.org/details/mg2006-12-00.-xmas
http://garritan.com/Xmas.html
http://www.archive.org/details/Voices_of_Christmas_Past_1898_to_1922
http://www.archive.org/details/TheSleepingBrothersTheWhiteChristmasAlbum
http://amiestreet.com/music/peter-buffett/star-of-wonder/ (free registration required)

2008-12-25

Christmas Day Stocking Stuffer edition

[Update: A few of the links referenced in this post no long work.  Namely, Aaron Schust and Chris Sligh's 4 Songs for Christmas, and the Joel Rakes and Sounds Familyre links.]

Well, it's Christmas Day now. This day always seems to come much more quickly than it ever should. I've listened to a ton of great Christmas music over the last six weeks or so, and I've tried my best to post about as much of it as I could; I hope you've enjoyed reading about it and listening to it as much as I've enjoyed listening to it and writing about it. Since this will likely be my last chance to post about Christmas music this year, I thought it might be nice to round up some of the music I've really enjoyed but haven't had a chance to post about yet. I won't go as in-depth about it as I normally do, but if you're looking for some last minute musical ideas for Christmas, feel free to pick and choose from the links below.

One of the first songs I ran across in my search for Christmas music this year was Sofia Talvik's 2007 single "Christmas", which, musically, is a rather pretty little song; lyrically, it is rather dark and disturbing and not typical Christmas fare at all. I won't spoil anything, but please consider yourself warned. Sofia has released another Christmas single this year entitled "A Carol for the Lonely", which is very beautiful. Though the single is free to download, she "[urges] you to use the money you would have spent on it on iTunes to help someone less fortunate."

From the Internet Archive comes a recording of "Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht" (better known to some as "Silent Night") from 1906. This is a beautiful instrumental version of the song, and I think the historical value of the recording alone makes it worth listening to.

Along similar lines is Voices of Christmas Past 1898 to 1922, a collection of Christmas skits and musical recordings from the early part of the 20th century. If you want an idea of what Christmas was like so long ago, this would be a great place to start.

Also from the Internet Archive comes Bela Fleck and the Flecktones' "Christmas Medley", which puts a cool jazzy spin on some well known Christmas songs.

From The Fa-la-lattes comes a pair of newly-recorded Christmas albums. Christmas on Public Property is a collection of public domain Christmas songs. I really like their rocking "Angels We Have Heard on High", their country-tinged "In the Bleak Midwinter", and their laid back "Lo, How a Rose Ere Blooming", which has some beautiful vocal harmonies. The other album, entitled (Your Christmas Here), consists of all original Christmas songs - thirteen of them. I don't know of too many Christmas albums with all original songs, so the ambition alone on this one makes it worth a listen. As a little bonus, both of the albums will fit nicely onto a single CD, should you decide to burn a copy.

Aaron Schust and Chris Sligh's 4 Songs for Christmas is a nice little EP with a great, rocking version of "O Come O Come Emmanuel" and a nice version of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."

Brian C. Duyn's Home for Christmas is something that I downloaded last year and dismissed a little too prematurely as being cheesy. When I took another look at the web page this year, I had to laugh because even he admits that a lot of the tracks are cheesy, as he used karaoke style accompaniments. If you can get past that, you'll be treated to some outstanding singing on a good selection of both traditional and contemporary Christmas songs.

The White Christmas Album by The Sleeping Brothers has very little information about itself, but it's a pretty cool album nonetheless. "Fruitcake" is a fun, original song, and the cover of "Silver & Gold" should appeal to any fans of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer - I should know, as I've counted myself as one for most of my life. :)

Happy Birthday Jesus is a free compilation from the Christian electronica site Creuk Radio. It's a rather strange compilation, similar in spirit to the Electric Fantastic Christmas albums, but perhaps even weirder. My favourite track is Anguidara, Delta-s, Tranquil Chaos' industrial version of "Let it Snow", which has a bit of a Marilyn Manson sound to it.

And that's about it. Don't forget to check back with both Joel Rakes and Sounds Familyre for the remainder of their releases. Joel has posted a great version of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", and his final song for this year will be released later today; the tracks for Sounds Familyre Vol. 2 have been released in batches of 2 or 3 tracks a day lately, so be sure to grab them while the download window is still open. I'll be back in a few more days to make another "Auld Lang Syne" post, so in the meantime I hope that you are enjoying your Christmas and that at least some of this music can play some small part in it. Merry Christmas, and happy listening!

URLs:

2008-12-23

Multiple Album Spotlight: Electric Fantastic Christmas

[Note: As of October 7, 2009, last.fm no longer has these albums available for download.  They are all still available from the Electric Fantastic Sound site, though.]

I've got a great resource of free Christmas music for you tonight. For the past three years, the Electric Fantastic Sound label has released a Christmas sampler featuring its own artists as well as international guests. The compilations, each simply entitled Electric Fantastic Christmas (or X-Mas in the case of the first one), are a great mix of both popular and original Christmas songs, all with an electronic sound that gives them a fun, catchy, and usually danceable feel.

Some of my favourite songs on these albums include Nouvelle Culture's "Douce Nuit", which I actually had as a standalone download from last.fm and liked so much I decided to track down the rest of the album; Bloodgroup's pulsating, sensual version of "Santa Baby"; Neurobash's cover of AC/DC's "Mistress for Christmas"; covers of "Last Christmas" by both Basswood Dollies and PLAS-TICk; Libra's version of Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You", which sounds like it was filtered through Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams"; Electraset's "Christmas Wish", which has an awesome 80s feel to it; and Quelles Paroles' cover of Elvis Presley's "In the Ghetto".

That only really scratches the surface of this great collection of Christmas music; with nearly 2 hours of music between the 3 albums, I find new things to enjoy about them every time one of them comes up in my playlist. If you're interested in checking any of them out, there are a few different ways to download them. The Christmas samplers page on the Electric Fantastic Sound website has links to ZIP archives of each album, which is the fastest and easiest way to download the entire collection. You can also check out each album's page on last.fm (2006, 2007, and 2008), where you can pick and choose which songs you want to download.

Whatever you decide to do, I hope you enjoy what you hear. Happy listening!

URLs:
http://www.electricfantasticsound.com/christmas.php
http://www.last.fm/music/Various+Artists/Electric+Fantastic+Xmas
http://www.last.fm/music/Various+Artists/Electric+Fantastic+Christmas+2007
http://www.last.fm/music/Various+Artists/Electric+Fantastic+Christmas+2008

2008-12-20

Album Spotlight: The Violet Burning - Divine

The Violet Burning's Divine is one of the nicest surprises I have come across all year. It was released on their website last week with the message "tell anyone who loves rock music and christmas". I love both of those things, and this album does not disappoint on either front; in fact, the only real problem is that I wish it had been released sooner so that we would have more time to enjoy it before Christmas!

Overall, Divine has a warm, melodic rock sound - think Trans-Siberian Orchestra, but without the theatrics - and like a lot of great Christmas albums, it contains a mix of traditional Christmas carols and contemporary Christmas songs. On the traditional side (although the arrangements here are anything but traditional), highlights include a rocking version of "Silent Night" and a beautiful version of "The First Noel" that starts off quietly, slowly builds to a crescendo, and then goes back down again - this song gave me goosebumps when I first heard it. On the contemporary side, there is a nice version of "Last Christmas" and an ultra-cool version of "Blue Christmas", which finds the band switching gears completely with an Elvis impersonation; by the time it segues into "Sandy Claws is Back in Town", this mini-medley establishes itself as a real highlight of the album.

If you want a little rock in your Christmas music, but "Jingle Bell Rock" and "Rocking Around the Christmas Tree" don't quite do it for you, Divine might be right up your alley. Go check it out, and I hope you enjoy it in these final few days before Christmas. Happy listening!

URLs:
http://thevioletburning.com/www/audio/downloads/divine/divine2008.htm
http://thevioletburning.com/

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