Joseph G Vincent - Music of Christmas

Joseph G Vincent's Music of Christmas is one of the more unique albums I've heard in that nearly everything on it is done with a hammered dulcimer.  Off the top of my head, I don't think I can name a single song that uses a hammered dulcimer (although when I consulted Wikipedia to find out what a hammered dulcimer is, I discovered that Neil Peart is listed as a player of the instrument, so I've almost certainly heard it before), so it's certainly refreshing to hear normally familiar songs in a completely different way.

And that's really the main draw of this album - you've probably heard all of the songs before, but not with this kind of sound.  The songs are all stripped down to their most basic melodies, but there is a certain elegance in the way that they are played that makes them sound strikingly beautiful.  I'm obviously not an expert on hammered dulcimer playing, but I really love the way that it sounds on this album - I get the feeling that it is not the easiest instrument in the world to play, and that each note is played with a great deal of care.  And really, that's about all I can say here - the sound is so unique that I don't know how to describe it any further.  If hearing old favourites done in new and interesting ways appeals to you, then this is an album you have to hear.  Happy listening!

URL:

http://www.jamendo.com/album/74782/

Album Spotlight: Frozen Silence - Christmas Carols

Back in October, I was searching Jamendo for more albums by a band called Silence is Sexy, as I was planning to write a blog posr about them for Totally Free Music (I still haven't gotten around to that post, though - perhaps early next year, though).  On the first page of the search results was an album called Christmas Carols by Frozen Silence.  I can't resist Christmas music, so I downloaded the album and gave it a listen, even though it wasn't even Thanksgiving at the time (and by that I mean Canadian Thanksgiving, which occurs on the second Monday in October).  

 

Christmas Carols has 10 songs clocking in at only 15 and a half minutes, but what it lacks in length it makes up for in its beautiful presentation.  Some of the songs, like "First Noel" and "Silent Night", are very familiar; others, like "Vom Himmel hoch", are less so, but they all sound great.  There is also an original song called "Frozen Christmas" that is very beautiful and actually fits with these older songs very well.  All of the songs are instrumental, and most of them are done on piano, but three songs are also repeated on acoustic guitar at the end of the album.

 

I think Christmas Carols would make a great soundtrack for any relaxing moments you may be able to find at this time of year.  I've actually had it in my lullabye playlist for my 2 year old since I downloaded it.  However you choose to listen to it, I hope you enjoy it.  Happy listening!

 

URL:

http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/53382

Album Spotlight: James Edwards - Christmas Bells

James Edwards' recently released Christmas Bells album is a collection of ten traditional Christmas songs arranged for solo classical guitar.  The end result is stunning in its simplicity.  For the most part, the arrangements are very faithful to the source material, but they are played with a great flair that makes them well worth listening to, no matter how many times you may have heard some of these songs before.

Even though it is not reflected in the titles, a lot of these songs are actually medleys of two or three songs.  For example, "Silent Night" begins with "The First Noel", and "A Merry Christmas" has elements of "Good King Wenceslas" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas".  I love medleys, and although these are short, they are still fun to listen to.

Christmas Bells is the type of album that can work in a variety of situations.  It makes great background music, but the songs are so well performed that you can hear new things in them each time you listen to them.  Personally, I have found that it makes wonderful lullaby music for putting my 2 year old to sleep.  However you choose to listen to it, I hope it helps to make your Christmas a little more special.  Happy listening!

URL:
http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/56082

Album Spotlight: A Garritan Community Christmas Volume 6

One of my favourite musical Christmas traditions has been continued for another year.  The 6th volume of A Garritan Community Christmas was released sometime in the last few days.  If you haven't heard anything from the previous 5 volumes, they are all still available on the same page, so you can check out anything you need to while you're there; also, you can read my reviews of the first 4 volumes and volume 5.

 

I'm always rather impressed at just how good these albums sound, considering that they are created entirely on computers.  This volume is no different - things like the organ sound in "A Child So Special", and the entirety of "JS Bach Christmas Oratorio", have a very authentic sound to them.  "O Come All Ye Faithful" features a choir at the end, and "I Saw Three Ships" is also sung; this is a particularly beautiful version of that song.  One of the more creative arrangements comes on "Carol of the Jingle Bells", which mixes elements of "Carol of the Bells" into "Jingle Bells"; the track is only 2:45 in length, but it goes through several different moods and is quite fun to listen to (I really like the waltz that begins at about 1:28).

 

If you've enjoyed the previous Christmas albums from the Garritan community, you will very likely enjoy this one.  If you've never heard one before, this is a great time to start.  Happy listening!

 

URL:

http://garritan.com/Xmas.html

Album Spotlight: Sebastian Wolff - "Keys and Lights"

So, I just had an entire post typed up and ready to go when I ran into a little problem: the music I was writing about, which I had downloaded just last month, was no longer free to download.  Rather annoying, but luckily I always have at least a few posts in varying stages of completeness.  This one, for example, was actually started way back in April when I downloaded Sebastian Wolff's "World of Goo" piano medley.  While browsing the artist's website, I noticed that he had a Christmas album available for download, so I made a little note of that.  I finally downloaded the album just a few weeks ago, and now I'll finish writing about it nearly seven months after I first started.

 

After hearing the "World of Goo" medley, my expectations for Keys and Lights were pretty high, and I'm happy to say that it really lives up to those expectations.  I've really developed a liking for solo piano works this year, so to hear these songs performed in this way is a real treat.  There is a really nice variety in the song selection, ranging all the way from traditional songs like "Silent Night" and "Carol of the Bells", to standards like "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year", to modern soundtrack material in "Believe" (from The Polar Express) and "Where Are You Christmas?" (from the 2000 version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas).  The songs are mellow enough to be listened to as lullabyes (which I've been doing for the last few weeks while putting my youngest son to sleep), yet full of such interesting and beautiful playing that you could give your entire attention to them and still hear new things each time.

 

All 18 songs on Keys and Lights can be downloaded directly from Sebastian Wolff's website.  However you decide to listen to them, I hope you enjoy them.  Happy listening!

 

URL:

http://sebastianwolff.info/music.php#christmas

Album Spotlight: Garritan Community Christmas Album Volume 5

Last year, on Christmas Eve, I made my final Christmas music post of the year about the first four volumes of the Garritan Community Christmas Album. A few weeks ago, in the comments of that post, Tommy from Secular Xmas pointed out that Volume 5 is now available, which brings the total number of free Christmas songs available from the Garitan site to 98.

Each song on a Garritan Community Christmas Album is created by a single person working on a computer using Garritan libraries, which contain samples of real musical instruments. Like the first four volumes, the songs on Volume 5 are mostly orchestral in nature and are all very, very well done. Jim Hammer's "Christmas at Home" adds vocals to the mix with a nice sentimental tale about spending Christmas at home with your loved ones. Jerry Wickham's "O du Fröliche, O du Selig" features some beautiful bell sounds. Pat Azzarello's "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" is a cool jazzy version with more vocals. And my personal favourite on the album, Toby Bresnahan's "Silent Night", has a guitar sound that is so good I have difficulty envisioning how it could have been synthesized.

If you enjoyed the first 4 volumes, Garritan Community Christmas Album Volume 5 should be a must-download for you. And if you've never heard a Garritan Community Christmas Album, now is as great a time as ever to start. In addition to complete MP3 downloads of every CD, the Garritan website features cover and disc art for the last 4 volumes (I can't seem to find any for the 2004 CD), a Flash-based music player that allows all of the tracks on Volume 5 to be streamed directly from the site, and a host of other information. There is even a limited offer for a free (minus shipping costs) CD of volume 5, so if you like to have physical copies of your music, this could be right up your alley.

Happy listening!

URLs:
http://garritan.com/Xmas.html
http://secularxmas.org/

Multiple Album Spotlight: Garritan Community Christmas Album (vol. 1-4)

This was originally going to be about volumes 1 to 3, but I just checked the website and found that volume 4 is now available. So, you can check out the Garritan Christmas Music Player website and download your choice of 4 volumes of the Garritan Community Christmas Album.  With nearly 80 songs between the 4 albums, I realize that many people probably won't get a chance to listen to all of it this year, depending on when you stop listening to Christmas music. But that's okay - you can download it now and have it ready for next Christmas; in fact, I don't think I've managed to listen to all of the first 3 volumes yet, let alone the latest volume.

So, what exactly is a Garritan Community Christmas Album? Basically, each song on these albums is made by a single person on a computer making use of Garritan libraries, which contain samples of real musical instruments. All I can say is that these samples sound very authentic and have been put to great use by the artists on these albums; to my ears, these sound like real orchestral recordings (or a big band recording in the case of 2006's "Ding Dong Jazzily on High"; I'm not sure if there are other recordings that stray from the orchestral format). All in all, these albums make for a very pleasant listen and are well worth downloading.

If this sounds interesting, please head to the website and download whatever you want. Liner notes, cover artwork, and CD labels are also available to download. If you act quickly, you may also be able to get a free copy of the latest CD (for the price of postage).

As always, thanks for taking the time to read, and I wish all of you a Merry Christmas and happy listening.

URLs: http://garritan.com/Xmas.html

New Content: A-M Classical

There's not really much information on the site about what exactly A-M Classical is, but the Christmas Carols page there has a wonderful collection of, well, Christmas carols. Like the last couple of features on this blog, most of the A-M Classical songs are all very mellow and relaxing and performed on a solo instrument; with a single exception, the instrument this time around is an organ.

There is a total of 20 songs currently available from the site. Almost all of them are traditional Christmas carols, and the sound of the organ gives them a stateliness that few other instruments could match. The lone exception is a lively, ornate version of "Jingle Bells" played on piano; it is one of the highlights of this collection, and it is also different enough that I hope a collection of piano music is in this site's future. A message on the site does say that more will be uploaded throughout the Christmas season.

For the time being, though, this is a very nice collection of relaxing Christmas music. Head over to A-M Classical and check it out for yourself.

Album Spotlight: John Conahan - Rhodes Christmas

Continuing with the relaxing mood established with yesterday's featured album, today's featured album also manages to be one of the more unique Christmas albums I've ever heard. So far on this blog we have had albums consisting of solo guitar and solo piano music; John Conahan's Rhodes Christmas features nine Christmas songs performed on nothing but a Fender Rhodes piano, plus another two songs that also feature vocals. The mood throughout the entire album is very mellow and relaxed, and the sound of the Rhodes piano will help you to feel warm on even the chilliest of winter days. I listened to it whilst sipping a cup of tea as a snowstorm raged outside my office window today, and it seemed like a perfect soundtrack to what was going on.

The music on the album is a wonderful mix of old and new. There are traditional Christmas carols like "Silent Night" and "Greensleeves", modern standards like "The Christmas Song" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", and even a couple of Vince Guaraldi numbers from A Charlie Brown Christmas ("Christmas Time is Here" and "Skating", both of which are among the highlights of the album). The two vocal songs are covers of "When the River Meets the Sea", from the John Denver & the Muppets Christmas Album, and Joni Mitchell's "River", another highlight of the album.

Once again, if you feel like this time of year is too hectic and leaves you feeling drained of energy, take some time to chill out and throw on some relaxing music. I think that Rhodes Christmas would make a great choice for such a situation. Please let me know what you think of it.

If you like the relaxing mood of the last couple of albums, be sure to check back soon, as I'll be featuring more relaxing music this week before I move on to other types of Christmas music. As always, thanks for reading, and I sincerely hope you are enjoying the music I feature on this blog as much as I do.

Album Spotlight: Barbara Gallagher - Love Came Down at Christmas

I have some relaxing music for you tonight. Barbara Gallagher's Love Came Down at Christmas CD features beautiful solo piano performances of 12 Christmas songs. I believe that this album would sound lovely if listened to while a storm rages outside as you relax by the Christmas tree, with a cup of your favourite hot beverage in one hand, a roaring fire in the fireplace, and your loved ones next to you. There are a few upbeat songs, such as "People Look East", but for the most part the entire album is very soothing and relaxing. My favourite song is the last song, which is a beautiful medley of "Away in a Manger" and "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear".

So if you want some Christmas music that will help put you in a relaxing mood (and, let's face it, I think relaxation is something that many of us could use more of at this time of year, despite out best intentions), please give Love Came Down at Christmas a try and let me know what you think of it.

Thanks for reading, and I'll be back soon with some more music along the same lines.

Album Spotlight: Hairy Larry - The Gift

It has been said that the mark of a truly great song is that it still sounds good when played on nothing but a single acoustic guitar. Just think back to the last time you gathered around a campfire with friends or family and someone brought along an acoustic guitar - all those old songs like "House of the Rising Sun", "Mrs. Robinson", and "Hotel California" still sounded great, and they were also a lot of fun to sing along with.

Some of the most timeless songs around are traditional Christmas carols - songs like "Silent Night", and "O Come All Ye Faithful". May of these songs are hundreds of years old, yet they continue to be heard around the world each year at Christmastime.

So what would happen if someone were to take some of these carols and arrange them for a solo acoustic guitar? For the answer, look no further than Hairy Larry's The Gift, which takes nine of the most popular Christmas carols of all time and presents them as arranged for a single acoustic guitar. These arrangements give us the most basic essence of each song, and the result is a stunning, truly beautiful work of art that will instantly appeal to any lover of Christmas music - or music, period, for that matter.

Please head on over to the Internet Archive's page for the album and download these amazing songs for yourself. After you've listened to them, why not leave a little review either in the comments below or on the album's page? You can also find out more about Hairy Larry at his own website.

Enjoy!