Atomsplit - Hey Holiday

And now, something short but fun for a Friday evening.  Hey Holiday is a four song EP of original Christmas- and holiday-themed songs by Atomsplit.  The whole thing clocks in at less than 15 minutes, but it's a ton of fun from start to finish.  The songs all have a pop punk sound that immediately made me think of Good Charlotte, although I can't help but wonder if I've somehow associated the cartoon silhouettes on the cover art with the logo for Undergrads, which used a Good Charlotte song as its theme song.

The album storms out of the gate with "Master of Mistletoe", which is honestly one of the coolest song titles I've ever heard; the song itself sounds just as cool.  All of the songs do, actually, and the super sharp production allows everything to be heard with perfect clarity.  The whole band sounds very tight, and I will very likely be checking out more of their music after Christmas is all over, which could prove to be a very interesting experience: a quick look at the Atomsplit website indicates that there's much more to this band than just the music - check out the web comic!

In the meantime, I'll definitely be giving Hey Holiday at least a few more listens before I put the Christmas music away until next year.  Happy listening!

URL:

http://www.jamendo.com/album/57141/

Bayside - "Angels We Have Heard on High"

Short post tonight - 'twas my birthday and I didn't have time to listen to or write anything.  Fortunately, though, I've been staying ahead of the game and have listened to tons of music and made notes on much of it, so I can put together a few posts pretty quickly.

Bayside have made their version of  "Angels We Have Heard on High" available for free to anyone who signs up for their newsletter.  Actually, you don't technically need to subscribe to anything, as the download link appears after you hit the submit button, while you only get a confirmation email in your inbox; however, I tend to give bands the benefit of the doubt in a situation like this and subscribe anyway.  I get free music, and I also get to learn a little more about the band from their emails - that's a win-win situation in my book.  The track is a really excellent rock version with muscular drumming and guitar riffs, and also some brief harmonized guitar licks.  This is a band I might like to know more about, so I'm actually looking forward to seeing what shows up from them in my inbox.  Happy listening!

URL:

http://fans.winduplist.com/Bayside/Signup.aspx

Song Spotlight: Celestial - "Saving Up Her Wishes (For Another Christmas)"

I've been trying to avoid posting about single songs this year.  I haven't actually downloaded too many single songs as there are simply far too many of them for me to keep up with; I find albums, or at least bundles of songs, much easier to keep track of, listen to, and write about.  However, earlier this morning a song popped into my head from out of nowhere and simply would not go away, so I really have no choice but to write about it.  What makes it even weirder is that it is a song I haven't heard since last year - according to my last.fm library, December 12, 2008 was the last time I listened to it before today.

 

Celestial's "Saving Up Her Wishes (for Another Christmas)" is the song, and I actually downloaded it back in 2007, but for the last two Christmases I really had no idea what to do with it as far as this blog is concerned.  It's a fairly upbeat song with a nice jangly guitar sound and lyrics that I can't quite make out in their entirety; actually, I think it is precisely that combination of catchy music and unintelligible lyrics that kept me coming back to the song again and again but never writing about it.  However, I can make out plenty of references to Christmas, snow, and "angels in the snow", so it's definitely an appropriate song for this time of year.

 

The song is listed as "saving up her wishes" on the Music Is My Girlfriend Downloads page.  If you decide to check it out, please leave a comment here and let me know what you think of it.  Happy listening!

 

URL:

http://musicismygirlfriend.com/index.php?s=downloads

Album Spotlight: The Violet Burning - Violet Christmas Volume 1

One of my favourite Christmas albums from last year was The Violet Burning's Divine.  This year, they have made another Christmas album available for free download.  From what I understand, Violet Christmas Volume 1 is a re-released version of an older album, but I hadn't heard it before, and it's very nice to have it available alongside Divine.

 

An original song called "Room in my Heart" both opens and closes the album; the closing version is (called the "full length" version) is greatly extended.  It's a very mellow and beautiful song; I really like the lyrics in the chorus:  "Baby Jesus, there isn't any room in the inn but there's room in my heart."  The remaining songs can also be found on Divine, but the versions on this album are either live ones or different arrangements (or both).  I find the sound on this album to be much mellower than the rock-based sound of Divine; the one (big) exception is "The Little Drummer Boy", which starts off rather quiet but explodes about halfway through, with the vocals being almost snarled by the end.

 

If you enjoyed Divine, Violet Christmas Volume 1 is an album that you must download; if you haven't heard it yet, this is a great opportunity to check both albums out.  Happy listening!

URL:

http://www.thevioletburning.com/www/audio/downloads/divine/divine2009.htm

Album Spotlight: Severe - The Punk Rock Advent Calendar

Okay, now this is just brilliant.  The Punk Rock Advent Calendar will be offering one free punk rock Christmas song every day from December 1 to Christmas Day.  According to an email I received from the artist, Jimmy Severe:

"Each song comes with its very own classic punk intro/riff/solo "borrowed" from a variety of all-time punk classics. Singalong with your turkey to the festive noise, whilst at the same time playing "Spot The Punk Cliché". The Ruts, The Ramones, The Pistols, The Jam and many, many more – they're all in there somewhere!"

I am not the biggest fan of punk rock in the world, so unfortunately many of these little "clichés" will probably be lost on me.  However, I do enjoy me some Clash, Ramones, and Pistols from time to time, and I obviously love Christmas music, so that makes this a winning combination.

In order to give people a taste of what is to come, the first five songs can already be downloaded.  If you're willing to take a look at the source code for the site, though, you can find a lot more than just the first five songs - there are in fact working links to all of the songs there.  I discovered this by accident, and I felt a little guilty about it, so I actually contacted the artist (who had initially emailed me to tip me off about the calendar) to let him know about it, and he said that it's all right to let people know about it.  So just like a real Advent calendar, the choice is yours whether to wait until the right day for your treats, or give in to temptation and take all of them now.  It probably wouldn't surprise anyone to know that I went ahead and downloaded them all at once, although I still haven't listened to all of them - I'll get around to that soon enough, though.

Among the first five downloads are some pretty cool versions of songs like "Stop the Cavalry", "Lonely This Christmas", and "Angels We Have Heard On High".  "Santa Baby" is in there too (for December 4), and its fake intro had me wondering if I had accidentally gotten my MP3 tags mixed up with another, more traditional version of that song, but then the drums kicked in, the tempo picked up, and everything felt right again - it's a nice little musical gag.  I get the impression that a lot of care has been put into rearranging these old songs into punk versions, as they all sound quite excellent.  Looking ahead at the tracks I've downloaded, I can't wait to hear what has been done to some of them, but I won't spoil anything for those who choose not to download them ahead of time.

Whether you choose to experience it all at once or a day at a time, as intended, I hope you find The Punk Rock Advent Calendar to be an enjoyable little treat.  If any punk rock fans out there happen to recognize any of the clichés in these songs, please share them here, as I would love to know what they are.  Happy listening!

URL:

http://www.punk-christmas.com/index.html

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:

http://www.carangel.com/northern-light-orchestra/

http://www.ilike.com/artist/Northern+Light+Orchestra/songs

Album Spotlight: The Violet Burning - Divine

[Note: the link to the album was changed slightly in December 2009.  I'm pretty sure it's working now, but please let me know if you have any trouble finding this album.]

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/divine2009.htm
http://thevioletburning.com/

Album Spotlight: Mojo Green - Green Christmas

Today I would like to spotlight a very cool album by a band about whom I have been able to find very little information. According to their MySpace page, "MojoGreen Project is a five piece Funkajazzadelic band bringing the groove from Reno, Nevada." [Edit: or not; see the first comment after this post - seems there is more than one artist with Mojo Green in their name] In 2006, they recorded an album called Green Christmas, which can be downloaded in its entirety from the Internet Archive.

There are very few traditional Christmas songs to be found on Green Christmas, and there are even fewer traditional arrangements of the songs that are on the album. Songs like "Jingle Bells", "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer", "Deck the Halls", and "Frosty the Snowman" are given an upbeat, rocking, bluesy, and altogether amazingly catchy treatment, and are performed with more energy than is normally heard on a Christmas album. They only slow things down momentarily for a couple of instrumental, acoustic guitar-driven versions of "White Christmas" and "Silent Night", both of which are done very beautifully.

All in all, Green Christmas has some of the coolest versions of many of these songs that I have ever heard. If you'd like to hear something a little different this Christmas, then I can't recommend it highly enough. Happy listening!

URLs:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=81636643
http://www.archive.org/details/mg2006-12-00.-xmas

Song Spotlight: Gary U.S. Bonds - "We Wish You a Merry Christmas"

[Note: as of October 5, 2009, this song is unavailable.]

This one will be short but sweet. I have a very fun song for you tonight from Gary U.S. Bonds called "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". This is not the standard song by that name that you have likely heard hundreds of times by now, but rather a very upbeat, lively, old fashioned rock and roll song, similar in feel to Chuck Berry's "Run Rudolph Run". The song is extremely catchy - I have found myself humming, whistling, and singing it very frequently since I first heard it last week - and it would make a great soundtrack for any Christmas party.

"We Wish You a Merry Christmas" can be downloaded for free from Gary's website. Go check it out, and happy listening!

URLs:
http://garyusbonds.com/index1.shtml

Album Spotlight: The Layaways - The Christmas EP

I'd like to spotlight another EP tonight.  This time it is the work of a single band, The Layaways, an indie rock band from Chicago.  Their 2006 release, The Christmas EP, is available as a free download from last.fm.

The Christmas EP contains only three songs, but they are well worth hearing.  The first is a bouncy, light rock version of "O Christmas Tree" (which features the main melody of "Deck the Halls" being played on acoustic guitar near the end).  Next is a short but sweet instrumental version of "Joy to the World", which serves as a nice setup for the real highlight of the EP, "Silent Night".  Another instrumental, this is honestly one of the best versions of "Silent Night" I have ever heard.  The drums and bass lay down a simple backbeat which allows for the main melody to be voiced on the guitar.  The guitar tone is gorgeous and helps lend a dreamy feel to the song.

...

You know what?  I don't think my words could possibly do this song justice.  Please go download it and listen to it for yourself - this is a song that simply must be heard.  Grab the rest of the EP while you're there.  Happy listening!  I'll be back soon with more great Christmas music for you.

URLs:

http://www.last.fm/music/The+Layaways/The+Christmas+EP

Song Spotlight: "Last Christmas"

[Update: as of October 2009, the Basswood Dollies and PLAS-TICK links no longer lead to free downloads.  However, these songs can still be downloaded as part of the Electric Fantastic Christmas compilations; they are on the 2006 and 2007 compilations, respectively.]

A song that I've been digging a lot lately is Wham!'s "Last Christmas"; judging by the statistics of the Free Christmas Music custom search engine, it seems that a lot of this site's readers enjoy it as well.  Though the song is not technically about Christmas, it has endured as one of the most popular songs at this time of year for nearly a quarter century and will likely continue to enchant listeners for many more years to come.  The Last Christmas website, which aims to compile all versions of the song, currently lists some 314 versions, with more being added all the time!

I am unable to offer Wham!'s original version for free, but I have found a few cool versions that I think most fans of the song should be able to appreciate.  First up is a version by The Fire Apes, which adds a great hard rock/power pop edge to the song.  From the Electric Fantastic Sound label comes a couple of slower, electronic versions: one from Sweden's Basswood Dollies, and a dreamy, female-fronted version from PLAS-TICK.  Finally, goto80 offers a "Hot Digi Remix" of the song, which is surprisingly accurate given that it was composed on a Commodore 64 computer (from The 8bitpeoples' The 8bits of Christmas, an album I featured on this blog last year).

Those are all the versions I have for now.  If anyone has any favourite versions that aren't listed here, please post a comment and let me know.  Although if you're a serious fan of this song and just can't get enough of it, the Last Christmas website is a must-visit site.  Happy listening!

URLs:

http://www.last-christmas.com/

http://www.last.fm/music/The+Fire+Apes/_/Last+Christmas

http://www.last.fm/music/Basswood+Dollies/_/Last+Christmas

http://www.last.fm/music/PLAS-TICK/_/Last+Christmas

http://www.archive.org/details/8bp038

Song Spotlight: The Snowballs - "Song About Christmas"

Hello there, and welcome back to the Free Christmas Music blog!  I hope that you've had a good year and that you are looking forward to Christmas.  I've been listening to at least a bit of Christmas music since just after Halloween, and the last few days I've been listening to little else.  I've been thinking about things that I can post about this year and I've already got a few ideas.  If anyone has any requests for things they'd like to see featured here, please leave a comment or send me an email and I'll see what I can do.

The first thing I'd like to post about is a little song that struck me as quite cool when I heard it a couple of days ago.  The song is called "Song About Christmas" by Oxfordshire, UK-based band The Snowballs.  As you may have guessed from the title, this is not exactly a traditional Christmas song; instead, it's an upbeat punk rock tune with tongue-in-cheek lyrics that capture the fun, offbeat side of Christmas time.  If you can imagine what it would sound like if The Clash had included a Christmas song on London Calling, you'll have a good idea of what this song sounds like.  Or, even better, go download the song and hear it for yourself (here's an alternate download location).

I hope you enjoy this little gem of a track.  Until next time, happy listening!

URLs:

http://www.thesnowballs.com/radio.htm

http://music.download.com/thesnowballs/3600-10611_32-100834548.html