Over the Rhine - "Snow Angels"

I only downloaded Over the Rhine's Snow Angels earlier today, but it pretty much blew me away on first listen. Right from the smoky, jazzy opening song, "All I Ever Get for Christmas is Blue", the album just felt like something special, and by the time I was wiping tears from my eyes while listening to "Snow Angel", I had made my mind up to post about it as soon as possible.

I actually find it very interesting that Snow Angels is not a new album - it was in fact released in 2006 and even has its own Wikipedia page. From that page, I learned that the song "Goodbye Charles" was inspired by Vince Guaraldi's compositions from A Charlie Brown Christmas, although that would likely be obvious to anyone who is familiar with the latter - what's most amazing of all is how authentic they managed to make it sound. As a side note, try listening to the soundtrack for A Charlie Brown Christmas on your favourite portable music player the next time you're out for a walk (preferably in the snow) - I did it earlier today, and I don't think anything could have wiped the smile from my face.

While the album as a whole is great, the highlight for me was without a doubt "Snow Angel". Think of songs like Joni Mitchell's "River" and Sarah McLachlan's "Winter Song" - "Snow Angel" fits very nicely alongside them. It is beautiful, but absolutely heartbreaking at the same time. Here's a sampling of the lyrics:

Snow angel, snow angel
Someday I'm gonna fly
This cold and broken heart of mine
Will one day wave goodbye
Goodbye to this cruel wicked world
And all the tears I've cried
Snow angel, snow angel
I'll meet you in the sky

One final thing worth mentioning is that, with the exception of "One Olive Jingle" ("a lounge-inspired take on 'Jingle Bells'"), the entire album consists of original material.

Happy listening!

URL: http://noisetrade.com/overtherhine

Josiah James - "Heaven Came Down"

It seems to have become a trend at this point: it's Saturday, I've been busy, and a single song is about all I have time to write about.  However, this is a song I've wanted to post about since the first time I heard it; I was just waiting for the right time.  This morning I woke up with the song stuck in my head, and it has stayed there all day, so I believe this is the right time.

"Heaven Came Down" is an original Christmas song written by Josiah James and released just under a month ago; it is free for anyone who signs up for his mailing list.  The song is written and performed absolutely beautifully, starting with simple strummed guitar chords, piano, and vocals, and gradually adding drums, strings, electric guitar, layered vocals, and hand claps.  The sound continues to build for the duration of the song, until it abruptly stops and fades out quietly with a Joshua Tree-like electric guitar sound.  James has a great voice as well, sounding a bit like Chris Martin and Bono at times.  Happy listening!

URL:

http://www.josiahjames.com/signup/

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/

Album Spotlight: The Christmas Gig

I often hear of people complaining about the Christmas music that is nearly ubiquitous in stores at this time of year; again, I just don't get it.  I can respect it, for sure, but I'll never ever understand it.  That said, I think it's rather appropriate that today's download comes from Target; I don't know if they actually play any songs from this album in their stores, but if they did, maybe people would complain about it less.  At the very least, you can't accuse any of the songs on The Christmas Gig of sounding like the same old Christmas music that you hear every year.

"Free, original holiday music from Target" is what the download page promises, and the album delivers just that.  I don't recognize any of the artists besides Little Isidore (who has a song on the soundtrack of the 2000 remake of How The Grinch Stole Christmas; incidentally, his "Party Hard", with its old time rock & roll feel, is one of the highlights of this album), but that's beside the point.  The point is that you get 14 original Christmas songs, ranging in style from hard rock to hip-hop to country to R&B.

The album starts off on a high point with the classic rock sounds of Guster's "Tiny Tree Christmas" and the hip-hop of Blackalicious' "Toy Jackpot"; it's a great example of the diversity to be found on the album.  I think my favourite song is Natalie Hemby's beautiful, romantic country ballad, "Perfect Gift"; either that or The Pinker Tones' hard rocking "Súper Mamá (Supermom)".  No matter where your musical tastes lie, I think you'll find something to enjoy on The Christmas Gig.  Happy listening!

URL:

http://www.target.com/b?node=2492229011

P.S. Don't forget to pick up the second song on Joel Rakes' festive​​.​​mood​​.​​inducing​.​music​​.​​vol​​.​​5, which just came out today.  Today's song is "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing", and it has a really cool, upbeat country feel to it.

Sofia Talvik - "Santa"

For the past couple of years, one of my favourite downloads has been Sofia Talvik's annual free Christmas single.  This year's single, "Santa (can you bring me someone else this year)", was just released today, and it's every bit as good as I expected it to be (which is a relief, because I often worry when my expectations get too high for something).

Musically, "Santa" is a fun, synthesizer-based pop song that would not sound out of place on a mid-80s Madonna album.  Lyrically, as I have come to expect from Sofia, it is not so fun and lighthearted; the line "Christmas time, the hardest time, the best of times" really says it all.   It's easy to picture the narrator decorating a Christmas and trying to smile through her tears, all the while hoping for someone to come along to "make [her] laugh and spin [her] 'round and dry [her] tears."  If you're a fan of songs like "Last Christmas", this song is a must hear.

It's possible that you have to become a fan of Sofia's on Facebook to access the download; I'm already a fan of hers, so the link was active for me as soon as the page loaded.  Also, anyone who downloads the song is encouraged (but not required) to support The Body Shop and ECPAT’s world-wide campaign “Stop Sex Trafficking”; The Body Shop's website has a petition that can be signed, as well as information about a number of other ways to support the campaign.  Happy listening!

URL:

http://www.sofiatalvik.com/santa_en/

Sean Wright - "Child Within"

"Child Within" is a new, original Christmas single by Sean Wright.  I love hearing original Christmas songs, and this one is very well done.  It starts off with acoustic guitar and vocals and gradually builds in intensity until the final chorus, when it explodes with a rocking drum beat amidst the repeated cries of "Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah -- let the child within rejoice, let the child within be free."  It's a really difficult song to categorize, and that is probably where a lot of its appeal lies - it really has its own unique sound.

The second song on this release (the B-side, if you will), is a nice live version of "Silent Night" done on acoustic guitar and vocals.  I would really love to hear more Christmas songs from this artist, both traditional and original.  Until that happens, though, these two songs should make a great addition to your Christmas music collection.  Happy listening!

URL:

http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/78893

Artist Spotlight: Ballard C. Boyd

It's hard to imagine a ukelele-based Christmas album being anything but fun.  Ballard C. Boyd seems to be hell-bent on proving that theory, as he has been releasing a ukelele-based Christmas album every year since 2005.  I only discovered his music within the last week or so, after his latest album, Yule Kulele, was released; fortunately, the other 4 albums are also still available, so if this sounds like something you'd be even remotely interested in, you can head over to his website and download all 5 albums right now.

 

There are many obscure Christmas songs covered on these albums that I had never heard before, as well as more familiar songs like "Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow", "The Christmas Song", and "Holly Jolly Christmas" (always a favourite of mine because of its inclusion in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, my favourite Christmas movie).  There are also a few original songs on most of the albums (all except the first), and Boyd even puts his own spin on some old favourites such as "The 12 Days of Christmas", which is updated as "The 25 Days of Christmas".  There are even a few "hidden tracks", including a cover of Queen's "Fat Bottomed Girls" and a mashup of Steve Miller's "The Joker" with Weezer's "Undone - The Sweater Song".  One of my favourite songs turned out to be a cover of Robert Earl Keen's "Merry Christmas from the Family", which I had never heard before - the line "Little sister brought her new boyfriend, he was a Mexican. We didn't know what to think of him until he sang 'Feliz Navidad'" had me cracking up laughing as I listened to it.

 

Ballard C. Boyd's ukelele Christmas albums are definitely not the most traditional Christmas albums you will ever hear, but they will almost certainly be among the most fun.  You can download the MP3 files separately or grab a zip file for each album right here.  Happy listening!

 

URL:

http://www.ballardcboyd.com/music/

Album Spotlight: Melissa Pierre-Louis - Touch Someone

While I certainly love traditional Christmas music, I also have a big soft spot for newly-written, original Christmas songs.  After all, there was once a time when songs like "I'll Be Home for Christmas" and even "Silent Night" were new and original; at the time, who could have known that these songs would endure for decades or centuries?  

 

A lot of artists write their own original Christmas songs, often as part of an album of more traditional songs; I've covered quite a few such songs here.  More rarely, an artist will write several new Christmas songs.  Melissa Pierre-Louis has gone a step beyond that and penned three of her own Christmas songs in three different languages as part of Operation Touch.  The languages are English, French, and Kreyol, with the latter two being a tribute to the artist's Haitian background.  "Touch Someone" (also known as "Lonje Men" and "Une Main" in the other languages) sounds the most like a "traditional" Christmas song, with the same kind of warm feeling that songs like "I'll Be Home for Christmas" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" have.  "Sing We Noel" ("Fetebon Nwel" in Kreyol; this is the only song that doesn't have a French version) is much more exotic sounding, while "Thank You Immanuel" ("Mesi Emanyel" and "Merci Emmanuel") is somewhere in between the two sounds.

 

There's a lot of stuff on the Operation Touch site, but if you just want the music you can download it in either MP3 or WAV format (the latter is what you should get if you want to burn your own CD copy of the album).  Artwork and lyrics are also available if you poke around the menus a bit.  Happy listening!

 

URLs:

http://operationtouch.brbmi.com/ (main site)

http://operationtouch.brbmi.com/downloadmp3.htm (MP3 downloads)

http://operationtouch.brbmi.com/downloadwaves.htm (WAV downloads)

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

Song Spotlight: Sofia Talvik - "Snowy White River"

An early Christmas gift arrived today in the form of Sofia Talvik's annual free Christmas single.  Longtime readers of this blog will likely recognize the name, as I posted about her last two Christmas singles on Christmas Day last year.  I enjoyed those songs enough to check out more of her music early in the year, and I've continued to keep up with her by following her on Twitter and on her website.  This Christmas single is something I have been looking forward to for a long time now, and it does not disappoint.

 

"Snowy White River" is a pretty little song, with the minimal instrumental backing allowing Sofia's multi-layered vocals to really shine.  I'm not entirely sure what the song is meant to be about, but I get a bittersweet feeling from listening to it; to me, it seems to speak about how a lack of faith can cause us to lose our way.  One of the things I really like about Sofia's music is that it is often very deep and can be interpreted in many ways, and I think this one is no different.  Indeed, this is not the kind of lighthearted fare that one normally associates with Christmas music; I'm sure I will still be thinking about this one long after it finishes playing.  IF it ever finishes playing, that is - I am finding it to be stunningly beautiful and have had it on repeat for quite some time now.  I think Sofia has really tapped into something incredible here.

 

If you're interested, you can also download free sheet music for the song in PDF format.  Please share your thoughts about the song in the comments - I always love to read comments about my posts, but I would especially welcome anyone's interpretation of this song.  Happy listening!

 

http://freechristmasmusic.blogspot.com/2008/12/christmas-day-stocking-stuffer-edition.html

http://music.sofiatalvik.com/track/snowy-white-river (new single)

http://www.sofiatalvik.com/?YZXetRrc (sheet music)

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

Artist Spotlight: Jonathan Coulton

[Update: the link to "Christmas is Interesting" no longer works, but I found a live version that can be downloaded here.]

According to his website, Jonathan Coulton is "a musician, a singer-songwriter and an internet superstar". I first became aware of him last year when I came across a list of Creative Commons Christmas songs, which features a few of his songs: "Podsafe Christmas Song", "Christmas is Interesting", and "Chiron Beta Prime".

• "Podsafe Christmas Song": Uh-oh, it seems that there are no podsafe Christmas songs for anyone to play! Will Jonathan and his friends be able to save Christmas by delivering a song that's safe to play?  You'll have to listen to this delightfully quirky little song to find out.
• "Christmas is Interesting": Christmas is interesting / Like a stick in your eye / It's so freaking interesting / That it might make you cry says the chorus of this song, which looks at Christmas through the eyes of characters from stories like It's a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Carol, and even Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Bittersweet and beautiful, this one has to be heard to be believed.
• "Chiron Beta Prime": a Christmas greeting from the Anderson family, who have unfortunately been banished to an asteroid by the Robot Council.  More quirky humour along the lines of "Podsafe Christmas Song".

Definitely not your traditional Christmas carols.  If you're looking for some Christmas music that's a little (or maybe a lot) different, these songs from Jonathan Coulton would be a great place to start.  My favourite of the bunch is "Christmas is Interesting", with "Podsafe Christmas song" not too far behind.  What's your favourite?  Post a comment and let us know!