- With Christmas coming, I'm trying to post as many things at once as I can that haven't made it to the site this year yet. Apologies to anybody I've overlooked. Oh, and I'm a little late posting the liner notes to this year's Christmas mix, Occupy 34th Street. They're in the mix disc listing in the left column.
- We haven't done much for the Francophone audience, but we heard from "Meb," a Montreal singer-songwriter alias Marie-Eve Bouchard, who has performed and posted "Noels D'avant," her own original holiday ballad, kind of a cheap electronic backing with fake drums and keyboards but strong singing from Meb, and yes, it's in French. It's not bad, and you can put the lyrics through Google Translate if you must know what she's singing about. (It's definitely Christmas.)
- The Flashcats, a long-standing Pittsburgh band, have a history of creating original Christmas songs; they even hit the national spotlight briefly with "December Twenty 5," a parody of the Lou Bega smash "Mambo #5" that found its way onto the Rhino compilation Mambo Santa Mambo. This year they've posted some of their originals at Soundcloud, including the newest, "When the North Wind Blows," a nice Christmas ballad. Stop by and grab some Steel City goodness. (Disclosure: I know these folks from when I lived in Pittsburgh.)
- Rachel Platten is trying to get us to notice her recent non-holiday song "1000 Ships" by pairing it with "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" for a free download. It worked, they're both pretty good.
- Check out TImPermanent and his synth-pop take on "Joy to the World" at ReverbNation. I think you'll like it.
- The Union Jackals sing about a "Jackal Christmas" on their Soundcloud page, a stately indie rock/pop ballad that has, in the band's words, "equal parts misery and joy." Download it for yourself.
- Primal Sky has a Christmas surf instrumental called "Riding Christmas Waves." Depending on your mood, it may not sound very Christmasy to you, but that's why CDBaby, iTunes and Amazon have preview buttons, right? Our pal Stubby liked it, so go check it out.
- The Tell Alls have a free EP, Bright Lights of Christmas, you might want to check out. More indie-pop, the title song has a gentle lilt granted, no doubt, by the prominent ukelele. "My Favorite Holiday" is a little more uptempo and a little more power pop, and "Season of Joy" is a sweet ballad. Very nice.
- I didn't get much in the way of details about the artist or anything else about this video, but the faux-retro soundtrack to this "Two Minute Tour of New York," titled "A New York City Christmas," is not bad in a contemporary hit radio-friendly sort of way.
Some more holiday goodies
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