Chris Daily, under his own name and that of Teflon Beast, has popped up on this site a lot over the past decade due to his obsession with Christmas music. He's back for 2021 with this short album or long EP, however you want to label it. This may be his best one yet, eight solid hooky rock holiday tunes. "I Will Survive the Holidays" starts things out strongly, "You're Alright (Cuffing Season Song)" and "Round About Christmas" are variations of power pop, "You Are Not Alone This Season" is a mid-tempo number with cool harmonies, "Riding the Rails on the Polar Express" is a bouncy little number, "What the Winter Brings" adds a little funk to the proceedings, "Christmas (Baby Let's Stay Home)" features Erica Michelle on vocals for a nice change of pace, and "The Ballad of St. Nicholas" is a more pensive number with backing music that reminds me of Bob Dylan's latest album, and I suspect the resemblance is intentional. All told, a listenable collection.
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Chris records as Teflon Beast usually, but he also puts out recordings under his own name. Where the Beast-ly records are synth-based, experimental-sounding workouts, Chris' own records are more straight-ahead pop-rock songs. This 2020 EP features mostly original songs, except for a cover of "Gee Whiz, It's Christmas," and to be fair "Christmas Curry" essentially swipes the melody and arrangement of the Coasters' "Yakety Yak." "Have You Ever Been (To Winter Wonderland)" is a lush ballad, "Wish Me a Happy Holiday" is 60s girl-group minus the girls with more than a nod to "Leader of the Pack," and "You I Miss (Midwinter Solstice)" is a 70s-singer-songwriter-sounding midtempo number featuring crunchy electric piano and guitar. "Before the Season's Over" treads similar ground, and "Last Chance New Year's Eve" wraps up the year with a bit of power pop. Click the cover to find it on Amazon, or you can get it from Bandcamp.
Teflon Beast has put out a number of home-brew indie-rock Christmas recordings in recent seasons, and for 2020 they are back with a full album of similar performances. "Sugar Cookie Trippin'" is a synth-pop number with kiddie singing that evokes a number of holiday themes without directly playing much of them. "(Me) At Xmas" is a short bite of grungy guitar and muted singing, "Jingle Bell Jam" revives the old schoolyard version of the classic carol involving Batman's odor, "Tangled Up in Lights" is a synth-rocker about Christmas decorations, "Crying Snowman" is an extended chant over drum machine and organ, and "Holiday Cheer" is a bit of melodic tinkertoy music featuring a cheap keyboard melody. There's a murky version of "Do You Hear What I Hear?" and a talking-over-synth-drone take on "Let It Snow," and a pair of songs called "Noise at Christmas," parts one and two, mostly live up to their titles, although they sneak in bits of familiar carols like "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and "Frosty the Snowman." You can grab this from Bandcamp.
We've had several holiday entries from this artist in the past, running the gamut from home studio tinkering to a live album recorded in Austin, Texas. For 2019 it's back into the studio with this collection of new original indie tunes, starting with "Tastes Like Xmas," composed of equal parts synths and toy instruments. "A Christmas Wish (Peace and Freedom)" is mostly instrumental but samples John and Yoko repeating variations of the title, "Realness for Xmas" is another crunchy instrumental, and "Must Be Xmas" is a primitive folk song that might remind one of Daniel Johnston. Other tunes include the instrumentals "Jolly Jolly," "Holiday Guitar Piece 2015," "King Moonracer," and "Santa Is Almost Here." This is quirky stuff that might not remind you of the holidays, but you may find some of these tunes work as pace-changers in your playlists. It's only $1 on Bandcamp, and the artist is offering a "digital discography" for $7 that wraps up their full holiday repertoire for download.
We've had Chris on the site before, along with his various incarnations with Mr. Mom and Teflon Beast, including a holiday release earlier this year. Well, Chris and his pals booked a gig at an Austin, Texas nightclub just a few weeks ago, played some holiday originals and covers, and a week later put the best stuff up on Bandcamp. Oddly, they didn't play the title song from this collection, one of their originals, but from their repertoire they did perform "Please No Mistletoe," "High Time For a Holiday," "The Lights," "I'm Coming Home For the Holidays," "Too Busy For Christmas," and "The Holiday Records." There's also a medley of the covers "Last Christmas/This Christmas/Next Christmas," their own arrangement of "Gee Whiz, It's Christmas," "Everyday Will Be Like a Holiday," and a jokey medley of "All I Want For Christmas Is You" with "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)." If you like your holiday music to be rootsy and spontaneous, you should head over to Bandcamp and check this out.
Last year we had Three Seasonal Songs from Mr. Mom and Chris, and for 2017 Chris bundled up those songs, some additional songs from past EPs, and one new one, "Winter Lullaby," into the single album collection in the headline above. It's medium-fidelity indie pop-rock and quite enjoyable. All the songs are originals or co-writes by Chris except for the interesting take on Carla Thomas's "Gee Whiz, It's Christmas." Things start with "Thanksgiving (It's Not Christmas)," in which people are advised that they've got a month to go before the big day; "High Time For a Holiday" is an anticipatory song about holiday traditions; "Please No Mistletoe" tries to postpone the inevitable first kiss; and "The Lights" is a ballad about, well, Christmas lights. "How I Won the War on Christmas" plays on the fake cable news controversy for a cute midtempo melody, "The Holiday Records" pays tribute to favorite Christmas music, and "Just Once" breaks out the bongos before swinging into a more rocking mode. Check the link above for mentions of the other songs, and grab the whole thing from Bandcamp.
