Christmas is slowly quickly creeping up on us! Christmas is my favourite time of year for a number of reasons, not least that it signals the summer season here in the Southern Hemisphere.
One of the best things about the Silly Season is Christmas Carols (tinsel is a close second). Below I have compiled a number of my favourite tracks, both modern and traditional, to help get you in the merry-making mood. Merry Christmas!
“Can Twelve Great Christmas Songs be treated with the same excitement as is the original pop material of today; sung by four of the greatest pop artists in the country; produced with the same feeling and sound that is found on the hit singles of these artists, without losing for a moment the feeling of Christmas, and without destroying or evading the sensitivity and the beauty that surrounds all of the great Christmas music? Until now, perhaps not!”
You said it all, Phil, you crazy dude. It’s the season to be jolly and merry, I know. But what about after you’ve heard the same 20 Christmas songs ad nauseum in every shop, and you’ve just got home and mum’s got the same playlist. Fire up the old youtube and sing a few of these Christmas standards.
Phil Spector’s Christmas album
Since Phil wrote the manifesto, what better way to listen to sleigh bells than drowned in Gold Star Studios reverb? Darlene Love sings White Christmas first up on side one.
Little Monster Studios - A Very Little Christmas
Sort of in the spirit of Phil Spector but with a bit less reverb and a lot less gun brandishing is Auckland producer Dave Parker’s Christmas album of local bands. The cat-herding-like feat of successfully encouraging sixteen Auckland bands to write original Christmas songs in time to actually record them before December is a bit of a Christmas miracle. They’re good too, songs with enough varied and considered approaches to the Christmas spirit that it doesn’t even hurt to start dusting this thing off in November, or keep listening to a few cuts over summer holidays. Best of all, it’s FREE to download here.
Ella Fitzgerald – Jingle Bells
With a song as inescapable as this, you might as well wash out your brain with a good version. Ella Fitzgerald does it as good as anybody, upping the tempo and the swagger so this sleigh ride is a fun jaunt.
Sufjan Stevens and Vito Aiuto – I Saw Three Ships
Renowned tinselphile Sufjan Stevens is a bit of a maximalist. Now legendary within the independent music world, he recorded an album of tender folk and chamber pop about the state of Michigan, which is impressive enough, but followed it up with one about Illinois. All the while he’s been recording yearly Christmas albums of traditionals and originals, which range from Silent Night to a composition titled Come On! Let's Boogey to the Elf Dance! I’m not going to post the latter, as it activates my humbug reflex, but here he is with the Welcome Wagon’s Vito Aiuto on I Saw Three Ships.
Damien Jurado - Kalla Hus
From the consistently excellent label Secretly Canadian, Damien Jurado’s brand new track Kalla Hus paints a bleak picture of someone tired of more than just Christmas. It’s not going to be to everyone’s tastes this holiday season, but it’s real to the touch and paints a picture that sadly rings true.
OkkervilRiver – Listening to Otis Redding at Home During Christmas
If Damien Jurado got you feeling a little melancholy, then you’re in the right mood for OkkervilRiver’s regretful introspection over the (romantic) ghosts of Christmas past.
Otis Redding – Merry Christmas Baby
After that last track, it’s really appropriate that we all actually listen to Otis Redding at home during Christmas. Take it home Otis.
Less than three weeks until Christmas Day! Franklin Road is looking brighter, the tree is shining in the Viaduct, and Santa's taken up residence at Smith & Caughey's!
Mr Dave Parker, music producer/engineer extraordinaire, has been working away in his home-based studio on a beautiful Oratia farm for quite a while now. The man behind such increasingly admired recordings of Artisan Guns, Bear Cat and Great North, has recently been assembling some local favourites for a Christmas album.
Auckland Central Library was lucky enough to host a number of the album’s contributors back in NZ Music Month, who have all since released their own EPs and albums to generate some of 2010’s best New Zealand music.
Dear Time’s Waste, Tono (of the Finance Company) and Great North, whose recent releases have all won the admiration of the country’s major critics, appear on the Very Little Christmas compilation. The album includes an impressive line-up of the city’s finest alternative/folk/rock/miscellaneous artists, who are inspired by Christmas time, Christmas Songs, and Christmas Pudding.
The best part is the album will be available for free download! You can send the link to your loved ones as a priceless Christmas present! So thank you Mr Parker for getting this amazing project together, and to all the artists for contributing! It’s going to be a sweet sweet Christmas.
Trevor Reekie (Pagan) Murray Cammick (Southside), Jim Moss (Jayden), Roger
Shepherd (Flying Nun) and Lena Days. Watch it for Trevor Reekie being
interview...
Aotearoa has an abundance of exceptionally talented Hip Hop artists, but
very few ever venture into Gospel territory. Emani Suaesi, AKA E.Man is
leading ...
Fijian-born Pradodh Kumar Mishra's memories are like a trip through
history: During his first career in Fiji's Foreign Affairs he met the
Queen and was t...
What a year it has been for EP releases.
Following the semi-regular EP review columns that have been posted on
Elsewhere throughout the year, here are f...
