Christmas A Go Go!

I'm stealing a few posts from Stubby's Stocking Stuffers over @ Falalalala.com "This might be a bit of a stretch (but aren't most of my analogies?), but, listening to "All Of Us On Christmas" by Paper Scissors, I kept imagining Simon & Garfunkel doing the vocals on "Incense & Peppermints" . (As an aside, I did a cursory search to see if S&G had actually done "I&P" and was blown away by the Martin Denny version , which I'd never heard before. Just sayin'.) Anyway, Paper Scissors are from Maryland and "All Of Us On Christmas" is their third annual Christmas tune. All of them free and all of them quite excellent Alt Psych Rock tunes, each in their own way. Any proceeds raised from these "name your price" tracks will be donated to The Church Mouse, a thrift shop and non-profit outreach center in Berlin, MD. The other mixes don't do anything for me (the "kids" mix is where they l...

Leave it to German blog Lie in the Sound to cherrypick the bestest new Christmas releases. Like this beautiful track by Sofia Talvik: A Berlin Christmas Tale by Sofia Talvik More LitS recommendations HERE

Glory glory alleluia, a new seasonal Sofia Talvik single, folksy storytelling to warm your heart about cold feet, hard labour and making ends meet.

We wrote about her in 2013 and 2015, Swedish folk singer songwriter Sofia Talvik. For ten years she recorded a self written winter/Christmas song every year, all more or less acoustic. The songs focus often on the darker side of Christmas. This year she re-did the songs to put them on an official album: 'When Winter Comes'.  The album was planned to be released in 2016, but just as Sofia was working on it, her bathroom flooded and she had to choose between renovating the bathroom or finishing the album. But november 24 the album with 14 originals will be released, you can order it  here .

  In the past we wrote quite a lot about the Swedish singer songwriter Sofia Talvik. Look  here . She likes to combine folk and pop with her mostly accoustical instruments. She has a special look on Christmas and every year she writes a Christmas song. In here own words she also adds: " And for you who are not a fan of Christmas music, rest assured as usual my Christmas singles are very un-Christmassy. Take a listen before you dismiss it :)"  Her 2022 song is about a snowman.  Is it a figment of imagination or a real person? :       Most of her Christmas music  leans towards a darker side of Christmas. This is her 2021 tune, a rather soothing tale of lost love and memories of a snow covered Copenhagen, with unfortunately no moving images.   Here is her 2020 song, un beautiful black and white, with overfilled hospitals, wildfires raging California and hurricanes blasting through Puerto Rico: 

Ah yes, it's that time again. The day when Martin 'Stubby' Johns (he of the now deleted, but still legendary Stubby's House of Christmas blog) sends his double cd mix to, well, to us all. To show us all how it's done, making a Christmas mix loaded with gems. You can download from HERE . It's active until January 6. The zip file contains 2 CDs worth of fully and properly tagged music, plus all the essential artwork to put a CD together (if anyone wants to go that route). I have highlighted/hyperlinked a few favorites. DISC ONE 1. I Wish It Was Christmas - SoloProject (2021) 2. Jingle Bells To Far Away - The Luckiest Citizen of All (2021) 3. Footprints In The Snow - lorna (2021) 4. Christabel's Party - Cleaners From Venus (2021) 5. Jump For Joy (I Found You This Christmas) - Department of Creative Affairs (2020) 6. One More Sleep - The Dollyrots (2021) 7. Sleighstick - Derek Christensen (2021) 8. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) -...