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Welcome To Hip Christmas! I think you'll enjoy my
dysfunctionally vast web archive dedicated to holiday music that rocks, rolls, swings, and twangs. If you do, please support
me by shopping at Amazon, iTunes,
and Sheet Music Plus! Regardless, the best of
the season to you - no matter what month it is! [about me] |
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What's New In 2014? I've made my list - and I've checked it twice. It's a functional catalog of the year's hippest Christmas music - new albums, hot singles, and a bunch of reissues. For hipsters, highlights include new releases by Blue Rodeo, The Connection, Earth, Wind & Fire
, Homer & Jethro, Salsoul Orchestra, and a massive data dump from Motown. [naughty but nice] |
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A Christmas Gift For You. For a brief time, I'm offering free MP3's of a five
treasures from my voluminous collection - songs I love (or love to hate) and that I'm confident you
can't find easily at any store. This year's bounty includes rare treats from Charles Brown, Nick Cave & Shane MacGowan, Edward Bear, Pearl Jam, and the Phil Moore Four. [download now] |
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the Christmas Jukebox. My online Christmas music player is bulging with over 350 songs - and counting!
Now you can listen to the music I write about - the coolest, weirdest, and loudest holiday tunes ever. All while enjoying my inimitable prose.... [press play] |
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Mailbag. Despite the fact that I all but tell them not to (no, really), artists send me CD's, MP3's, and more, asking me to trumpet their music on my website.
Simply put, I can't keep up. Rather than have them completely waste their time and money, I throw the more substantial submissions on this page and let fate take its course. Hey, it's better than a lump of coal! [open the bag] |
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Top 100 Christmas Songs. Countdown to Christmas
Day with these always wonderful, frequently crazy songs - from Phil Spector's celebrated Wall Of
Sound to obscure punk, country, and rhythm & blues. [read
more] |
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Top 20 Christmas Albums. Actually, 40 - I
started unwrapping presents and just couldn't stop! Anyway, who said Christmas music has to be
boring? Not me! These sterling platters will put you in the Christmas spirit faster than you can
say, "Go Cat Go!" [read more] |
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I'm Not Ambitious, I'm Hyperactive. Not content with simply releasing one Christmas single, NYC DIY singer, songwriter, and rocker Carly Jamison decided she'd release four: The Happiest Christmas Tree, I'm Getting A Ukulele For Christmas, Oh No Santa Claus, and It Feels Like Christmas Every Single Day, which is a fully realized version of a demo-quality track she offered last year. Anyway, against all odds, all four singles are pretty great! [count 'em] |
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Best Single Ever? In 2000, emo/alt-rockers Weezer released a two-song promo called simply Christmas CD. The first track, "Christmas Celebration" is off-the-charts brilliant (see Top 100 Songs), and the second track, "Christmas Song," is pretty great, too. Both have proven scarce over the years, but the band has quietly released it this year on iTunes. [ka-ching] |
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Wreckless Eric Is On Fire. New wave hero and old school eccentric Wreckless Eric has a new song, "Christmas On The M62," out on Fire Records. He recorded the jaundiced carol with Outside World and partner-in-crime Amy Rigby, and it's a split single with Sterling Roswell, whose "It's A Rockin' Good Christmas" lives up to its title. Stream on Soundcloud or buy on Amazon. [whole wonderful world] |
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Yum, Paste! Oh-so-hip steampunk rag Paste is back with their 2014 Holiday Sampler, for download through Noisetrade. This year's sampler is highlighted by Over The Rhine, The Oh Hellos, James Apollo, and Swear And Shake (read more). But, be sure to leave a tip, Ebeneezer. [sticky stuff] |
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Festive Freebies. A lot of Christmas music is free these days, though most websites offer the chance to "name your price" or "tip" - and you should. My favorites this year so far are James Apollo, Wreckless Eric, The Dollyrots, and Nick D' & The Believers. I've also discovered a few treasures from Christmases Past: 2009 (Layaways, Illect Recordings), 2010 (Ike Reilly), 2012 (Lindsey Luff, Fiction Family, Graham Colton) and 2013 (Crookes, Sleepwalkers). |
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Bonamassa Means Christmas (Again). For the second year in a row, modern blues artist Joe Bonamassa is offering a free song on his website: Lonesome Christmas, originally recorded by Lowell Fulson in 1951. This year, Joe's making a donation to music education with every free download - whatta deal! [go for it] |
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There Is A Season. Byrd-meister Roger McGuinn has been releasing free Christmas songs nearly every year since 1995 through his website, The Folk Den - carols, hymns, and other songs consistent with his long-standing crusade for folk music. This year he offers The Cherry Tree Carol - and all previous tracks are available in the archives. [folk you] |
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Kris Kringle, OK! Hard as it may be to conceptualize, there's a Volkswagon dealership that wants to make Norman, Oklahoma the indie Christmas music capital of the world. With the support of Fowler VW, Blackwatch Studios has now released their fourth Christmas compilation, The Naughty List - and all four are free on Bandcamp. (There's even an early, fifth volume, also free....) [download sooner] |
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Hugs and Kisses For Xmas. This is getting to be a habit! For the seventh straight year, our friends at XO Publicity have compiled a free sampler of hip tunes - XO For The Holidays, Volume 7. What's more, you can still pick up Volume 1 , Volume 2 , Volume 3, Volume 4, Volume 5, and Volume 6 - gratis, as usual. [download now] |
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Free - and worth every Cent! One of my truisms these days is that "music is worthless." Of course, music means a lot to me. But most CD's sell for a pennies, and a lot of music is just given away. Case in point: HGTV has teamed up with NoiseTrade to offer The Ultimate Holiday Soundtrack, 30 tracks from top indie artists such as Over The Rhine - and they aren't even asking for a tip. [twist my arm] |
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Stuff This. As the coolest record company in the world, Norton Records wants you to take your iPod shove it up your Krampus. Logically, then, most of their long string of rockin' Christmas singles have never been available in any digital format. This year's offering, "Stuffin Her Stockin'" by one-man-band Bloodshot Bill, is no exception - vinyl only, please. [buy now] |
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Noise To The World. The Converse sneaker company is giving away some new holiday music as part of their Rubber Tracks series, including tracks from indie faves Deer Tick and Dum Dum Girls. While you're there, pick up last year's playlist, as well, featuring Austin rockers Roxy Roca. [get noisy] |
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The Year's Biggest Album Is Not An Album. It's Amazon's exclusive playlist, All Is Bright, which consists of all new recordings by Lucinda Williams, Liz Phair, Yoko Ono and Flaming Lips, and bevy of youngsters. You can buy the tracks individually, but the playlist streams free for Amazon Prime subscribers. Oh, the times they are a-changin'... [get bright] |
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Merry Christmash. DJ BC and crew have unreleashed the ninth installment Santastic, their annual free Christmas mash-up. All the former volumes are available, including my favorite, Menorah Mashups, for the inner Jew in all of us. Mostly, these goodies are free - but a donation will be greatly appreciated. Now dance, Sugar Plum Fairy, dance! [do the mash] |
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A Rotten Dolly Under the Tree. Los Angeles pop/punkers The Dollyrots have unleased some the loudest (and best) Christmas singles of the past decade. This year, they've put them all on an EP for your convenience. [name your price] |
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A Really Very Special Christmas. After nearly 30 years of increasingly awful sequels, it's easy to forget what a big deal A Very Special Christmas was back in 1987. It spawned a few hip holiday classics (most notably Run-DMC's "Christmas In Hollis"), but its biggest impact came in the slew of Christmas releases that followed in its wake - and continues unabated to this day. Learn more in Billboard or read my review of the whole, chequered series. [more, please] |
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Jews For Jesus. A surprising number of popular
Jewish entertainers have recorded Christmas albums and songs. From Irving Berlin to Beck, we've
got the shmutz on this strange phenomena. Plus, Jews we wish would record a Christmas
record - and Jews we hope do not! [read more] |
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Horny Holidays. Some people love to bask in
the warm glow of friends and family during the holiday season. Others feel like starting a
family (or something to that effect) at Christmas time. Read about the 20 naughtiest songs in the
history of the holiday. You'll never look at a candy cane quite the same. [read
more] |
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'Tis The Season For Stalkers. In the 50's
and 60's, a number of Christmas songs were recorded about the two most popular artists in rock
history - Elvis Presley and the Beatles. Read about this strange and obscure - and obsessive -
phenomenon. [read more] |
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Christmas In Vietnam. Most holiday music
is escapist. Who, after all, wants to think about death and mayhem during the season of hope? Nevertheless,
the Vietnam war intruded into this idyllic genre during the turbulent 60's, and we examine six
songs that looked at Christmas through the eyes of soldiers and their families. [read
more] |
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My Wish List. It
wouldn't be a record collector's website unless I published my wish list - Christmas songs
I'm still hunting down, and songs for which I'd happily barter from my relatively
vast treasure chest. If you have a copy of any of these rare goodies, let's talk! [read more] |
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Humbug Hit Parade. If the annual deluge of holiday music hokum is driving you to suicide-by-fruitcake, Spin Magazine has 25 of the weirdest, darkest, most awesome ought-a-be classics you'll never hear in a mall this season. [read more] |
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Top 40 Christmas Oldies Songs. The web is crammed with blogs and tweets, obscuring the fact that experts might know more than know-it-alls armed with a quick wit and a laptop. To me, that's sad, and this rock solid list from About.com shows why. [read more] |
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12 Worst/Best Songs of Christmas. I enjoyed this list from Spinner Magazine so much that I just had to share it. I am proud to say I own all 12 best songs of Christmas - and all but one of the worst! [read more] |
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The 12 Plays Of Christmas. The Indie Rock Cafe has published an amazing set of holiday playlists ranging from a handful of classics to an endless supply of genuinely obscure bands sure to thrill the kiddies and stump obsessive collectors. [listen & download] |
[old news] [top of page]
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Christmas Jukebox |
 Now, you can hear the Christmas music I write about! My Christmas Jukebox is bulging with over 350 tracks, and I'll be adding more rockin' Yule tunes throughout the year. [listen now] |
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