In spirit of the Holidays and in support of the re-release of “Monsters In The Christmas Album”, here’s a music video starring a puppet for the original Christmas song “The Eyes, The Beard, The Nose, The Stomach, The Lungs” by unsigned Transylvanian singer-songwriter, Indie Folker.
“The Eyes, The Beard, The Nose, The Stomach, The Lungs” is part of the “Monsters In The Christmas Album” by Indie Folker. A collection of original, genuine indie Christmas songs for the fans of alt-folk and indie!
Today we’ve found a real treat for you! One of my favourite Christmas albums , now completely free via Noisetrade. The southern Ohio-based husband-and-wife team of multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Linford Detweiler and vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Karin Bergquist, otherwise known as Over the Rhine, released this collection of wistful holiday music back in 2006.
Some info from Wikipedia:
Snow Angels is the ninth studio album, and second Christmas album, by Over the Rhine, released independently in 2006. The album was released by Great Speckled Dog on October 2, 2007.
Snow Angels was released ten years after the group’s first Christmas disc, 1996’s The Darkest Night of the Year. While Darkest Night was largely composed of interpretations of traditional Christmas songs, Snow Angels was almost entirely original material. The only non-original track in the album is a lounge-inspired take on “Jingle Bells” that debuted during the 2004 Christmas tour.
Over The Rhine – Snow Angels:
Here’s a nice jazzy live version of North Pole Man:
Rosie Thomas pulls out all the stops for this teaser to her spectacular holiday collection “A Very Rosie Christmas”. Included is the bonus track “Friendship Sleigh Ride”, which appears in the promotional videos for Sufjan Stevens’ holiday tour.
Listen here (or give your e-mail for a free download):
“One night in suburban Detroit, a twelve-year-old Rosie Thomas lay sleepless in her bed, obsessively dwelling on what she perceived to be her lack of life purpose. Then, well after 2 AM, it suddenly hit her. She sprung out of bed and raced down the hall. “Daddy, Daddy, I know what my mission in life is,” Rosie exclaimed, poking her father. “I just want to entertain people.”
After 3 albums on Sub Pop, These Friends of Mine was release through her own lable, Sing-A-Long Records. The album includes appearances by friends Sufjan Stevens, Damien Jurado, David Bazan (Pedro the Lion), and Denison Witmer.
Rosie Thomas pulls out all the stops for this teaser to her spectacular holiday collection “A Very Rosie Christmas”. Included is the bonus track “Friendship Sleigh Ride”, which appears in the promotional videos for Sufjan Stevens’ holiday tour.”
Now, we get another one (via Paste), and it’s safe to say that it is something different. The Title track of the compilation is a cover of an old Johnny Marks Christmas song, it is a nostalgic 8mm home movie style film with footage of Sufjan’s nephew Gavin running on a beach, playing with a kite. It’s a lovely video. The lyrics are in stark contrast to the pictures.
Last night I saw I Was A King(IWAK) for the fourth time. It is a fantastic band and they just keeps getting better. They still sound a bit like a Teenage Fanclub and Byrds mix, and that’s a good thing.
The New album is a fine mix of powerpop, guitar walls and great song writing. The guitars are “byrdsy” jangly and this time they flirt even more with the American side of indie-americana-pop. So you see, they’re kinda hard to describe. But they sound terrific!
IWAK has gotten together with two fantastic popmusic masters this time, Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub vocalist, yes him!) and Robyn Hitchcock (Power-pop godfather, The Soft Boys member and solo artist extraordinaire), what a dream-team!
When i first read about it I really couldn’t believe it, it’s a match made in heaven.
IWAK once wrote a fine song called “Norman Bleik” (on the second album, 2009), about one of their inspirations, just as Norman Blake once wrote a song about one of his own heroes Neil Young, called “Neil Jung”. Fun fact.
The result of this collaboration is IWAK’s best album, a fully realised record with great songs. It sounds so big and it is full of air, but it’s not pretentious at all. They sound more mature and more pop. The Playing is better than ever and the songwriting is spectacular, I realy love this album (You guessed that, eh?) and it is a quintessential pop album. A love letter to music, no less.
Best on the album: Frozen Disease, Superhero and Leave
Best live in Haugesund: Food Wheels and A Million Signs (with The One I love snippet as intro!)
I Was A King gave us a lesson in harmony induced pop music in Haugesund last night. I’ve never heard them better. Normally they’re not very talkative with the audience, but this night was a bit different. Anne Lise Frøkedal had several fammily members in the audience and the atmosphere was very friendly. Of course there were no sing-alongs, but it was a fun and relaxed interaction.
