Music Blog

 

 

It's that time of year again, dear readers! Not to be confused with that other time of year that it also is right about now, it's what's become known in popular parlance as "Christmastime," and with it, the musical mixed bag that is holiday-themed music.

"Mixed bag?" you may be saying, "I thought it was all wonderful/terrible." The answer in either case is yes...and no. Let me tell you a story. When I was a kid, I had a sweet and well-meaning great-grandmother who annually put together a holiday-themed paper sack full of....things to eat. Apples, potato chips, candy canes, bananas, hard candies, chocolate turtles and orange sticks, etc. They were mixed up, you see-- it was a mixed bag of things to eat. The caveat is that many of these goodies were not wrapped, thus left to co-mingle with one another (not unlike your recycling). The hard candies quickly became hard-candy-potato-chip clumps, the orange sticks melted into fruity potato chocolate concoctions, and so on and so forth.

I never asked if all of this was the intention, but my point here, really, is to mention that these mixed bags required the patience of sifting through, locating the un-sullied and pristinely wrapped and separating them from the bagged holiday casserole that surrounded. Holiday music is much like this. It's a mixed bag that includes a lot of terrible-- heck, even the best things to be found are not that good of ideas to begin with. But it still gets made (sometimes by others, sometimes by us) and we continue to listen. Because a candy cane with potato chip remnants sticking to it is, nonetheless, a candy cane.

So here we are. In the spirit of the season and music and mixed bags we'll present here The Six (Musical) Days of Christmas, a concoction of new and old with some freebies if you look hard enough, updating here everyday between now and December 25th. May none of these be fruitcakes (unless, of course, you like fruitcake. Then you need to find joy where you can). Enjoy and Happy Holidays from us to you!

The Six (Musical) Days of Christmas, Pt. 6: The Pogues & Kirsty MacColl

As the years roll on, The Pogues' "Fairytale of New York" has become the go-to number for those looking for contemporary (but not too contemporary) holiday numbers of the slightly off-kilter variety (alongside Tom Waits' "Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis'). Aside from being the only Christmas song we can think of to drop certain pejoratives, it's also one of those rare numbers that, like Guaraldi's "Christmas Time is Here," captures the pathos that often goes along with the holidays. Still, despite all of that, there's a sweetness and exaltation that ultimately steals the show, and Shane MacGowan and the late Kirsty MacColl are in fine vocal and dramatic form. Plus, don't miss Matt Dillon's policeman cameo near the beginning.

 

The Six (Musical) Days of Christmas, Pt. 5: Damien Jurado

Seattle-based singer-songwriter Damien Jurado already has us excited for his record out early in the new year called Maraqopa. The Richard Swift-produced recording arrives February 21st on Secretly Canadian, and if the first taste we've had thus far is any indication it'll be a humdinger. For now, Jurado's getting into the holiday spirit with a take on Vince Guaraldi's "Christmas Time is Here," a song that has always seemed to simultaneously invoke the warmth but also the melancholia that can be part of the holidays. The MP3 arrived a while back and now we get a behind the scenes look at the recording of the song, complete with children's glee club.

 Damien Jurado - "Christmas Time is Here" (MP3) (via Hit Fix)

 

The Six (Musical) Days of Christmas, Pt. 4: Johnny Marr & the Healers

Former Smiths guitarist and erstwhile Portlander Johnny Marr seems to be revving up the action as a member of his own band once again-- Johnny Marr & the Healers have reunited with plans for shows and recording in the works. A first albeit modest taste of the reunion comes in the form of a new instrumental they're offering, appropriately titled "Free Christmas." While there are no lyrics per se, the track does have a lyrical quality about it that brings to mind Marr's past instrumental work with The Smiths on tracks like "Oscillate Wildly" and "The Draize Train." Watch for Johnny Marr on the new and upcoming season of Portlandia.

 

 

 

The Six (Musical) Days of Christmas, Pt. 3: Wye Oak

Wye Oak had some year. The Baltimore duo's Civilian seems almost universally loved, and they played big festivals, toured with big names, and in the process became something of one themselves. They also played our studios back in March. Jen Wasner and Andy Stack recently stopped by The Onion's AV Club in Chicago and laid down this version of a little known holiday number from Brenda Lee, with sublime results. Here's "Christmas Will Be Just Another Lonely Day." 

 

The Six (Musical) Days of Christmas, Pt. 2: Diamond Rugs

In case you missed it, Deer Tick's John McCauley is at it again, following up this year's Middle Brother debut AND his regular band's Divine Providence with a debut album from super-ish group Diamond Rugs slated for the spring on Partisan. The full band includes Deer Tick bandmate Robbie Crowell, Los Lobos sax man (and Portlander) Steve Berlin, Black Lips' Ian Saint Pe, Dead Confederate's Hardy Morris and Bryan Dufresne of Six Finger Satellite. The first we've heard from the group also happens to be a Christmas song and a good one-- if you happen to like your holiday numbers with no small amount of sobering drunkeness, that is. In the tradition of Prine's "Christmas in Prison," it's "Christmas in a Chinese Restaurant," with this slightly disturbing video starring McCauley himself.

Diamond Rugs - "Christmas in a Chinese Restaurant" (MP3)

 

The Six (Musical) Days of Christmas, Pt. 1: Parenthetical Girls

Portland's Parenthetical Girls returned this week with their latest batch of seasonal fare, a 3-song digital EP entitled Parenthetical Girls Save Christmas. This follows last year's more humbly-titled Christmas, and alongside a pair of originals features a take on "There's Always Tomorrow," which you will recall was included in the classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer animated television special of your youth (Rudolph's girlfriend Clarice serenades him with it in an effort to raise his spirits).

Tagged: video, mp3