Christmas Music
Mac DeMarco Covers “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”: Stream
Mac DeMarco is back with a new addition to his Christmas covers cannon. This year, he’s taken on the 1943 classic “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.” Written by Kim Gannon and Walter Kent, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” was originally recorded by Bing Crosby, centering around Crosby’s slow crooning and a swell of lush strings. In DeMarco’s chilled-out version, the singer’s go-to piano adds a jazzy touch to the standard, and a bent-note guitar solo makes the song sound like a DeMarco original. In the accompanying music video, an anthropomorphic inflatable tree traverses the streets before setting up shop in a Christmas tree farm. Check out the video below. Advertisement Related Video DeMarco has been covering Christmas songs for some time now, and they somehow always manage to stand out among the j...
Winter Blunderland: The All-Time Most Useless Christmas Albums
A browse through any thrift store music section shows that some genres of music are definitely more disposable than others. Nobody wants classical compilations, generic folk, mediocre gospel, any kind of polka, and, especially, Christmas music. It shouldn’t come as a surprise; it’s listened to roughly 17% of the year. The other 300-some days, it’s pretty much useless. While keepers do exist — Bing, Nat King, Mariah and Garth — certain types of Christmas albums, ridiculous novelty titles bought on impulse in Walmart, are among some of the most unwanted things on the planet, with more copies to be found in donation bins than wrapping paper in landfills. Christmas Songs / Various Dogs, Cats and Babies Quite possibly Guantanamo Bay torture music, here are three albums of every Christmas melody...
Steve Perry Says New Holiday Album The Season “Was Emotional Therapy”
Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Pocket Casts | Radio Public | RSS Steve Perry sits down with Kyle Meredith to talk about The Season, his latest entry into the cannon of holiday albums. Related Video The former Journey singer tells us how last year’s absence of a Christmas feeling and missing loved ones led him to seek a reconnection with this year’s season. He discusses how The Season was inspired by the memories and songs of his childhood, especially the timelessness of original classic holiday tracks. Perry also touches on occasionally injecting his own lyrics into those classics, and teases two original holiday songs he’s written and recorded for a future release. Advertisement Perry...
The 100 Best Christmas Songs of All Time: Staff List
There’s a reason that listeners seem to get more anxious every year for the Christmas music season to start: Nothing else feels quite like it. The things that make Christmas songs great — whether carols, old pop standards or newer enduring hits — are most of the same things that make pop great in general: emotional connection, universal relatability, unshakeable catchiness. But Christmas music has a wavelength entirely its own, shared by an overwhelming majority of its most recognizable classics: a sort of sublime yearning that’s at once profoundly saddening and deeply comforting. It evokes a visceral, nearly oppressive sentimentality, one fortified and strengthened by a lifetime’s worth of associated holiday memories — personal, familial, romantic, nostalgic. It’s music for the most wonde...
BTS’ Jimin, V Gift ARMY with New Songs “Christmas Love” and “Snow Flower”: Stream
You better not pout, ARMY members, because BTS’ Jimin and V have gifted fans a pair of new Christmas songs, “Christmas Love” and “Snow Flower”. Jimin’s “Christmas Love” is a snappy pop number that shines as crisply as a blanket of fresh snow. The “love” of the track title isn’t about a specific person, however, and more about the feeling this time of year brings to many. Roughly translated from Korean, Jimin sings, “Christmas I love you/ Oh, you’re the one forever/ I wish it was today.” As he explained in a post on the official BTS blog (again, translated from Korean), Jimin wrote the song to reconnect with his childhood memories of the holidays: “As we grew, feeling responsibility for what we have, that responsibility made us, who were innocent, mature and I think that enables us to hide ...
The Voidz and Dua Lipa Perform, Paul McCartney Guests on Fallon: Watch
Thursday night was a busy one over on The Tonight Show, as Jimmy Fallon welcomed Paul McCartney, The Voidz, and Dua Lipa. Each musician was there in a different capacity, with Macca serving as the featured interview. The Beatle discussed his new album, McCartney III, which came together while he was locked down with the family of his eldest daughter, Mary. “I’d have a drink before dinner… and the kids are running around. And once one of them would say, ‘What’d you do at the studio today?’ And I’d say, ‘Ah,’” the legendary artist recalled. “Pull my phone out, get the little boom box going, and I’d play it to them. So they got a preview of the whole album a day at a time. It made it kind of more fun, really. It was like I was just making it for them.” He also touched briefly on a...
Tori Amos Announces Holiday EP Christmastide
Tori Amos has announced a new holiday-themed EP called Christmastide. Due out next month, the project features four original songs from the beloved chamber-pop artist. The EP marks the first new solo material from Amos since her 2017 full-length, Native Invader, but it’s actually not her first foray into the world of holiday music. Back in 2009, she released an album called Midwinter Graces that included reworked Christmas carols and a few seasonal originals, and way back in 1998 she recorded a beautiful cover of the classic tune “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”. However, this set of songs is unique in that they will arrive during a particularly lonely Christmas season and at the end of a horrendous year. In a statement, Amos said that Christmastide is supposed ...
The Offspring Cover “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”: Stream
The Offspring have released their first-ever holiday song, a cover of the Darlene Love classic “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”. Along with the single, the band has promised new music in early 2021. As frontman Dexter Holland pointed out in a press release, the band felt it was a good time to bring some holiday cheer to their fans. “It just seemed like the world could use a nice holiday song right now,” remarked Holland. “We’ve always been huge fans of Darlene Love, so when the idea came up to do a Christmas song, we jumped at the chance to record that one … and tried not to wreck it!” The punk-rock veterans actually deliver a pretty faithful rendition of tune, with their version produced by Bob Rock (Metallica, Mötley Crüe). The original 1963 version was famously produced by Phil Spect...
Carly Rae Jepsen Shares New Song “It’s Not Christmas Till Somebody Cries”: Stream
What even is “the Christmas spirit” in 2020? I mean, do any of us really think this holiday season is gonna be all magic and pretty lights? Carly Rae Jepsen knows better, which is why she’s released the Xmas song this year demanded, “It’s Not Christmas Till Somebody Cries”. Sure, all the jingle bells and bright notes are there, but they’re presented with tongue firmly in cheek. Though perfectly timed, the tune isn’t really about a pandemic holiday, but instead what Jepsen calls “Christmas versus expectation.” “Christmas holiday is my favorite time of year. I love it,” the Canadian pop star said in a statement. “But so often emotions run high and expectation versus reality is something I’d like to shed some light on and hopefully some laughs too in the process. So if you are lucky enough to...
Andrew Bird Shares COVID-19-Inspired Holiday Song “Christmas in April”: Stream
Hark! is the forthcoming holiday album from Andrew Bird, due out next week. An expansion of his 2019 EP of the same name, the project features covers of John Prine and John Cale, as well as original numbers like today’s newly unveiled “Christmas in April”. As you may have guessed by its title, this seasonal offering was inspired by and written during quarantine. On it, the indie troubadour wonders what the holidays will look like amidst the coronavirus pandemic. “When will we know if we can meet under the mistletoe?” Birds asks with a sobering melancholy in his voice, echoing our very same anxieties and fears as the global health crisis stretches into fall and winter. (Remember when we thought it would only last through spring?) Editors’ Picks In a statement, Bird further explained h...
Dolly Parton’s A Holly Dolly Christmas Invites Everyone over for the Holidays: Review
The Lowdown: Christmas means different things to different people. For some, it holds great spiritual significance. For others, it’s one of the few times a year where they are able to reconnect with the ones they love most. And for others still, it’s a much-needed day off work, an excuse to spoil each other with gifts, or even a cue to snuggle up next to someone special. The holidays can mean any number of things, and if Nashville legend Dolly Parton’s new Christmas album, A Holly Dolly Christmas, has one consistent message for her eclectic fan base, the “Cult of Many Colors,” it’s come all ye … well, everyone. In other words: the more the merrier. [embedded content] The Good: In that spirit, Parton throws a Christmas party with a little something for everyone. She opens with a playful tri...
Celebrate Peanuts’ 70th Anniversary with New Vinyl of A Charlie Brown Christmas
In our house, the period from November 1st to January 2nd is affectionately known as Vince Guaraldi Trio Season. Guaraldi’s iconic jazz score to A Charlie Brown Christmas celebrates its 55th anniversary this year, even as the Peanuts comic strip marks 70 years of existence. Craft Recordings is heralding these nice round numbers with a special one-time vinyl pressing of A Charlie Brown Christmas, available September 25th. This first Charlie Brown soundtrack is already one of the best-selling jazz album in history, trailing only Miles Davis and Kind of Blue. It’s been released in multiple forms over the years, and the big draw of the new edition is the not-quite-3D lenticular album cover. Featuring a classic illustration by Charles Schulz, the artwork shows Charlie, Lucy, and ...
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