It's officially December of 2018 (can you believe it?!), and it's time for this hectic, exhausting, and challenging year to wind down and cut us all a break!
I won't get into the bad luck I've been hit with in the last month, because... it's Christmas season, and I'm feeling good, and listening to tons of groovy holiday tunes to get in the spirit. And while I don't have a suggested "mix" playlist planned, instead I have a whole bunch of holiday themed albums and EP's I've been spinning that I wanted to recommend.
Although I'm an avid vinyl collector, when it comes to listening to music digitally, iTunes has been my go to. I have the majority of my extensive music collection "in the cloud" as they say, so when it came down to subscribing to a monthly service, I opted with Apple Music, and let me tell you... I love it.
So, some of these are already available on Apple Music, others you'll find directly from the artists via their Bandcamp pages, and some are a bit more obscure, but I'm confident you can track them down fairly easily online in today's day and age.
Let's break out the (spiked) egg nog, and get into the Christmas spirit! First up...
This is the 3-piece band fronted by Mike Williamson, a long time friend from the horror community. One of the only dudes I know that loves 90's music as much as I do, and he put together this great 7 inch release with his band Jr. Juggernaut featuring the brand new track "XMas Is For Everyone" and the B-side "Silent Night," a slowed down, grungy cover of the classic holiday tune with some disturbing dialogue from the movie GREMLINS. (I'm sure you can guess which story from the movie is featured here!) The actual 7 inch releases were limited to 20 copies (!) and there are still a select few left. You can also get the tracks digitally via their Bandcamp here. There's also a killer deal for their entire digital discography on the Jr. Juggernaut Bandcamp as well! Take advantage!
One of my earliest Christmas memories is the 1984 video/single for "Do They Know It's Christmas?" by the super star-studded "Band Aid." It's always been a catchy tune. But a few years back, I discovered a cover version that was much more my speed! Jonah Matranga did a reinterpretation of this song with Grady Avenell from Will Haven and Chino Moreno from the Deftones. So, that's members of Far, Deftones, and Will Haven doing a Band Aid cover! Initially, this was released via Jonah's Bandcamp on its own, but eventually, he paired it up with a bunch of other sweet music for the "Holiday-ish Fun" EP. It's got a Charlie Brown cover, a John Lennon cover, and a wonderful duet with his daughter on The Beatles "With A Little Help From My Friends." You can get that right here.
Bayside - "Angels We Have Heard On High" and "A Long December"
Two one off singles from Long Island's own Bayside, the first is their holiday theme tinged "Angels We Have Heard On High," which you can find on iTunes or Apple Music. And although it's not technically a "holiday" song, they also did an amazing cover of The Counting Crows "A Long December," which, quite frankly, I prefer to the original version!
Marc Martel - "Christmas Time Is Here" EP
I fell down the Marc Martel rabbit hole after discovering his incredible one-man Queen cover of "Bohemian Rhapsody" on You Tube. From there, I started poking around to some of his other music. Yes, he's got the voice of Freddie Mercury, but then I noticed he had a handful of holiday themed EP's and albums that he made his own. The one I'd personally recommend starting with is "Christmas Time Is Here," because it's got this beautiful rendition of "All I Want For Christmas Is You," which I immediately forwarded to my girlfriend once December 1st rolled around! There's plenty of other famous Christmas covers on here, but it's all about this song!
JD McPherson - "Socks"
Here's one that came out of nowhere for me! My buddy AJ Bowen is a big fan of both Christmas horror movies, and Christmas music. So, he texted me asking if I'd ever heard of JD McPherson, which I hadn't. This album "Socks" is such a brilliant, beautiful oldies-esque holiday album full of new songs that have quickly gone into heavy rotation for me this Christmas season. You can find this on iTunes, Apple Music, or via his official website. Highly recommended!
ANNA AND THE APOCALYPSE Soundtrack
Holy smokes! I'm sure you've heard it a million times from a dozen horror fans, but if there's one thing I'm tired of, it's zombie films. And then trying to sell me on a horror musical on top of that? When has that ever worked? Low and behold, sometimes a movie comes along and just knocks your socks off in every way, and this year, that movie is ANNA AND THE APOCALYPSE. Not only is it an incredibly charming and fresh take on the zombie sub-genre, while simultaneously being a great modern teen movie, but the songs are terrific, and the cast singing them is even more irresistible. I'd recommend avoiding all trailers, and just seeing the movie blind. You will want to get the soundtrack and celebrate it this December immediately after seeing the movie. Trust me!
Morgan Aimes - "SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT Christmas Songs"
Most horror fans have made it an annual tradition to revisit SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT every year. But, thanks to Death Waltz Recordings, we now have an incredible holiday album to celebrate every year as well! I'm not talking about the creepy score to the movie. A few years back, Death Waltz released a double LP set that featured both the score on one disc, and then all the Christmas songs written for the film by Morgan Aimes on the other disc. And guess what? The songs are some of the best Christmas songs ever! Now, I bought this on iTunes a few years back digitally. But it doesn't seem to be available there anymore! A quick Google search revealed that it may be available to stream on Spotify, but definitely do whatever you can to check it out!
Jackson 5 - "Christmas Album"
This was an Apple Music discovery, but did you know the Jackson 5 did a Christmas album?!? You probably did! But I didn't know. And it's great! There's something about listening to a 12 year old Michael Jackson singing these classic songs with such innocence and conviction that makes them wonderful and new! The Jackson 5 Christmas Album is a heartwarming winner.
Scott Weiland - "The Most Wonderful Time Of Year"
Did you know that Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland also did a Christmas album?! It's called "The Most Wonderful Time Of Year" and it's covers of all the classics! It makes sense, because Scott channels all the old-school crooners here for his renditions of these holiday classics. He even made a very IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE-esque video for "Winter Wonderland." You can find this pretty easily on iTunes or Apple Music.
TALES FROM THE CRYPT - "Have Yourself A Scary Little Christmas"
Last, but certainly not least, is the TALES FROM THE CRYPT Christmas album "Have Yourself A Scary Little Christmas!" For all the youngans out there, TALES FROM THE CRYPT was an HBO series based on the classic EC comic books that told great horror morality tales, complete with a shocking twist ending almost every time! The host was the pun-filled Cryptkeeper, voiced by comedian and actor John Kasir. His popularity was at an all time high during the show's run from 1989 to 1996, that he even had a rap single called "The Crypt Jam" (which is one one of my previous Halloween mixes), and eventually got to put out a Christmas album. It's classics but with the lyrics changed into horrific puns, such as, "Deck The Halls With Parts Of Charlie." It's silly, goofy, and fun! I'm surprised that one of these vinyl labels hasn't re-issued this sucker on LP over these last few years. I mean, if the truly awful Freddy's Greatest Hits could get a re-issue, which sold out so quickly that it required a repress, this should definitely be out on vinyl!
So, that's what I've been listening to this December!
