Silver & Gold: Songs for Christmas Volumes 6-10 is out on November 13 through Asthmatic Kitty.
Category Archives: christmas
[anticipation] Holidays Rule
More holiday tunes to look forward to!
Starbucks’ label, Hear Music, and Concord will release a compilation of artists covering holiday classics on Oct 30th. Holidays Rule will feature the likes of The Civl Wars, Eleanor Friedberger, The Head and The Heart, Paul McCartney, Rufus Wainwright (who also has a touring Christmas show with his sister Martha), Sharon Van Etten, and many, many more. Check out the complete track list while enjoying Rufus and Sharon’s rendition of one of favorites, “Baby It’s Cold Outside”. Enjoy.
01 fun.: “Sleigh Ride”
02 The Shins: “Wonderful Christmastime”
03 Rufus Wainwright with Sharon Van Etten: “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”
04 Paul McCartney: “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)”
05 Black Prairie: “(Everybody’s Waitin’ for) The Man With the Bag” [ft. Sallie Ford]
06 The Civil Wars: “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”
07 Calexico: “Green Grows the Holly”
08 AgesandAges: “We Need a Little Christmas”
09 Holly Golightly: “That’s What I Want For Christmas”
10 Irma Thomas with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band: “May Everyday Be Christmas”
11 Heartless Bastards: “Blue Christmas”
12 Eleanor Friedberger: “Santa Bring My Baby Back to Me”
13 Fruit Bats: “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas”
14 Y La Bamba: “Señor Santa”
15 The Punch Brothers: “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”
16 The Head and The Heart: “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve”
17 Andrew Bird: “Auld Lang Syne”
[anticipation] Sufjan Stevens//Silver & Gold
On Nov. 13, Asthmatic Kitty will release Silver & Gold: Songs for Christmas, Vols. 6-10, a 5-EP Sufjan Stevens Christmas boxset. This will come as no surprise to those that know me, but I am absolutely ecstatic for this new boxset. I LOVE Christmas music and Stevens’ 2006 boxset, Songs for Christmas, Vols. 1-5, has been in heavy rotation around the holidays every year since.
The nearly 60-track collection feature collaborations with Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National, Richard Reed Parry of Arcade Fire and several other friends of Stevens. It will be available in CD and vinyl formats, as well as as a digital download. The vinyl edition, however, will not be available in stores until later this year or early in 2013. You can order a special mail order edition of the vinyl set, but Asthmatic Kitty cannot guarantee it will be delivered by Christmas due to the boxset’s elaborate packaging. The mail order edition will, however, included “special goodies.”
Below, you can enjoy the 12-minute song “Christmas Unicorn,” and the smorgasbord of goodies to be included with the physical forms of the Silver & Gold.
CD Contents:
1. Five CD EPs (Gloria, I Am Santa’s Helper, Christmas Infinity Voyage, Let It Snow, Christmas Unicorn)
2. Christmas stickers
3. Temporary tattoos (non-toxic & safe for children)
4. A paper ornament (self-assembly with directions)
5. An apocalyptic pull-out poster
6. Song lyrics and chord charts (sing along with your friends and enemies)
7. Hallucinogenic photographs and psychedelic graphic design (by Sufjan Stevens, drug-free since 1975)
8. Extensive liner notes (essays by Sufjan Stevens and Pastor Vito Aiuto)
Vinyl Boxset Contents:
1. Five EPs on 6 vinyl discs
2. Christmas stickers
3. Temporary tattoos
4. A paper ornament
5. An apocalyptic pull-out poster
6. A 40-page Christmas songbook with vocal and piano reductions
7. A Christmas coloring book
8. Hallucinogenic photographs and psychedelic graphic design
9. Extensive liner notes
Mail Order Vinyl Boxset Edition Contents:
It’s a surprise!
UPDATE: New track “Ding-a-ling-a-ring-a-ling”
sufjan.com//facebook//twitter//bandcamp//iTunes
(via Paste Magazine)
(31) Days of Good: Day 20
I had originally planned this post for Christmas day, but if you’re anything like me, you’ve been listening to Christmas music since Thanksgiving. The holidays aren’t complete with out some holiday tunes and hopefully you’ll find some new favorites in today’s GOOD. So in the immortal words of Billy Mack, “So if you really love Christmas, C’mon and let it snow.” [p.s. i’m not 100% certain that all of these tracks came out this year, apologies in advance]
♪ Catwalk – Christmas Don’t Be Late (Alvin and the Chipmunks cover)
More Catwalk:
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♪ Woods – Christmas Time is Here (Vince Guaraldi cover)
More Woods:
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♪ The Polyphonic Spree – It’s Christmas
More Polyphonic Spree:
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♪ A Weather – I’ll Be Home For Christmas (from An A Weather Christmas EP)
More A Weather:
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♪ Beta Radio – Auld Lang Syne (from The Songs the Season Brings)
More Beta Radio:
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♪ She & Him – The Christmas Waltz (from A Very She & Him Christmas)
More She & Him:
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♪ The Killers – The Cowboy’s Christmas Ball [from (RED) Christmas – EP] (video below)
More Killers:
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For more holiday tunage, head on over to Paste Magazine and download the free 2011 Christmas Sampler!
(31) Days of Good: Day 25
Here are some of my favorite Christmas songs from 2010. I know a few of these songs were not released in 2010, but who cares…It’s Christmas! Light up that yule log, drink some egg nog, enjoy the jams!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
A B & The Sea – Christmas (Baby Please Come Come) feat. The She’s (Darlene Love Cover)
Brad Walsh – Poppin’ Around the Xmas Tree (courtesy of A Heart Is A Spade)
Ormonde – Blue Christmas
Parker Lewis & Matilda Berggren – All Alone on Christmas (Darlene Love cover)
This last track is my favorite. It’s an original Christmas ditty from my 5th favorite album of the year, by the incredible a cappella sextet, Sonos. It’s amazing what they can do with nothing but their voices… and it’s even more amazing watching them do it live. More Sonos here.
Be sure to checkout 35mmBeats for even more GOOD.