Monthly Archives: December 2011

5 Christmas Albums Worth Adding to your Collection

By Eric Slager | Published: December 20, 2011

Christmas has always been the holiday with the most extensive songbook. No matter how hard poor Flag Day may try, it just can’t compete with centuries of classic carols and dozens of new songs being written every year.

Whether you want to attribute it to nostalgia, tradition, or something else, people love their Christmas music. And with thousands of holiday albums recorded and released over the last several decades, it would seem that musicians sure know how to capitalize on it.

It’s every crate-digger’s worst nightmare. Walking into a thrift store, resale shop or garage sale only to find stack after stack of obscure Christmas records. How many versions of “Jingle Bells” can one person take?

We at The Vinyl District don’t care to find out, and have taken it upon ourselves to compile a list of 5 Christmas albums (across 6 decades) that are worth picking up and adding to your collection.

1. Bing Crosby – Merry Christmas (1945)
Elvis’ Christmas Album (pictured above) almost made this list, but the number one selling Christmas album of all time hardly needs our mention. Instead we’ll recommend the second best. Selling over 15 million copies, Bing Crosby’s Merry Christmas deserves to be in your collection if it’s not already.

Bing Crosby | White Christmas

Originally released through Decca Records in 1945 as ten songs across five 78 records, Merry Christmas has been in print longer than any other album besides the 1943 release of Oklahoma!

Released as an LP in 1955, Merry Christmas contains Crosby’s signature song, “White Christmas”.

Posted in TVD Chicago | 5 Comments

Holiday Music: The Christmas Quandary

By Laurence | Published: December 20, 2011

By E.C. McCarthy

“Why are the pop singers suicidal, daddy?”

Admittedly, my eight-year-old self wasn’t quite that articulate, but I still remember the first time I heard David Bowie sing “Little Drummer Boy” with Bing Crosby on the radio. Someone had obviously corralled my precious Ziggy Stardust into a studio, put a gun to his head, and forced him to sing “pah-rum-puh-pum-pum.”

It was unnatural, as is virtually every Christmas song put out by rock bands. Perhaps if I smoked whatever Sir Paul was smoking when he recorded “Wonderful Christmastime” then I’d enjoy it the way he clearly did. (I envision him skipping about the living room with headphones on like Santa’s Nimble Elf-Beatle. Not a bit rock’n’roll.)

The holiday does need music, however, and finding the right soundtrack for winter has been something of a forever-mission, an earnest search for the songs that won’t make my eyes roll into the back of my head. There are so few of them out there that I experience an alarming slippage in standards as the weeks progress toward C-Day. I’m especially vulnerable in the nostalgia department – George Michael’s “Last Christmas” often escapes my radar and I find myself tapping a toe, swaying my head and woefully joining in, “…and the very next day, you gave it away…” then realise my error, scream “NO, GOD, NO!” and pummel my iPod with the nearest blunt instrument.

Posted in TVD UK | 1 Comment

TVD Live: Twisted Sister at Best Buy Theater, 12/17

By Dave Barnhouser | Published: December 19, 2011

When it comes to down and dirty rock and roll, there is no band who defines the term bad boys of rock better than Twisted Sister. So why should a Christmas show be any different?

Playing songs from both their A Twisted Christmas album, as well as hits from their thirty-five-year career such as ”Destroyer,” ”I Wanna Rock” and “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” Twisted Sister knows how to give a crowd exactly what they want. And for a sold out crowd in New York’s Best Buy Theater in Times Square last Saturday, that was a lot.

The nearly two hour set included a Twisted Santa Claus factory, crazy elves, smoking hot reindeer, snow machines, a giant Ozzy Osbourne statue, and all five original members of Twisted Sister. Dee Snider dressed as Santa entered on a sleigh pulled by scantily clad reindeer, giving presents to all the naughty boys and girls in the audience, in the form of condoms and candy canes pulled from a big red sack.

They tore into their first number, “Silver Bells,” followed with almost no pause at all by “The Kids Are Back.” The set was an even mix between all the rock we have known and loved for the past thirty-five years and the amped-up Christmas tunes that would be the center of that day’s Twisted Christmas.

Posted in TVD New York City | Leave a comment

TVD Live: Cheick Hamala Diabate with The Empresarios and
Sol Power at RnR, 12/16

By Dulani Wallace | Published: December 19, 2011

Oral history isn’t just a reflection of social movement, it’s a science. And that set the tone for an evening highlighted by the many rhythms of Cheick Hamala Diabate. Last Friday night, at the Rock and Roll Hotel, we got a dose of traditional West African music with a funk chaser.

Before the griot entered the stage, Eighteenth Street Lounge residents the Sol Power All-Stars displayed some spicy Afro-Latin grooves that got the soul stirring. Their energetic mix of afrobeat, cumbia, merengue, and salsa almost becomes a genre of its own. The world music lovers of H Street were just getting taste of the delight to come.

Diabate is a man of small physical stature, but his presence is as great as the Malian empire once was. He entered the stage with another West African man in traditional garb with a deep-toned ngoma drum, accompanying the acoustic drummer. The dancer, a young woman in African garb, rotated her hip in a mechanical, other-worldly fashion. Like a graceful gazelle, she kept rhythm with her tambourine as she danced, never missing a beat. The young men on saxophone, guitar, and bass guitar held their own with the legendary singer.

Posted in TVD Washington, DC | Leave a comment

The Best of The Idelic Hour with Jon Sidel

By Jon Sidel | Published: December 19, 2011

We’ve long said that Jon Sidel’s weekly freeform radio podcasts at TVD, The Idelic Hour, are a highlight every week. So we thought we’d highlight a few ourselves this week from this past year to illustrate what we’re all so high on. (Legally.) First up from April 8, 2011, we go record shopping in advance of what we call Christmas around these parts, Record Store Day. —Ed.

Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

If you haven’t figured it out by now, The Vinyl District, the blog that hosts this column and my weekly radio hour, is the official blog for Record Store Day next Saturday. Obviously record shops are meaningful to all of us in the TVD family and I thought I’d a get a jump on the crowd and dedicate this week’s Idelic Hour to Record Store Day.

Last year I came up with the idea of going on a field trip to a local shop and got intimate with LA Records one of the cooler shops here in town. It was very inspiring but to be honest, I don’t hang in record shops like I once did. For me snuggled in Laurel Canyon, the internet is the ultimate in record shopping! I cannot recall a day that I have not been completely interested in hearing and adding a new record to my collection!

Posted in The TVD Storefront | Leave a comment

TVD Vinyl Giveaway: Gold Motel Talking Fiction 7” Single

By Eric Slager | Published: December 19, 2011

This Friday, December 23rd, Chicago-based quintet Gold Motel will be returning to the Windy City to take the stage at Lincoln Hall for their Hometown Holiday Show.

The all ages event kicks off at 7:00 PM with Chicago-area openers Chaperone and Deserters. Grab your tickets online for just $12 , and get $5 off any Gold Motel merchandise at the show if you bring a toy donation for Toys for Tots Chicago.

The anticipation of this holiday show has put us in the giving spirit, so we’ve got your chance to win a copy of Gold Motel’s amazing 7” release, Talking Fiction, which contains “Cold Shoulders” B/W “Slow Emergency.”

Formed and fronted by Greta Morgan (The Hush Sound), Gold Motel has been in the studio working on a new full-length album, which is due out this Spring.

Posted in TVD Chicago | 16 Comments

mr. Gnome: The TVD Interview and Vinyl Giveaway

By Amber Patrick | Published: December 19, 2011

This past Saturday, Cleveland duo mr. Gnome returned home to finish up their recent tour for their newest album, Madness in Miniature. To a packed house at the Beachland Ballroom, the duo comprising Nicole Barille and Sam Meister proved they aren’t just another married pair.

Meister plays HUGE on the set while Barille brings a powerhouse voice and killer guitar skills to her side of the stage. A mr. Gnome show promises to be an transcendental experience. Close your eyes, and you’ll begin to feel your soul spill forth from your body and float off to travel through time.

We had an opportunity to catch up with Barille to talk about the new album, how it is being in a band with her husband, and what’s really up with that white rabbit in all their work.

Can you tell me a little bit about how you and Sam met and started playing together?

We met in high school, and we’ve known each other ever since then. We started jamming throughout college, but it didn’t really ever turn into anything. Then when we graduated college we were playing in this band, and he was singing and playing guitar, I was doing lead guitar and backup vocals. In our free time between that band I kind of brought some songs I was working on to him, and he sat down behind the drum kit, and that’s kind of how mr. Gnome started. We just started writing and recording and having a lot of fun with that, you know?

Posted in TVD Cleveland | 5 Comments

Grooves Shared:
Dog Gone Blog

By Mike Newman | Published: December 19, 2011

Since we’re all a tight-knit music-lovin’ community, we created this segment so that some of our good friends who are doing good things in the industry of human happiness could share the records that they’ve been diggin’ on lately.

Our second edition of Grooves Shared comes from Dog Gone Blog’s Sam Davis, whose blog explores music of all colors. He’s definitely turned me on to some amazing stuff over the past year or so. DGB will also host a Post-Phish extravaganza on Friday, December 30th with Superhuman Happiness and DJ sets by DGB and Unicorn Pudding.

Sam has done a little something different for this edition of Grooves Shared, but I’ll let him explain. Take it away, Sam…

A Tribute to Bert Jansch

As the year draws to a close, many of us begin to look back on the events that have shaped the past 12 months. For me, personally, one such event occurred on October 5th, when the world was forced to bid farewell to acoustic guitar legend Bert Jansch. In the early 1960s, Jansch was one of the key figures behind the British folk revival, performing solo acoustic arrangements as well as being a founding member of the influential group, Pentangle.

Posted in TVD New York City | Leave a comment

TVD’s Press Play

By Jon Meyers | Published: December 19, 2011

It’s our weekly Twitter #MusicMonday recap of the tracks from last week that the folks in the press offices and PR agencies want you to be hearing. We post you decide.

Skypilot – Harold (You Sold Your Brother Down)
NO – Another Life
St. Even – Blinding Love
Capitol 6 – Fever
A Lull – I’m On Fire
Dressy Bessy – Mister Kringle’s
Anna Vogelzang – Die Trying
Marissa Nadler – Learning To Fly
Matt Haimovitz & Christopher O’Riley – Pyramid Song (Radiohead Cover)
Dirty Ghosts – Shout It In

TVD SINGLE OF THE WEEK: Nneka – My Home

Spielgusher – BEGINS WITH S
Albert Swarm – Familialities
Yukon Blonde – Choices
DINOWALRUS – What Now
Walter Rose – Driving South
ELIKA – No One Gets Lost
Arrange – Sun Showers
No Age – Male Masturbation
Alan Wilkis – Come and Go (feat. The KickDrums)
Post War Years – All Eyes (James Yuill Remix)

33 more FREE TRACKS after the jump!

Posted in The TVD Storefront | Leave a comment

Diggin’ In The Crates: Mike Sammes Singers
and The Ted Taylor Organsound, Miss Abrams

By Laurence | Published: December 19, 2011

‘Diggin’ In The Crates’ is brought to you by Ben Lewis, designer and record obsessive from Brighton. Ben can usually be found in a dusty corner of one of the country’s many second-hand record emporiums, rooting around in search of rarities and hidden gems.

Mike Sammes Singers & The Ted Taylor Organsound – He Who Would Valiant Be

Easy supremos The Mike Sammes Singers get funky with Brit jazz legend Tubby Hayes, in this unlikely “let’s make hymns hip” project. So good. One of those nice charity shop pick ups, that’ll do me!

Posted in TVD UK | 1 Comment

TVD’s The Idelic Hour with Jon Sidel

By Jon Sidel | Published: December 16, 2011

Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

Well yo fucking ho ho! Once again it’s that time of the year when everyone on the internet has to chime in as a rock critic and give their year end best of lists. I know you might be expecting me to be sick of this ritual, but the fact is why deny my “obsession” with music blogging for the holidays? Fuck, the truth is I’m always rating and re-evaluating the current landscape of rock n roll.

So, what a better way to start the holiday season than to review this year’s list of Idelic Hits and create a hyper-playlist of the best in new songs that graced the Idelic airwaves in 2011. Love ’em or leave ’em for the bottom half—it’s the top Idelic Hits of 2011!

25. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
24. The War On Drugs – Taking The Farm
23. Other Lives – Dust Bowl III
22. Fidlar – Bummed
21. Cass McCombs – County Line
20. Sarabeth Tucek – Get Well Soon
19. Friends – I’m His Girl
18. The Civil Wars – Barton Hollow
17. Kurt Vile – In My Time
16. AM & Shawn Lee – Somebody Like You
15. Atlas Sound – The Shakes
14. Little Red – Rock It
13. Twin Shadow – Castles In The Snow
12. Frank Ocean – Songs For Women
11. Iceage – White Rune

Stay tuned for the top 10 Idelic Hits of 2011 to come next week!

The Idelic Hit of the Week:
The Black Lips – Mad Dog

Posted in The TVD Storefront | Leave a comment

TVD Live: Bon Iver at UIC Pavilion, 12/9

By Amber Patrick | Published: December 16, 2011

Once in a while, you’ve got to take a chance on music you believe in, on the music that keeps your heart beating and your soul soothed. There are going to be times that the bands that get you through your roughest times won’t hit your city. It is at those times that you must take the plunge and head to the next closest city. You’ve got to embark on an adventure and hope for the best, sometimes.

Last week, two of TVD Cleveland’s writers took that chance. We boarded a bus to Chicago to catch Bon Iver at the UIC Pavilion. We had never been to the windy city. Hell, we’d never been on the Megabus. But we knew that Bon Iver is the kind of artist you don’t miss live.

What we saw and heard at UIC Pavilion is nearly impossible to describe. Bon Iver comes to the stage—an ensemble nine men strong. Front man Justin Vernon is surrounded by a horn section, some guitars and two drum sets, but I suppose it takes just such an army of angels to orchestrate such beauty. The lights dimmed blue, and Vernon’s voice wafted out over the crowd.

Posted in TVD Chicago | Leave a comment

TVD Ticket and Vinyl Giveaway: White Wives at DC9, 12/21

By Jenn Bress | Published: December 16, 2011

If you’re gonna do anything this holiday, put a little eggnog in your coffee. It sweetens the cup perfectly, providing a creamy richness that compliments the underlying bitterness of coffee at the core of the beverage. There is a comparable intellectual richness to Anti-Flag side project, White Wives.

Just like everything that delights the taste buds is invariably fattening and bad for you, I’m thoroughly convinced everything from Pittsburgh is good and good for you.

All personal bias aside, their LP Happeners is a ’90s-influenced sonic rush of guitars and gritty vocals with melodic choruses that beg you to sing along. White Wives retain the political and social consciousness of their Anti-flag roots with lyrics that are layered with literary influence.

We have a copy of Happeners to give away, as well as a pair of tickets to see them live next Wednesday (12/21) at DC9.

Posted in TVD Washington, DC | 1 Comment

Christopher Paul Stelling’s “Mourning Train to Memphis”

By Sheki | Published: December 16, 2011

The amount of talent that comes from Christopher Paul Stelling is difficult to put into words. His folk style whisks you away into a foreign fairytale. He has that rare approach of turning his music into a form of storytelling for all ears to rejoice.

Just press play to any one of his songs, and immediately you will find yourself transported to a place you will never want to leave.

Christopher Paul Stelling’s debut album, Songs of Praise and Scorn, will be released on February 21st, 2012. To hold you over, you can download his first track to the album “Mourning Train to Memphis” free right now at Bandcamp.

Posted in TVD New York City | Leave a comment

TVD Recommends: Foster the People at Merriweather Post Pavillion… in June!

By Charles Gray | Published: December 16, 2011

If you’re anything like me, then your obsessions tend to get the best of you. Making sure that all the items you buy start with a consonant, locking your car door exactly 9 times before walking away, or planning your concert schedule 7 months in advance can get pretty hectic to keep up with.

Although I’m not quite the expert to give advice on the first two issues, I’ve got your back on the latter, so let’s talk about that distant musical itinerary. Exactly 178 days from now, rising pop goliaths Foster the People will be playing at the legendary Merriweather Post Pavilion on June 10th. So you’re looking to fill up your summer? Maybe you missed both of their recent SOLD OUT shows at 9:30 Club and want a chance to redeem yourself? Well, take note of the target—with aim from this distance, there’s no excuse to miss!