Just in the nick of time!

alright! its christmas eve! i hope everyone has a wonderful evening with friends and/or family! we are having some of our best friends over and it has been so great to spend the holidays with them. so much food! in fact, gian is preparing a special cheese sampling for our christmas eve enjoyment! im off!

make up:

oops, i missed a day. how did this happen? sorry everybody. it wont happen again. well, that being said this blog will be on hiatus starting the day after christmas until after thanksgiving next year. so lets make the most of what little time i have left. so to make up for yesterdays absence, i will offer you something that will truly blow your mind. nathaniel showed this gem to me last week. here is a hint:

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give up? well, here you go. you are welcome.

spooky christmas songs

so i was thinking i would add a spooky category to christmas music. there are scary christmas movies, why not scary christmas songs? speaking of scary christmas movies, who has seen rare exports?

this one was so funny to me as a child. i think its a mix of the tune with louis armstrongs unique voice...



if i had found this one as a kid, i would have loved it too. i still do. in fact, this is the second time i have featured songs from this album:



and finally, one that would also fit under christmas soundtracks:

non christmasy christmas songs vol. 2

one of the best unintended consequences of this blog is that it is helping me find all kinds of music that i really like. this one, for example, is by a band i am a fan of...i dont know why i had never heard it before! its three years old already!



i didnt realize this one was a christmasy song at first...i thought i was just having trouble understanding the singer..



here is another good one. keep in mind, just because these arent particularly christmassy does not mean i exclude them from my christmas mixes...in fact this is the second year this one has made the cut!

you cant handel this

i mentioned before how much i like choral music. it is great. but i think what the christmas music genre is lacking is diversity in one particular piece of choral music: handel's messiah. the nutcracker has so many recognizable tunes in it, but the messiah really only has one song that people would recognize...and even though it is SUPER recognizable, i could only find a few different versions. the first one i will show you is accompanied by quite possibly the dumbest music video i have put thus far on my blog; and that is saying a lot.



and there is a reliant k version too, if you can believe it.



but seriously, someone needs to get on some handel covers.

80s christmas music vol. 2

ok ok. back to the 80s. special thanks to laura buendia for bringing this one to my attention. i didnt realize this: you know how ethiopia is completely stable and hasnt had any problems with hunger since, like, 1984? its not just because everyone came together over a mutual love of the release of ghostbusters. it turns out, this song saved the country!



it IS a good song, laura. you were right.
this one is pretty good too:

a petersburg christmas

this song is in honor of our former city of resiedence.

christmas soundtracks

if there is anything i like more than christmas music, its christmas movies. and most of my favorite christmas movies has excellent sound tracks. check it out:



i dont know who comes up with these videos...but i am grateful that they put the songs i want on youtube. my all time favorite christmas movie is the muppet christmas carol. and oddly enough, it is one of the truest to the book versions of the christmas carol.



here is a little known fact about me: one of my least favorite sounds is children singing. i just cant stand it...i get that makes me sound like a curmudgeon ... but they are just generally really bad at singing. i can sit through it and even pretend to a kids face that i enjoyed it. but i dont. so here is a popular christmas song from a popular christmas special featuring...ug...children singing...

harder christmas songs

i found a mix cd my dad made once called "hard stuff." i think the first song on it was 'to sir, with love.' this compilation will be a little harder than that. well, not by much. they ARE christmas songs after all. so here are some bands who normally play harder stuff trying their hands and yuletide cheer.




and what would christmas be without:



and finally, ladies and gentlemen; spinal tap

90's christmas music

let us not forget the 90's, as it is generally easy to do so. what happened in the 90's you ask? i dunno. oj simpson was in the news a lot i think. pogs? whatever. here is some great christmas music that has come out of the 90's.



ok, this next one i really struggled with. i REALLY wanted to show the actual video for it because it is SO 90s. its a rock band taking themselves WAY too seriously while singing a christmas song. when the video isnt showing a group of skinny indie kids trying as hard as they can to look cool while singing "pa rum pum pum pum", there is a man dancing about in underpants. i dont think he had any clear instructions because he appears to spend most of his time trying to figure out what to do. but i ultimately gave up on it as there were too many closeups...but if you want to see a quintessential 90's rock music video, here: http://youtu.be/ZuaiLIUQz5M for the rest of you, enjoy this g rated version below.



this one is dedicated to my wife. i really cant stand mariah carey, but amelia asked if i would please add her to my christmas mix in the car. no, but i will put her video on my blog. merry christmas.



and finally, this is not a 90's song, but a 2000's song...but it IS rem....

sad christmas songs vol. 2

more sad songs. enjoy. or dont.



the low christmas album is full of great christmas songs and a few good sad ones...and this is easily the bluest version of blue christmas i have ever heard. the clowns in the snow add a nice touch.



heres one:



and finally:

yuletide carols being sung by a choir

are you having trouble getting into the christmas spirit? consumerism got you down? try choir music! its like the prozac of christmas music. its calm, its pretty, and its content generally pious. youre not going to hear a choir sexily making a list of what it wants santa baby to bring it. its not going to whine about how it wont be the same this year without you. choir music will simply sing praises to God (get over it, christmas is a christian holiday) and enumerate the glorious blessings and implications of Jesus' birth. observe, and feel free to sing along (this one has the words in spanish too for all those who abla the espanol!):




my favorite song from handel's messiah is 'for unto us a child is born.' it was hard to chose a version of this because they are all so good. i couldnt use the mo-tab, because i used them for halleluja chorus. i chose this version because the male sorpano at :43 reminds me of baron werner underbheit...it is also a nice version.



this last one i'll include because i like it. its non-handels messiah...when i was a kid, one of my best friends named aaron dabell once told me that this song reminded him of micky mouse for some reason. now, it reminds me of micky mouse for that reason. and yeah, its the mormon tabernacle choir again. what of it? its hard to find another group that choirs as hard as they do.

80's christmas vol. 1

hey remember the 80s?! what a headache. amelia seems to think it was a cultural apex. i see it as the ironic t-shirt of decades. here are some 80's christmas hits!



this next one is probably the most irritating christmas song. even more so when justin bieber sings it. and lets be honest...calling someone special is pretty much a non-compliment, am i right? who feels good when called special. and what dude doesnt sound like a total sleeze when he tells a girl she's "special." also, you're not fooling anyone, george michael...



ive always kind of liked this one:



ok, this last one isnt technically 80's...its 2000's..but it IS devo

back in the days vol 1

if ever there was quintessential christmas music, i suppose it would be what you would find on all those "christmas classics" cd's at your local k mart with bing crosby, louis armstrong, burl ives etc. without fail, these songs always make me feel christmasy and nostalgic. nostalgic not just for my childhood, where my dad would play these songs in the car as he dragged us around and make us carol to everybody we knew's house, but nostalgic for a more wholesome, more christmasy era. probably exactly what these guys would be thinking about:



so here are some more oldies but goodies:

surf rock? again?

in my very first post i mentioned that the los straitjackets christmas album, although very good, was not my favorite surf rock christmas album. my favorite one is by the ventures. this album was released in, like....1965? but i didnt know about it until last year. boy, am i glad i found it! turns out, the ventures are still around and even re-recorded just about everything they have ever done, so there is an updated version of this from 2002. but if you ask me, the older one is better.

sci fi christmas

why are we here? are we alone in the universe? do they celebrate christmas in a galaxy far far away? this should answer at least two of those questions.



special thanks to ryan browning for bringing that one to my attention. there is a whole album called "christmas in the stars" with such hits as "christmas in the stars" and the question we are all dying to know the answers to, "what do you get a wookie for christmas." i know what you're thinking: a comb. but NO, we got him that last year!

and then there is this to think about:

non christmasy christmas songs vol. 1

i am always surprised when a regular album has a song on it mentioning christmas. i dont know why. i guess i feel like christmas music should always be in a separate, special compilation. but when included on regular albums, the christmas songs are never very christmasy anyway... here are some of my favorite songs mentioning christmas, but seemingly lacking in any sort of holiday spirit...

carols of the bells

i like the carol of the bells. it turns out, its an old ukranian folk song about springtime or something like that.



did you know this song has words? i didnt...until i watched home alone!



here is another very good version:

sad christmas songs vol. 1

i know there are some out there who like a good depressing song (smiths fans, im looking at you). well, good news: you can be depressed AND filled with the holiday spirit! enjoy! or not, i dont care. whatever. whats the point.





this last one isn't particularly sad in lyrical content...but do you remember that scene in the naked gun where he is that bar where everyone is sad and there are pictures of the hindenberg and other sad things? if it was christmas time, i bet this song would be playing in that bar.

ooooo, a good one.

i dont really know how to introduce this one.  other than, of course, that it is a good one.  its by bright eyes!  his christmas album is ok.  but this song really strikes a chord with me.  it is by far my favorite version of this song.  sorry judy garland.

more like...

THE NUTCRACKER! it doesnt get more christmasy than this: festive parties, gift exchanges, murderous rodents, sugarplum fairies and snow? my favorite song from the nutcracker is the waltz of the snow flakes. here it is: (note, please ignore the weird video) (also, my favorite part starts around 1:45)



but i get it. maybe classical music isnt your thing. that doesnt mean you can't enjoy the nutcracker! perhaps you prefer something more rock and roll? how about the invincible czars?!


maybe you prefer dub step? here is the least obnoxious dub step/electrohouse nutcracker song i could find:



i myself am a purist. i like the classical version. the only other version that comes close is this:

#2

this year the most exciting release was by a band called bad religion. while i do not claim to be a fan of bad religion, i am a fan of their christmas offering. for the most part, the songs are true to the classics and sufficiently reverent in their lyrics to be appreciated by everyone. buy this christmas album. it is so much fun. even more fun is this video of bad religions "hark the herald angels sing" dubbed over the mo-tab. i hope this is really just a preview for this year's christmas devotional...

post #1

for the christening of my daily christmas music blog i thought i would start off with one of my favorites. i remember seeing los straitjackets during the twilight concert series in salt lake city. it was an all around excellent performance, but my favorite part was when one of the guitarists began to climb the speaker stack, and about halfway up became visibly terrified and had to gingerly climb back down. this is not necessarily my favorite surf rock band, nor is it my favorite surf rock christmas album. so why start my christmas music blog with this particular song? because its been in my head for days.

1 from Christopher Johnson on Vimeo.

really though, this album is a lot of fun. i highly recommend it to everyone.