Hello Lines. I love Christmas music, both to listen to and to create.
I love listening to it because the festive season seem to inspire people to create unguardedly sacharine, ridiculous, and also sorrowful music. It seems like everyone has a sad song to sing at christmas, but no one can take themselves seriously whilst doing so.
I also love making christmas music, because it provides an obvious topic and a real, strict, deadline (that being christmas day). For me, at least, this forces me to make quicker decisions - and to be more fast and loose with my music making.
In this thread I’d love if people would share christmas // winter music that they’ve made, and their favourite christmas songs from other artists.
Personally, I have just finished making this album with some of my friends - and it was a really fun recording experience.
In this thread I’d love if people would share christmas // winter music that they’ve made,
Recorded in the rain a Labyrinth near Hexham on Christmas day 2015. Sadly foreshadowed the death of David Bowie
death-lounge supergroup, originally released on CDr packaged in a poundland nativity scene. xmas in name only, it’s just heta-uma jazz really tho the release and our couple of live shows were around the time.
and their favourite christmas songs from other artists.
few years ago i made this quick and sloppy multitrack viola rendition of jean mouton “noe, noe psallite noe”, for a family solstice mixape. its a christmas motet from, like, 1520 ish?
indeed, i like this piece cause it’s weirdly mournful and joyful at once.
[quote=“ht73, post:3, topic:18304”]
Personal note… I only lived four years in a place that had anything like a winter climate… and loved it[/quote]
I grew up in Florida and saw about 4 snowflakes in the first 26 years of my life. So many Christmas songs really felt like they were just rubbing it in.
Then I moved to St Louis and after a few times shoveling snow, I can do without the white Christmases. It’s beautiful when it just falls like a blanket and stills everything, but actually dealing with it, not so much. It beats ice every time though…
Since 35 years, I’ve bee listening to Isao Tomita’s first album with renditions of Debussy’s pieces every winter. It was recorded in 1973, released in 1974, and done by multitracking a Moog IIIp and a Mellotron. Here are “Snowflakes are dancing” and “Footprints in the snow”:
Jazzy middle ground material for Christmas Day when maybe less adventurous family members are around, so you need Christmas themes but you can’t face any more saccharine Mariah Carey or Michael Bublé… almost the whole record fits the above, I suppose, but this track is my fav.
In New Zealand the topic would be “Christmas // Summer music” and I basically associate Christmas really strongly with crappy reggae, it being the festival season, etc. But this band recently did something a bit more icy-sounding.
The cover of Last Christmas reminds me of … I think it’s Ash Ra Tempel but maybe Popul Vuh? Bit embarrassing but I always mix them up. The nods to Trans Europe Express in the medley are very funny too.