Last year, I gave you loads of christmas songs every day from 1-24, but since I need to spend my time and energy a little bit different this year, I’ll give you some new ones when they arrive, and not every day. Here are some nice christmas records coming up:

To get you into the mood, I’ll start by presenting a new christmas song that the Norwegian band The Margarets are giving away for free on their website. It’s a wonderful song. Those of you who read Eardrums regularly may have heard of another band called the Margarets, from Sweden, who are far more jangly and noisy than these guys. This is the Norwegian version, and they have been around much longer than the Swedes! The Norwegian The Margarets have released not less than 2 albums this year. Get them on itunes or emusic or somewhere else. The other M’s are really good too…

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The Boy Least Likely To will have their holiday single released on December 15, “The first snowflake”, and they have also announced the release of their second album “The Law of the Playground” on March 3rd. Here is the video for “The First Snowflake”, and there are more Christmas music below:

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Moving on: In the good spirit of Christmas, there is a really nice christmas album that will be released in benefit of Amnesty International today, on December 2. It’s called “I’ll Stay ‘Til After Christmas”, and features songs from Au Revoir Simone, Le Loup, Figurine, Sally Shapiro, Arthur & Yu, My Brightest Diamond, Parenthetical Girls, No Kids, Radar Bros., Au + several others. 15 songs, compiled with a wish to avoid an overly cheery tone, and instead provide a more realistic, somewhat somber feel. According to the press release,” “I’ll Stay ‘Til After Christmas” compiler Daniel Gill chose artists for this album who would paint an audio portrait not of present day Christmas celebrations, but rather hazy memories of childhood Christmas experiences and the often bittersweet emotions that accompany them”.
The result has become a wonderful compilation album with some of my favourite artists, and it’s an album that it’s possible to listen to all year. Here’s Le Loup’s song:

Le Loup – Shenandoah

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Our heroes in The Wedding Present have a christmas single out, called “Holly Jolly Hollywood”. 3 tracks, – the original version, an acoustic version and “White Christmas”. Sounds good!

the wedding present – holly jolly hollywood (acoustic version)

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Cherryade records have provided us with some really good records from bands like The Kabeedies, Ste McCabe and The Lovely Eggs, to name a few, and they have also released some great christmas compilations, all named “A Very Cherry Christmas”. Now “A Very Cherry Christmas Vol 4″ has been released, and the label has a special offer right now where you can get all 4 compilations for 15£. The fourth compilation fetures bands like The Lovely Eggs, The Bobby McGee’s, The Gresham Flyers, Little My, Hotpants Romance, The Seven Inches, Ste Mccabe, Fever Fever and many more. Get it from the Cherryade-site.

Here’s a song from last year’s compilation, from a band I always find enjoyable to listen to, The Lovely Eggs:

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Swedish musician Sofia Talvik has a tradition for Christmas singles, and this year is no exception. 2008’s single is called “A Carol for the Lonely”.
This is her message to the people who downloads her free single:

“This year’s FREE Christmas single is dedicated to all those people who need a helping hand, whether it is the lonely teenager or the homeless man on the street. This single is a free download, but I urge you to use the money you would have spent on it on iTunes to help someone less fortunate. My donation is to Stadsmissionen who helps homeless people in Sweden.”

You can get the song here, and you’ll know what to do!

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I’ll probably give you more posts like this during December, but I’ll end for now with a band called Factory Kids. The duo will release their debut album in 2009, as well as a song on a new compilation from Series two records. Factory Kids have made a calm and slightly psychedelic Christmas song called “Father Christmas Still”.

Factory Kids – Father Christmas Still

I hope you enjoyed these!

Have a calm and peaceful December!