Songs of the Week: Holiday Edition 2024
“Light the Light” by Tim Baker
Tim Baker is no stranger to holiday songs, and this year he released a whole holiday album, Full Rainbow of Light.
Comprised of twelve new songs, and a cover of the standard “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” Tim expanded on the album, saying: “I started recording this album in Montreal with my great friends & go-to collaborators Marcus Paquin & Liam O’Neill, but it sat sidetracked by other projects for over a year. It took a long east coast winter and half the musicians in St. John’s to help me finally get it there. I guess it makes sense it had to come home, since ‘Town’ is such a central character to it. I was lucky enough to get the likes of Tom Power, Aaron Collis, Emilia Bartellas, Matthew Byrne & Rich Klaas of the townie trad legends The Dardanelles; stars in the their own right Kelly McMichael, Mara Pellerin, Nico Paulo & Maria Peddle singing backups; not to mention social media superstar Billianne backing me up on the title track; Rob Brown on the haunting Uilleann pipes; Peter Lannon lending his lead guitar sweetness; honorary Newfoundlanders Mike Brushey & Jason Haberman grounding everything on bass & drums; my dad sings on it, my friends are all over it, to say it's ‘of my home’ is funny cause so much of it was actually recorded in my literal living room, pausing when the snowplows ground past, or the wind got too loud in the chimneys.”
You can check out “Light the Light” below, or listen to the full album everywhere you get your music!
Kirk
“You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”/ “Vous êtes méchant, M.Grinch” by Jill Barber
Hot off her latest, French-language album ENCORE!, Jill Barber celebrated the season with a few covers of Christmas classics. And true to form, each song was recorded both in English and en français!
Below is her sultry version of Dr. Seuss’ “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” — as well as “Vous êtes méchant, M.Grinch” — but you can also hear her takes on “Sleigh Ride”/ Promenade en traîneau” and “I’ll be Home for Christmas”/”C’est la nuit de Noël”
Kirk
“The Little Drum Machine Boy” by Jane’s Party
This was too funny not to include and I’ll just let Jane’s Party vocalist and guitarist Tom Ionescu tell you about it:
“With this holiday song, I wanted to add to the Christmas lore. One character that stood out to me as needing some extra attention and a revamp was the Little Drummer Boy. I’ve really been getting into old drum machines and exploring ways to include them into the songs we write and produce. With our attention on all this drum machine stuff, I thought maybe the modern re-telling of ‘The Little Drummer Boy’ would be ‘The Little Drum Machine Boy’. The rest of the concept fell into place quite fast!”
Christine
“It Can’t Be Christmas” by Johnny 99
It’s been a minute since we’ve heard from Johnny 99 — the solo project of John Sponarski, who is currently part of City & Colour (or long-time readers of this blog may remember him as one half of Portage & Main).
But now he’s back with a holiday song, “It Can’t Be Christmas”. Backed by his C&C bandmates Matt Kelly, Erik Nielsen, and Leon Power, the tune fits into the “sad Christmas song” genre, with Sponarski explaining, “This song was one of those magical moments you don't have to work for, or coax out of the ether. It leapt from my imagination as soon as I awoke early one morning with the holidays right around the corner. The previous evening I had spoken with a friend who was grappling with the loss of his mother. We talked about his grief, how it weighed on him and took away the joy and comfort he normally felt during the holiday season. It’s really a song for anyone who has experienced loss around Christmas, and how that has changed what it means to them.”
Kirk
“SantaClauge” by Elliott BROOD
Elliott BROOD did a Christmas parody of Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage”, and I kind of hate how well it works???
It’s incredible.
Kirk
“Santa Must Have Winter Tires” by Future Star
You can always count on Mint Records for some local Christmas cheer, and this year it comes from Future Star with “Santa Must Have Winter Tires”.
The bedroom-pop jam was written in about a snowy winter night in 2022, with Future Star dedicating the song to “all the shiftworkers and commuters who gambled on it being a mild winter and lost.”
Have a listen below!
Kirk
“The Sound Of Christmas” by William Prince
We got some more original Christmas music from William Prince his his track “The Sound Of Christmas”, as well as “Don’t Go Leaving Me (It’s Christmas Eve)” and a cover of “Silver Bells”.
In “The Sound of Christmas” he “puts an ingenious twist on classic themes, celebrating the role that music and the real-life sounds of Christmas - laughter, clinking of glassware, skates carving ice, bells carrying through the air - play in our memories and festivities.”
Christine
“Santa Man” / “Hot Christmas” by The Sheepdogs / BROS
We’ve got a double whammy of Christmas music from the combo of The Sheepdogs, and BROS (Sheepdogs bandmates Ewan and Shamus Currie).
Of “Santa Man” Ewan says: “There’s a lot of Christmas music out there, but not nearly enough Christmas Rock N Roll. So we’re making like Santa and delivering the December goods: a Xmas party banger for your next holiday shindig.” (I agree, more rock n roll holiday songs please!)
Shamus adds: “‘Hot Christmas’ is a spicy piece about getting away from it all and having a Christmas vacation complete with Latin grooves and rhythmic piano ideas.”
Christine
