Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

The Tom Waits song Cold Water has been a holiday fave of mine for a few years now. Weirdly, I couldn't find a live version of it on Youtube:

A great new Christmas song:

Existenstial Fret

I listened to the first of the classic comp Wargasm yesterday. It's all these great early punk bands - Flux of Pink Indians, Dead Kennedys, Rat Scabies, Poison Girls, etc. For a punk album, the songs are all so different from each other. A lot of weird, cool shit going on back in '82. But there's a lot of weird, cool shit going on today, too. And all over the world. Check out these new bands, courtesy Bandcamp:

Tis the season for this hardcore Christmas jam from a New Jersey band:

From 2014, this is Puerto Rico's Madd Blake of CNQ fave Madd Blake y Los Stalins:

Both of these noisy bands are from Pennsylvania:

From Santa Cruz:

From Israel:

From British Columbia:

Heavy grindcore from Warsaw:

This new song from a Manchester band reminded me of that Wargasm comp. Punk you don't think of as being punk, until you hear it:

Rockin', Rollin'.

Whoa! This catches us up to the first of December. Happy Hanukkah from CNQ! This is from 2012, but still resonates today:

The Isle of Man's Small Bear Records has a new pay-what-thou-wilt Christmas album, streaming for free on their bandcamp page. It features CNQ faves Postcode, Nanaki, The Bordellos, and a lot more. Here's the first track off the comp, by Phil Reynolds and the Herald Angels. It's a rocker:

Germany's soul/funk re-issue label Tramp Records has a new Christmas comp out as well. This is Timi Terrific and the Redheads. I'm not sure when this is from -- late 70s, early 80s, I guess:

This bedroom freak-pop from Louisiana band Emotional and Minneapolis' Lawn Chair Records is from the fall:

Super-rockin' from a Minneapolis band and a London label:

A rarities and b-sides album from another Minneapolis band, The Soviettes. Great pop-punk from 2010:

Dig this Ramones-y garage punk from Germany, 2012:

These next two tracks are both from garage-happy PNKSLM:

Open Mike Eagle is hip-hop from LA and Arizona's awesome Mello Music Group:

Heavy-ish punk from Oakland band and Portland's Resurrection Records:

Another heavy track from Sorry State Records' North Carolina Series of seven inches:

Noisey hardcore from Olympia, Washington:

Cool new post-punk two song 7" from Strasborg, France:

Finally, some super-freaky spoken word from Philidelphia:

Merry X-Mas From CNQ: New Christmas tunes from Adam Holtz; an obscure early 70s holiday blues 45 from Lowell Fulson; and two 1982 country classics from Dolly Parton and Alabama

These three new, original Christmas songs courtesy CNQ fave Adam Holtz are from Volume 18 of his copyrighted material. Click the title to listen and download:

Christmas With You
Christmas Without You
Christmas Is

Lowell Fulson, per Wikipedia, was, "after T-Bone Walker, the most important figure in West Coast blues in the 1940s and 1950s." I'm always humbled by the amount of music history I do not know. I bought it because I pick up any 45 I find that's from a Shreveport label. Lonesome Christmas Parts 1 and 2 were originally recorded by Fulson for Swing Time Records back in 1950. It charted at #7 on the R&B charts. Both songs were written by fellow West Coast Blues pioneer Lloyd Glenn. These updated, funkier/bluesier/cooler versions below are from 1970, on Shreveport's Jewel Records (Jewel 813). Fulson recorded these as Lowell Fulsom. Fulson died in 1999, age 77, the father of four and grandfather of thirteen. Glenn died in 1985, age 76. As far as I can tell, neither of these versions of Lonesome Christmas Parts 1 and 2 are otherwise available on the Internerts:

Lonesome Christmas Pt. 1 (Jewel-813, 1970):

If the embedded player above doesn't work for you, try this: Lonesome Christmas Pt. 1 (Jewel-813, 1970)

Lonesome Christmas Pt. 2 (Jewel-813, 1970):

If the embedded player above doesn't work for you, try this: Lonesome Christmas Pt. 2 (Jewel-813, 1970)

I was digging through our 45s for Christmasy singles and/or b-sides. Here's a couple I found in Mrs. CNQ's stack that were already on Youtube...the Dolly song is from 1982's The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas soundtrack:

Also from 1982:

Merry Christmas from CNQ!

CNQ X-Mas Mixtape

Merry Christmas/Happy End of the Mayan Long Calander! Here's a little mix for either/or.

First up is a German 45 I got from The Vintage Freak. It came sans sleeve. It's on a label called Polydor, #21 470. All the text is in German which I dunno much of at all, and there's no date. Five songs, mostly chimes.

Klingender Advent: O Tannenbaum

Download:O Tannenbaum

Next up, from Realistic's "Christmas Wonderland" (51-3032), is John Gary's "Winter Wonderland," which I think was originally released in '64:

John Gary: Winter Wonderland

"Christmas Wonderland" was originally released in '84 but this is from the '85 re-issue. Sorry about the skip in the end.

Download:John Gary: Winter Wonderland"

From 1965's "Firestone presents: Your Favorite Christmas Music Volume 4, comes "Ding Dong Merrily on High," by The Young Americans, which is probably also the name of a punk group circa 1982. This album is also heavy on Julie Andrews but she's not on this track, I don't think.

The Young Americans: Ding Dong Merrily on High

Download: Ding Dong Merrily On High

Courtesy Grand Prix Records, 1967" Gene Autry sings "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer":

Gene Autry: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Download:Gene Autry: Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Finally, from Dot's 1959 release of Pat Boone's "White Christmas" (DLP 3222):

Pat Boone: Santa Claus Is Comin To Town

A Pat Boone Christmas might be a little too white. Nevertheless, happy end of the world!