I wasn't aware of Jonathan Coulton before, but he's apparently a prolific writer and performer of humorous songs, and he hangs around with such folks as They Might Be Giants and John Hodgman, so a cracked world view is definitely part of the scenery at Jon's house. I couldn't find this song in his discography, but he does have "Podsafe Christmas Song," a parody of the Chipmunks, and "Christmas Is Interesting." As for this, well, don't listen to it while watching the news, as I noticed a disturbing parallel or two, just enjoy the sci-fi satire. Hat tip to AMERICAblog for pointing me to this.
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These wacky folks have given us holiday novelties before, and for 2011 they're pushing this EP with four cool novelties, although the first song, "Uncle Pat," is more about the elderly relative telling war stories than anything to do with Christmas (except they drink eggnog while listening to him). Hanukkah Alert to "Eight Nights of Bowling," which may be the most original approach to the Festival of Lights I've yet heard. The title song depicts a fight between the Yule Log and the Eggnog, and "Omaha" considers the holiday in that Midwestern city as the singers really stress those long O's. High whimsy content here, which I strongly recommend. It's at Bandcamp and iTunes.
You know how "Wicked" is "The Wizard of Oz" told from the point of view of the WIcked Witch? This 2011 collection is sort of the unrepentant Scrooge's view of Christmas, if Scrooge was a gay 21st century singer-songwriter with a sense of humor. Really, this is as anti-Christmas as it gets, and is pretty entertaining for all that. The undeleted expletives start with "Christmas Waltz," where Erin plays it straight while the background chorus mocks her and swears in answer verses. Erin then goes into the many reasons why "Santa Is an Asshole," from being a pervert with kids in his lap to being an anti-Semite because he's only for Christian children. Those two songs also get "Kleen mixes," though it seems unnecessary to bother. "Go Tell It" reimagines the old hymn by superimposing pop culture personalities on the chorus in place of the usual Jesus. "Fa La La" provides a litany of tragedies, real and imagined, in place of the usual "Deck the Halls" lyrics, over guitar and ukelele. "Visions I've Had" is a humorous take on druggy experiences set to "Angels We Have Heard On High." Obnoxious family reactions to one's gay partner are the subject of "It's a Very Queer Christmas" and "Frozen Smiles." "Christmas Love It or Leave It" is a poke in the eye to cultural conservatives who equate patriotism and Christianity, and "You Wish Us a Happy Holiday" is a witty reposte to the people who complain about having to say Happy Holidays. I'm guessing Erin is deadly serious about the sentiments on display here, but there's enough humor that broad-minded folks will find it listenable, not to mention worthy of a space on your holiday playlists. Stop by her site to learn more about her Dec. 18 webcast based on this album.
It seems like the novelty recording sector has suffered more from the Internet than the rest of the recording industry. When every wise guy with a webcam can throw together some parody lyrics, pick up a guitar and make a video, which then goes on YouTube, you pretty much have to be Weird Al if you want to eventually be compensated for your efforts. And if you do go the full hardcopy route, the expectations are going to be high. Which brings us to The Waddles, a quartet of "ducks" performing 10 popular Christmas standards and one original, which of course is the title song of this 2011 album. They've tucked into the battle with a running series of videos at their webbed-feet-site that set up the "band" back story, including the escapades of their former drummer Pete Worst (get it?). Another feather in the band's collective cap is the attractive packaging of the physical disc, the art for which also looks good in an iTunes cameo. The title song is a reasonably good novelty tune with sentimental lyrics, and the other songs on the disc are familiar Christmas tunes as sung by a quartet of ducks. To get the most out of this, you'll want to check out the videos, which cover ground that isn't represented on the disc. This will probably go over best with young kids, though we typically don't cover the kids' music sector here at Mistletunes. Click on the disc to grab it from Amazon; they'll put it on your bill.
I've noted in the past that Elvis Costello has mostly resisted Christmas songs except for his co-write with the Chieftains, "The St. Stephen's Day Murders." He's also on record as having performed "Baby It's Cold Outside" with Anne Sophie Von Otter, though that was a live performance and no recording is known to exist. Well, here's an Elvis Costello Christmas medley for you all, endorsed by the man himself as I found it on his website:
UPDATE: On Dec. 21, 2010, Costello performed solo in Chicago, playing "The St. Stephen's Day Murders" and also "Winter Song" by Alan Hull.
Two songs from the recent "Family Guy" Christmas episode, "Christmastime Is Killing Us" and "All I Really Want For Christmas," are now for sale on iTunes. They're more musical theater entries than rock 'n roll, but I can't imagine that folks interested in what we put up here wouldn't want something from "Family Guy" for his or her mix disc. (I'm not usually a fan myself, and these tunes don't do much for me personally, but "Family Guy" does have its moments.)
Pronounce the artist's name out loud. Get it? Music to chew on. Not surprisingly, this is a viral marketing stunt for the actual product mentioned above. For 2010, this artist has a five-song EP consisting of electro-pop versions of popular carols, with a vocal distorted in such a way as to suggest a cuddly critter is singing. Looks like it's aimed at kids, but it's silly enough to pass as a novelty. "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" is rendered as a synth-polka, "Jingle Bells" gets a dance beat behind the machines, "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" is sprightly but not so danceable, "O Christmas Tree" ramps up the rhythm and they end by covering "Last Christmas," again with the dance-floor rhythms. I highly recommend the latter song for folks who remember the 80s -- or for those who want to flip out people who remember the 80s. Apparently these guys had a Christmas song out in 2007, "You Know It's Christmas," and the song was revisited as a duet with Felix the Cat in 2008. (You know, it seems like this stuff ought to be free since it's basically an advertising campaign.)
This is a fairly faithful cover of the Bing & Bowie duet, although with Black involved it means he gives it the Tenacious D treatment, with Segel sitting in for Black's regular collaborator Kyle Gass. And there's a fair bit of kibitzing that is reminiscent, but not identical, to the original TV performance. But if you haven't listened to the Bing & Bowie version lately, this will make you giggle. Sales benefit Blue Star Families, a non-profit that supports military families. Check it out via CollegeHumor.com:
While we're on the topic, Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly were thinking along the same lines this year, so check this out from FunnyOrDie.com:
Maybe I haven't been sniffing down the right alleyways, but there's been a dearth of strong novelties this season, to my ears anyway. This is a well-made novelty for 2010, basically a 5-minute musical theater production about "real Americans" shutting down a hippie "solstice festival." It's a nice piece of work, but I gotta admit, I'm on the hippies' side, especially since the protagonists are armed with fiddle and banjo. As these guys are firmly on the good guys' side in regard to things like science and the treachery of the high finance sector, I'm willing to keep an open mind if they decide to revisit the holidays in the future. Flip side is "Christmas Ferret"; both sides are free from Bandcamp.
This is just silly. But that's a good thing. Who can object to Christmas hot pants, right? This 2010 number is a hip-hop ode to partying down for the holidays. The fact that the video shows a lot of middle-aged folks but darned few people actually wearing the garment in question only adds to the effect. Buy it from their website or listen to it here.
This is kind of funny, but it's undermined by the fact that Gaga actually did record a holiday single in 2008, "Christmas Tree."
These Austrian Spice Girls are offering up this seasonal disco polka number as a free download for 2010. It'll put a smile on your face even as you ask yourselves, "Really? Really!?" As you watch the video, provided here for your amusement, you discover this is essentially an ad for an Austrian rum company. It certainly trumps this year's Train/Coca-Cola alliance for shameless hype.
I promised last year more info about this entertaining holiday collective based in Philadelphia, and it turns out that 2010 is the group's 25th anniversary of creating self-penned Christmas tunes of the off-kilter and satirical variety. To celebrate, they've released a double-disc set of what they consider the greatest hits of their fine, fine, superfine career. But with a twist: these are re-recordings, with the idea that such a long-running act should, by now, have attracted a fan base among other musical acts, and so this is a Bah and the Humbugs "tribute" album in which the band impersonates 25 fictional bands doing "covers" of the Humbug oeuvre. They're serious about this humorous effort: the website features capsule bios and album covers by each of the 25 "acts" taking part in this project. I guarantee hours of semi-obsessive fun for the serious music followers as they determine who is being satirized here. I have the press release with all the answers, so no fair me giving away the game, although I doubt anybody could miss "Mr. Big Christmas" as an ELO parody or Area 25's "Here Come the Christmas Zombies" as a B-52s homage. There's even a mashup, "Currier vs. Ives (christmashup)." Lest you think this is all inside jokes for the insufferable music snobs among us, the project could stand just on straight piano and guitar readings of the songs themselves, with such titles as "Frostbite (The Flesh-Eating Snowman)," "Titanic Tannenbaum," "Jesus' Funky Christmas," "Attack of the 50-Foot Santa," and more, although the genre exercises unquestionably enhance the songs. Meanwhile, the entire history of the act, including previous releases, is available at the website, with a generous selection of downloads of their previous work on display as well, and even a few tastes of this record. The band is also in the habit of issuing Christmas Eve podcasts, which are available through iTunes as well as directly from the site. Their albums, including this one, are available direct from the group, and proceeds from this album will benefit the United Nations World Food Programme. So if you're just hearing about Bah and the Humbugs for the first time, get on over to see them -- there's a lot of catching up to do. Check out "Here Come the Christmas Zombies":
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