A Christmas Yuleblog

This is the last of four new Christmas releases that I received at my P.O. Box that I'm reviewing this week. Ironically, this was one of the first of those four that arrived. It's been sitting patiently while I reviewed Emmanuel Shall , Kevin Koelbl , and Silvia Fleming , eyeballing me the entire time, tempting me with its artwork. To quote the press sheet: "Since 2004, The Hipwaders have performed their own original Christmas songs along with their 'wader-ized' versions of Christmas classics. Finally, the band got around to recording their original compositions for the holidays. "Christmas music has traditionally always been "family music" and The Hipwaders carry on this tradition with their songs celebrating all aspects of Christmas with a special admiration for Santa Claus and his exploits. Some say The Hipwaders 'exploit' Santa - but that's for you to decide..." Indeed it is... and I must admit, I'm pretty intrig...

This was the third new Christmas release to arrive at my P.O. Box. Unfortunately, no press sheet or additional material accompanied the CD. So it was off to their Facebook page to find some threads of info off their wall. A post on October 25th states "this album is currently the top-selling holiday album at CD Baby !" I clicked on the CDBaby link and found the answer to several of my questions: "Emmanuel Shall Come to Thee is a Chicagoland collective of musicians led by composer Matthew Prins. The group incorporates classical, folk, new-age, orchestral, jazz, and minimalist influences into their progressive interpretations of familiar works. "Featuring 19 new holiday arrangements and compositions by composer Matthew Prins, Noël fuses a myriad of influences into a Christmas album quite unlike any heard before. Performed primarily by Prins and multi-instrumentalist A.J. Nelson, Noël features a harmonious blend of hand bells, hand chimes, carillon, strings,...

This is the second of four new Christmas releases that I recently received at my P.O. Box. Thanks to the good people at Phil Putnam Public Relations for sending me the CD and cover sheet. Kevin Koelbl (pronounced "cable") has had a long and varied career in music. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin with a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance, Kevin went on to leading roles at various regional theatres across the country. Some of the shows Kevin's appeared in include "Carnival", "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat", "The Fantasticks", "A Little Night Music", "Beauty and the Beast", "Oklahoma", "Anything Goes" and "Show Boat" with legendary MGM star Van Johnson in the early 1990s. This led to his co-starring role with Michael Crawford ("Phantom of the Opera" no less) in the Las Vegas megashow " EFX ", once the most elaborate and expensive ...

Silvia Fleming has been surrounded by music all her life. That's not surprising considering she had a mother who was a professional singer and a father who was an electronics engineer and a music manager for his wife. Needless to say, her mother's influence instilled a deep love of Big Band tunes, jazz, and all of the great American standards by George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Harold Arlen, and Irving Berlin. Fleming combined her love of singing with the study of classical piano and received a B.A. in Music Education from California State University, Fullerton. Last November, Fleming released this album which got a tremendous review from our friends at Christmasreviews.com : "Silvia Fleming has one of those honey-sweet voices that are just made for singing jazzy, romantic easy listening pop tunes. And with occasional support from the great Sam Levine on alto sax, she is able to deliver a sound that supports the romantic aspirations of 'Love for Christmas...

On September 21, 2009, I typed a blog entry that dropped a hint that I would be interested in reviewing new Christmas releases BEFORE December 25th. Indeed, I received four new Christmas releases that were sent to my P.O. Box by members of the music industry. Then the other shoe dropped. On October 5, 2009, the Federal Trade Commission issued new guidelines regarding the blogging community: "The long standing principle that "material connections" (sometimes payments or free products) between advertisers and endorsers – connections that consumers would not expect – must be disclosed." Failure to do so could mean fines up to $11,000 per post . I quickly called my lawyer (a genial fellow whose name I can't use - otherwise he'd sue me) and asked what I needed to do. He informed me these new FTC guidelines take effect December 1st of this year. All posts after this date will need a quick disclosure clause - no statement is needed on any prior posts. ...

With eight days left before Christmas, I wanted to spend today looking at several new Christmas albums on the shelves this season - perhaps a last minute gift guide for those who love Christmas music. This is review number eight today - my final one for Review Tuesday. You've probably never heard of this gentlemen so let me take a moment to introduce you to him. Larry Pestor is well known throughout the music and advertising scene of my hometown of Fort Wayne, Indiana. This is a man who wrote and sold a radio jingle to Saudi Arabian Airlines right after the Iraq war began! And Larry don't speak Arabic! I first became aware of Larry when an article was published in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette back in April of this year. The line of the article that stood out was " Pester will even turn your 78 rpm records into digital files for you. " Armed with a small stack of 78s, Larry has helped me immensely this year; the transfer of the "Dragnet" Chris...

With eight days left before Christmas, I wanted to spend today looking at several new Christmas albums on the shelves this season - perhaps a last minute gift guide for those who love Christmas music. This is review number seven today and the third that arrived at my P.O. Box. A big thank you to Glenn Holmes from On Target Media for sending us this. My wife has been watching me come home as of late with packages from Kasio Kristmas and Verve Remixed and dozens of homemade Christmas comps from friends and others alike. Her quote was "When do you get the GOOD Christmas music?" The look on her face when I opened this package and this brand new Christmas CD fell out was one of total astonishment, joy, and excitement. She's a HUGE Amy Grant fan and I knew this was going to get played early and often on the CD boombox at my house. Amy Grant released her first Christmas album when she was the Queen of Christian radio back in 1983 with " A Christmas Album ...

With eight days left before Christmas, I wanted to spend today looking at several new Christmas albums on the shelves this season - perhaps a last minute gift guide for those who love Christmas music. This is review number seven today and one of several that arrived at my P.O. Box. Thanks to Guy McCain and Jen Onsum of Luck Media & Marketing, Inc for sending these to us. I had never heard of this group before I received these. So I went to the bio notes sent to me and the paragraphs that caught my eye were these: "Mega-popular Minnesota based four-piece vocal group sets the industry standard taking care of business completely DIY. "Without any major label backing, they've earned sales of over a million albums (CAPT'S NOTE: Damn!), a popular annual PBS Christmas special, more than 100 tour dates annually, and an appearance on "The Today Show". Tonic Sōl-Fa began with Mark McGowan (baritone) and lead vocalist Shaun Johnson, who both attende...

With eight days left before Christmas, I wanted to spend today looking at several new Christmas albums on the shelves this season - perhaps a last minute gift guide for those who love Christmas music. This is review number six today and the second that arrived at my P.O. Box. This one came from someone within the music industry who is a faithful reader and wished to remain anonymous. Thanks for thinking of me. Verve Records was founded in 1956 by Norman Granz as a jazz label. Over the years it has been the home for jazz legends and young up-and-comers who became legends. However, by the early 1970s, the label nearly folded completely, reduced to re-releasing older jazz albums and being sold off to one musical conglomerate to the next. That changed in the mid-1980s when Verve was revived and began reissuing its back catalogue. The "Verve By Request" label began to reissue many original Verve bossa nova titles on CD in the late 1990s, and the Elite series revived m...

With eight days left before Christmas, I wanted to spend today looking at several new Christmas albums on the shelves this season - perhaps a last minute gift guide for those who love Christmas music. This is my fifth review of today and the first CD that was sent to our P.O. Box earlier this month. It arrived in a bubble mailer with very sloppy handwriting for the addresses which I found odd. When I opened it up, out slid an entirely black CD with this very cryptic message: Since then, there's been an oversized white truck parked outside my house from time to time. What have I gotten myself into here? The inside cover tells us only Casio instruments were used in this recording. For those technical people reading, their arsenal includes the SK-5, SK-1, VA-10, VL-Tone, Rapman, EP-10, PT-87, CZ-1, SA-21, TA-10, DH-100, Turbo Drive Calculator, Karate Fight, CG-610, DG-20, and PG-380 (no relation to PG-13 at the theaters - throwing out my bad pun book). The 8-bit People...

With eight days left before Christmas, I wanted to spend today looking at several new Christmas albums on the shelves this season - perhaps a last minute gift guide for those who love Christmas music. This is the second review today and it's from the good people at Double Crown Records . From the end of my " Seasonal Favorites V2 " review last month: "Double Crown doesn't have a "Seasonal Favorites V3" for this Christmas (think 2009). However, a band on their label named King of Hawaii released a Christmas EP just in time for 2008. At $6, this might be the bargain of the season." Recorded at the House of Rock in October, 2006, this EP has five tracks which allows me to do... TRACK REVIEWS: 1.) Greensleeves Hawaiian surf flavored version of this traditional Christmas carol. Where's my sunblock? 2.) Feliz Navidad Surf guitarish with Latin flavor throughout... not bad from a group called "King of Hawaii"! 3.) Dance ...

This arrived at P.O. Box a week before our last yuleblog entry . When I retrieved this, the glow from the shiny metallic green bubble mailer greeted me. I stopped in the lobby of the post office to check my other mail and began to get people staring at me. As I walked out of the post office, most of the eyes were transfixed on the bubble mailer. It was like watching the audience at a tennis match - every movement in sync, all eyes glued on the action. The topper of it all was embossed on the shimmering green mailer. Next to the mailing address was an impressive wax seal with the band logo of Substance W ! Inside was the album you're looking at, a poster for the album, and a cover letter from one of its creators - Todd van Bronkhorst: "I'm a 38 yr-old cubicle drone who's a musician in his spare time, who deprived himself of sleep for two years in order to produce a CD and take care of a new baby simultaneously. Got my friends to sing on it for me so I w...

This week I'm showcasing submissions that were sent to my P.O. Box and this CD landed there last Friday - talk about great timing. Pop quiz: Who holds the record for most consecutive Billboard Club #1 hits? Mariah Carey? Good guess but no. Christina Aguilera? Not even close. Janet Jackson? She once held the record. Madonna? She was tied with Janet (seven in a row). In 2004, the artist you are looking at tied both Madonna and Janet, then broke the record the following year with her club hit "The Wonder of It All". Kristine W is a fourth generation entertainer originally from Pasco, Washington. She won several titles along the way - Miss Tri-Cities, Miss Washington (where she won first place in the all important talent competition at the Miss America pageant), and eventually ended up in Las Vegas. She continued her education there, worked harder than anyone else there, and wowed everyone with her amazing singing talent there. This led to headlining her...

This was another CD that was sent to my P.O. Box last Christmas that I never found the time to review and as a result, I probably will never get into "the Happiest Place On Earth" in my lifetime. With Christmas, 2008 five weeks off, this is good a time as any to review it for people on the lookout for overlooked Christmas CDs. The Double Down Saloon in Las Vegas has been voted one of America's top "dive bars" by Playboy Magazine and has been featured on televisions shows like Dave Attell's " Insomniac " and Anthony Bourdain's " No Reservations ". Last year, they teamed up with Wood Shampoo Records (also of Las Vegas) to release this comp at Christmas time. According to the accompanying notes that came with this CD: "On any given hour at the Double Down, you are as likely to find business types unwinding as you are jaded hipsters downing shots. 'Merry X-Mas Dammit' is much like the saloon itself, a genre blend...

Last year around this time, this CD found its way to me via my PO Box . Regrettably, my schedule last Christmas prevented me from giving it a proper review before last Christmas. So I decided to review it now and point the spotlight their way before this Christmas (you can never go wrong buying a Christmas music aficionado a Christmas punk album). This isn't the first time with these Punx (and I say that in the nicest possible way). Back in January of 2007, I reviewed their smashingly good " It's What I Got In My Sack " album. I concluded at that time that "every Christmas music collection should have at least one punk Christmas CD to shake things up now and then (or to purposely annoy that neighbor with the obnoxious Christmas display)." Well, there's no Christmas lights up next door (yet) and I do like our neighbors. So it must be time to shake things up. Recorded and released in 2007, this album (according to the release that accompanied ...

This is the last of four Christmas CDs that I received at our P.O. Box by someone in the music industry. When this arrived in early December, my first thought was "Wow! That's some impressive homemade compilation!" It came attached with a handwritten note that read: "Hey Capt - Thanks for giving " Snowflake " props! I love that record! DBryk" During the mad rush of the 2006 downloading season, this CD regrettably got lost in the shuffle and I didn't give it the full attention it deserves until now. Dan Bryk is an "indie-rock" singer slash songwriter originally from Toronto, Canada, and currently based in the sprawling Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill (“Triangle”) North Carolina music scene. Growing up, Dan's musical influences were Elvis Costello, Burt Bacharach, and Randy Newman (I thought I sensed a Newman connection). He's been recording for nearly 12 years since his first album "Dan Bryk - Asshole" was release...

This was the third Christmas CD sent to our P.O. Box by someone in the music industry. Sean of Double Crown Records contacted us here at the yuleblog on November 3rd in a comment page: "My label, Double Crown Records, has just reissued a Christmas CD that I put out 6 years ago. Do you ever do CD reviews? If so, I'd love to send a copy to you." He left a long description of the album and where to buy it at which I felt was using my site to help sell his album. I removed the comment from the yuleblog, e-mailed my reasons for doing so stating "that I would give a fair, objective review" upon receiving the CD. Sean agreed and sent the CD to us... It arrived and I promptly reviewed it at FaLaLaLaLa last year: "Back in 2000, Double Crown Records released this CD that featured sixteen Christmas songs done by various surf n’ garage bands. The CD proved so popular that it sold out its entire first pressing. Six years later, it’s back! The folks at Doub...

This was the second Christmas CD sent to our P.O. Box by someone in the music industry. The Jingle Punx started out as a joke between friends that quickly became a under the radar band that has released FIVE full Christmas punk albums. This led to a cult following on the web via their own website and their MySpace site , having their music played on MTV's "Laguna Beach", FX's "Nip/Tuck", and a recent blast over the German TV airwaves ! I reviewed this CD over at FaLaLaLaLa last year and to quote: "From the first notes of their bodyslamming version of "Joy To The World" to the gritty voice of Ana Isabel (of the band Goodbye Gadget ) singing "Santa Baby" to a remarkable cover of Run DMC’s classic "Christmas In Hollis", the Punx never forget rule number one: have fun while rocking it out. "That rule comes blaring across your speakers in full throttle! "Every Christmas music collection should have at le...