Christmas Mix

"Morning Star" (The Brantley Family Band)
"Christmas Time Is Here" (Thad Cockrell and Roman Candle)
"Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" (Trekky Yuletide Orchestra)
"Little Drum Machine Girl" (Gerty!)
"Oh It's Christmas" (The Rosebuds)
"Feliz Navidad" (The dB's)

Well, I meant to run this as a series all week, but that's not happening. Here's a mix of old and new Christmas music from local bands. A quick rundown of what's what:

This year, Jim Brantley (currently with Bull City, formerly of the Balance and Ashley Stove) put out his third on-line Christmas card (here's 2005 and 2004). They tend to be a mix of the lovely and the silly, and this instrumental version of the Moravian hymn "Morning Star" is definitely the former. (Check this death-metal "Silent Night" for the latter!) The Moravian influence is pretty strong around Winston-Salem, and since Jim's from around there, as am I, this one makes me happy.

"Christmas Time Is Here" is an original song, not the Vince Guaraldi classic from A Charlie Brown Christmas, but it's a great collaboration between Triangle expat Thad Cockrell and still-local Roman Candle. This is a new addition to the expanded re-release of the Chris Stamey/dB's Christmas Time album; the charmingly loose dB's cover of "Feliz Navidad" is from the original. (Buy/download)

At some point before new-wavers Gerty morphed into the Ex-Members, they recorded a Christmas CD, which is the source of "Little Drum Machine Girl". If you are thinking of Beck's "Little Drum Machine Boy", this is a more straightforward adaptation of the traditional song, but with some Gerty flair.

One of two local benefit compliations released this year, Trekky Records A New Old-Fashioned Christmas is a surprisingly (to me) conventional collection of traditional holiday songs. I know it says "old-fashioned" in the name, but I didn't really expect the conventional song selection and straightforward arrangements from members of the Never and the other Trekky bands. It's good stuff, though, and I love this version of "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas", one of my favorite Christmas songs. Proceeds benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, so buy a copy here.

The other benefit compilation is Have a Holly Raleigh Christmas, which is for the benefit of local high school music programs. (Read more about it here.) I haven't actually gotten my hands on this one, so the sound quality of the Rosebuds song is poor, but hey, it's the Rosebuds. This sounds exactly like what you would think the Rosebuds singing about Christmas would sound like. (If anything, it's a bit of a throwback to their earlier songs, given the somewhat more somber tone of their recent album.) Buy a copy here, or shop in Raleigh (list of merchants here).

So, Merry Christmas (or other appropriate seasonal wishes). Don't look for much from me next week, but New Year's resolution number 1 is to get back on a regular weekly schedule with this thing.

New dB's song! (!!!)

As I've mentioned previously, the dB's are back together and shopping around for a deal for their recently-recorded album. Fortunately for those of us eagerly waiting to hear the new music, they've put a track up on their web site. Written by Peter Holsapple, it's pretty much what you'd expect from the dB's -- an elegant little pop song with a little jangle and just a touch of twang.

They have a few live shows lined up in Chicago and New Jersey. Hopefully it won't be long before they grace the Triangle with a performance. I'll certainly be keeping an eye on their tour schedule and album news. In the meantime, buy old stuff here.

MP3: "World to Cry"

Elsewhere: Fake Swedish and the dB's

Various factors are keeping me from posting much at the moment, but I'll try to keep the vital signs alive. Today, don't miss a fine post over at Moistworks tracing the evolution of covers of Jacque Brel's "La Chanson de Jacky", including a version by Chapel Hill's psych-pop Fake Swedish. Their debut LP, Get Correct, was released on Demonbeach Records last month (buy it here). Here's a piece from the Independent in the aftermath.

Also, from a few days ago, catch an old dB's b-side over at Little Hits. "Darby Hall" is from the era of the first post-Stamey dB's album, 1984's Like This. The original band has reunited and recorded several tracks -- somebody please sign them and release the album!

Good News for People Who Love...Jangle Pop

Per the dB's mailing list this morning:

Chris Stamey, Peter Holsapple, Gene Holder, and Will Rigby will be recording together in early January 2005. Stayed tuned for what happens with these recordings. The few songs that there is time to record will probably wind up on an new Holsapple/Stamey album, but if things go great maybe there'll actually be a NEW dB's album. Did hell freeze overor something?

There's plenty of multimedia at the dB's web site, including these live MP3s from 1979:

MP3: "She's Not Worried"
MP3: "Bad Repuation"
MP3: "What's the Matter With Me"
MP3: "The Fight"
MP3: "What I Dig/Espionage"
MP3: "If and When"
(Live at the Philosopher's Club, Winston-Salem, NC; Dec. 28-29, 1979)
Be sure to read the great reminiscence of the show by Fred Mills.

And buy some stuff, too. It'll help fund a dB's documentary.

And yet again still more with the Stamey-related stuff

Badgerminor's got another post over at Orbis Quintus with some fine old-school Triangle-related rock. Check out two tracks each from the dB's and Let's Active. (And compare, if you wish, the studio version of "Black and White" with the live version I linked to back here.)

More Chris Stamey

Over at Songs:Illinois, Craig has posted a couple more songs from Chris Stamey's Travels in the South (which I mentioned a few days ago), and a bunch of older stuff as well. I especially like "I Know You Will" and "Geometry" from the Stamey/Peter Holsapple collaboration Mavericks (a dB's reunion of sorts). I have a real soft spot for Stamey et al., since they're from my home town of Winston-Salem. Here's another live dB's track from 1984:

MP3: "Black and White"
(The dB's, live at The Metro, Chicago, December 1984)

West Coast Greetings

Much to my astonishment, people seem to be continuing to look in on this thing while I'm gone -- not a huge amount of traffic, but a steady trickle. In hope of enticing at least a few to come back later, I thought I'd drop one quick up date while I'm on the road (currently in San Francisco -- what a beautiful day!).

Chris Stamey is a key figure in the Triangle music scene, partly as a musician, partly as producer for a wide range of acts. He started out working with a young Mitch Easter in Winston-Salem, then was a member of the dB's, perhaps the classic almost-made-it-big NC band. In addition to a post-dBs solo musical career, he's produced records by national acts including Yo La Tengo and Alejandro Escovedo, as well as producing and mentoring many local bands, including the Caitlin Cary album I'm Staying Out which I've mentioned a few times (full post on Caitlin coming eventually), Whiskeytown, Thad Cockerell, and Chatham County Line.

MP3: "The Sound You Hear"
(from Travels in the South, Yep Roc 2004. Buy or download)
Well, dammit, I only discovered just now that Yep Roc has changed the sample MP3 they have up for this album. I had hoped to point you to "14 Shades of Green," which was the first thing I heard from this album, and is still the clear standout for me. The other songs are OK, they just tend to be a bit more pure pop, like this one, whereas "Shades of Green" has a little more edge and energy to it. Seek it out, even if this isn't quite your thing.

I don't mean to dog this track too much, I'm just disappointed the other one's not available. To make it up to you, here's a little live dB's from back in the day.

MP3: "pH Factor"
(Live at the Metro, Chicago, December 1984)
A nifty surfy instrumental number.

This has taken way longer than I'd intended (the things I do for nearly 10 readers a day...), but let me quickly thank Last Sound of Summer for blogrolling me. I've added that fairly eclectic music blog to my links list, as well as Big Rock Candy Mountain, a fine Chicago-based blog that's been working the twang angle somewhat lately. (Confidential to the proprietor of that blog -- if you want to link to me, you don't even have to ask...)

Gotta go now. See y'all next week.