We want to wish all of you a Happy Christmas from all of us here, and share with you the greatest gift of all: music, damn good music.
At least arguably Mac Demarco's best album to date. Bought this for a friend's birthday and he loved it. Give it a listen on Spotify/ Apple Music first because my mate was already a fan before bought it him. Bonus poster is a bit obscure (featuring cartoon nudity) but Mac fans will like it. Combining a goofball public persona with a distinctive songwriting style and production sound, Canadian artist Mac DeMarco rose to the higher reaches of indie fame unexpectedly quickly. While his image projected a charmingly laid-back slacker prone to occasional antics and never taking anything too seriously, his songs have ironically often hid mature themes like aging, commitment, and morals. Here's my rendition of Alex Brettin's tune, from one of the best albums to come out last decade.
As Christmas creeps around again, you might start to become filled with dread for the moment you set foot in shops filled with crying children, broken dreams, and Mariah Carey. Fear not, all you f**king grinches, for it is time you put on some Christmas music and fill that stocking-sized hole that this year has left in your heart.
Here is a list of Christmas songs that'll have you feeling like you sprinkled a bit of love powder on your nan's potato bake while no one was watching. From this year and beyond, it's got it all.
Calexico – Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
Calexico have breathed new life into the John Lennon and Yoko Ono Christmas classic Happy Xmas (War Is Over) with a soulful new rendition. It's part of their album, Seasonal Shift, out now via Spunk! Records.
The track personifies that familiar end of year feeling – of reflection, of ceremony, and of recognition – appreciating the changes the year brought, for better and for worse. Seasonal Shift is filled with covers, special guests, and goodwill, and it can be streamed as of today if you like what you've heard. Check it out here.
![Brettin Brettin](https://i1.wp.com/www.theshowlastnight.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Alex-Calder-1.jpg?resize=820%2C547)
Courtney Barnett – Boxing Day Blues (Revisited)
This brilliant Courtney Barnett number represents the shift that can be felt in relationships, just as drastically as the changing of the seasons. The feeling of being unwanted, 'like a Christmas tree on boxing day, thrown away. Why don't you feel for me anymore'.
What Courtney does so well is say so much with so little. Even with only three verses, she can equate the slow demise of romantic infatuation to that of a useless decoration.
The Big Moon – Carol of the Bells
The Big Moon really wanted to make sure the haunting side of Christmas wouldn't go ignored for the sake of the kind of consumer-driven love anthems we traditionally see in modern Christmas songs. The shrill harp and piano build into the choir of voices and nervous orchestral motion. If there was one Christmas song that sounded like a Billie Eilish hit, it would be The Big Moon's rendition of Carol Of The Bells.
Phoebe Bridgers – If We Make It Through December
Pheobe Bridgers‘ take on the Merle Haggard's 'goofy country' Christmas track was one of the most welcome covers out there this year.
After releasing her incredible album Punisher, she found herself on a spree of covers from Simon And Garfunkle to McCarthy Trenching to The Goo Goo Dolls – and more. Let this dazzling and emotional slow dance wind down your family Christmas kick-ons, because we'll all make it through December, guys. Pheobe gives me certainty in that, at the very least.
Stella Donnelly – Season's Greetings
If you've ever had a cool aunty, and you've spent Christmas with that cool aunty – you'll blissfully relive that feeling with this Stella Donnelly Christmas track that oozes Australiana spirit. If you've ever brought your partner to Christmas when you really shouldn't have, maybe this will strike a chord. Mum and dad are fighting, your uncle Mark is drunk as hell, and your brother isn't taking his bonbon loss well. A track for every time of year.
LCD Soundsystem – Christmas Will Break Your Heart
The depressing LCD Soundsystem Christmas anthem that James Murphy sang himself every year for eight years finally saw the light of day when the band found themselves in the same city to record the damn thing before December was already over and inspiration had died. The song originally had 75 lines of lyrics but the band said they 'cut down to 8 to keep the suicide rate in check'.
Thank father Christmas they did, I don't think my heart would've been ready to have broken a further 67 times.
Weezer – The Christmas Song
Weezer is one of the few bands that can make any style of music work for their sound – and this song is no different. Another one that can be played at any time of year that fits right into their discography. If you've ever spent Christmas alone, this is the holiday pop-punk song for you.
Sufjan Stevens – Amazing Grace
Sufjan Stevens‘s version of Amazing Grace sounds like none that I've ever heard before – as if the song was rooted in folk and ragtime music rather than a gospel hymn. The harmonies mixed with the softly strummed banjo are enough to end any argument at Christmas dinner. Do yourself a favour and listen now, our time is short, friends.
Jacob Collier – The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)
Jacob Collier had a whirlwind 2020, winning four Grammys and cementing himself as one of the most iconic figures in modern jazz music. Collier stretches the genre to fit his soulful mesh of sounds, making for some of the most entertaining live performances from a genre known so much for listening and reflection – now turned into one full of audience participation and as much vigorous movement physically as musically.
His version of The Christmas Song narrowly beat out Mac DeMarco and Kirin J Callinan's take for the spot on this list from the sheer creative spirit and willingness to blend tradition and contemporary. Honourable mention to Mac and Kirin though, check theirs out here.
Paul Kelly – How To Make Gravy
A song that needs absolutely no introduction. If you don't think this song is the best Christmas song ever, we just can't be friends.
How To Make Gravy is a generation-defining song and will go on to inspire countless musicians, regardless of how much you like gravy (a lot in my case). The heartfelt pen from a loved one in the big house, wondering that ever-present question, if you've ever lost a loved one, who will fill the void at the table?
L: pre-gravy R: post-gravy pic.twitter.com/xg6bkXBtD9
— Paul Kelly (@itsthegravyman) January 13, 2017
Alex Brettin Mac Demarco Albums
It makes sense that Mild High Club's opened for Mac Demarco. They both adhere to the same kind of kind of warm psychedelic soft rock that can induce equal parts relaxation and thoughtful contemplation. But Mild High Club's Alex Brettin distinguishes his sound with a personalized homage to 60's and 70's surf rock, channeling the Beatle's Sgt. Peppers through both dynamic instrumentation and, especially in his latest album Skiptracing, a vaguely eerie narrative arch.
As mellow as it is layered, Skiptracing boasts Brettin's dynamic, creative musical and writing capabilities. It's an album with a lot to listen to, reflecting care and deliberation but still a commitment to good (old-fashioned) vibes.
In anticipation of his show at The Middle East tomorrow night, Melisma got to ask Alex a few questions about his influences and the new album.
So I read that you studied jazz in Chicago. It's such an excellent city for jazz, with the Green Mill, legacy of jazz and blues greats like Buddy Guy and Willie Dixon… I'd love to hear about your time there.
Before studying jazz at Columbia College, I had a wonderful musical upbringing in high school under the direction of Patrick Whalen and Marty Magnini, both genius musicians and educators. I was also fortunate to take lessons with some serious shredders ala David Rose, Paul Parts, and John Moulder. By college, I studied under Frank Dawson, Bill Boris, Peter Saxe and Peter Lerner among others. All amazing people and educators.
Are/were you more into contemporary Jazz out of Chicago?
Not so much. I really just wanted to understand the harmonies & I'm still trying!
How does that training influence your music now or your next steps after graduating?
My listening comprehension has evolved and continues to reveal deeper meanings and pathways for me to explore in my compositions.
Alex Brettin Mac Demarco Cheese
So then you went to LA, which it sounds like is where 'Mild High Club' began to take shape. What made you form this specific project?
Mild High Club began in Chicago shortly after returning from a trip of musical vagabondage with Run dmt. It formed because I wanted full control of the process from beginning to end without interference.
Drawing off your background in Chicago jazz but move to LA, how to you see those environments influence your music?
I think LA influenced a cinematic, nostalgic area of my mind. I ‘m enamored by the history and charm of show business and its darkness.
You said in an interview that 'the difference between Timeline and Skiptracing is detail,' and I think that Skiptracing sounds more thoughtfully arranged as an album. You describe the storyline as a detective story, which I wouldn't have necessarily guessed. Do you think that's a result of time and experience writing music, outside influences, or did you approach the albums differently?
It's a culmination of everything art I cared about in the period I wrote it. I turned the mirror on myself to question my own place in LA, as a songwriter in 2016.
Can wd my passport for mac be used on pc. Specifically, I'm interested in your songwriting process and/vs. making albums. Like, for Skiptracing it sounds like you crafted each song with this arch, or storyline, in mind so that it works really well as a coherent album, rather than individual songs.
Both were conceptual; the timeline hitting on internet connectivity and love/ romance in the digital age. Skiptracing was a little more self-aware to the point I was writing about writing, painting the text with the appropriate colors etc. Skiptracing is meant for a full spin.
So kind of a similar theme: Skiptracing sounds like it was made for vinyl; it makes me wish I had a turntable so I could get it on vinyl, put it on and listen to the lo-fi, sometimes almost lethargic crunch, and pay attention to it start to finish to kind of tune into the lyrics more and make that connection. Is there an ideal way you would hope people listen to Skiptracing?
It was intended for vinyl, and that master is different than the digital version. Ideally, listening with the LP sleeve in hand, in a nice stereo field on a turntable. maybe with a computer handy to look into certain terms, ideas etc.
I've been thinking a lot about the impact of music platforms like iTunes and Spotify (or online listening, generally) on the way people broadly listen to music. Since we can hop around, listen to a song here or there, I think that a lot of my peers (myself included) can miss out on all that comes with listening to albums in their entirety.
I write shorter songs for the shorter attention spans people seem to have today with all the distractions. I'm guilty myself of entering the black mirror of my phone.
What are your thoughts on this? Do you think its true, or that younger generations are less incentivized to listen to albums and therefore can miss out on really getting to appreciate an artists efforts?
Doesn't concern me much. As long as it can be listened to, they can take it how they want. I prefer it as a 30 minute sonic bath!
Does this in any way influence your own songwriting and album composition?
Yes- I just want to feel I've made a work of art worthy enough to some day sit on the same shelf as the Nightfly, Skylarking, What's Goin On, Sgt. Peppers.
If you could collaborate with any artist(s) or group(s), dead or alive, who would it be?
Donald Fagen
What's been your favorite set so far, this tour or another? Why?
San Francisco- sold out and we played our asses off!
Best albums for listening to when you're:
- Bored
Never thought of it. maybe Dusk at Cubist Castle
- Really caffeinated
Dan Deacon, Spiderman of the Rings
- To get drunk
White Fang, Chunks
- To get sober
Donald Fagen, Nightfly
- Mad
Metallica, St. anger
- Feel sad and want to change that
Alex Brettin Mac Demarco Latest
Lol…Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band
- Feel sad and want to stay that way
Joy Division, Closer
Weirdest place you ever fell asleep:
At a waterpark in the middle of the day on a handicap ramp.
Eric Andre Show or Between Two Ferns
Between Two Ferns…
If you're down with The Eric Andre Show: you have to be one of his characters for a day-which one would you be?
The fluffer for Eric Andre. How to download clipart on mac.