Straight No Chaser – Holiday Spirits

Posted on

I remember when I first got the link to the Straight No Chaser video of “The 12 Days of Christmas.” I loved it. SNC is a 12-man a cappella group whose fun, inventive, live rendition of that song garnered 8 million views on YouTube.

The popularity of the video got the attention of a recording label honcho and now SNC has a recording on Atlantic Records. The 14 songs are familiar favorites like “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” and “The Christmas Song” and a couple of originals. I thought covering Brian Wilson’s “Little Saint Nick” was a good choice.

I’ve been given a MP3 of “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing/Angels We Have Heard on High” for you to download. Click the play button after the YouTube videos to give it a try. If you like it, right-click the link and save the file. You can buy the CD or DRM-free download from Amazon by clicking the shopping cart in the player.

The video that started it all:

The journey from Indiana University students to major label recording artists:

Straight No Chaser - Holiday SpiritsStraight No Chaser – Holiday Spirits – “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing/Angels We Have Heard on High”

Free Joyce Cooling Christmas Song

Posted on

Two of the greatest things in life: the year-end holidays and free music. Joyce Cooling is offering both – a free MP3 of her new original composition “It’s Feeling Like Christmas.” It’s a nice seasonal song. You can download it at Joyce’s site. No signing up for a mailing list or anything. Just download it.

Between this and her rendition of “The Christmas Song” from the GRP compilation Making Spirits Bright, she’s getting enough songs for a full holiday record, inevitably titled Joyce to the World. Just kidding.

What Is XMarsX?

Posted on

I was wondering this when I saw it popping up on music stores’ upcoming releases jazz list. I was glad I looked into it. Turns out this is one of the side projects of Liquid Soul’s Mars Williams. It’s a free jazz project that sounds like something fans of modern jazz will want to try out.
Continue reading “What Is XMarsX?”