Twelve Songs of Christmas

A Chiptune Christmas with Doctor Octoroc

There's a whole body of chiptune music--music created by manipulating the programmable sound generator in videogame consoles. People once observed that if something exists, there's a porn version of it on the Internet, and if music exists, there's likely also a chiptune version of it as well. Levi Buffum, who records under the name Doctor Octoroc, made a chiptune Christmas album in 2008 when he released 8-Bit Jesus. 

This week, Alex talks to Doctor Octoroc about the hows and whys of chiptune music and about the challenges associated with it, which are not only plentiful but for him, part of the appeal. We also learn which contemporary Christmas act he likes, and though it's not one you'd expect, it makes sense. 

This week, Alex also shows a little love to Luther Vandross' "The Mistletoe Jam (Everybody Kiss Somebody)" and Nancy Wilson's "The Christmas Waltz."

ZE Records' "A Christmas Record" with Michael Zilkha

In 1981, Christmas albums for rock 'n' roll audiences didn't exist, and with the exception of a few snotty punk singles, there was nothing for young people who loved the music that emerged after punk and new wave. ZE Records' A Christmas Record occupied that space alone, though as label founder Michael Zilkha explains, the album was more of a marketing project than a specifically commercial venture. Still, it brought the world The Waitresses' classic "Christmas Wrapping," and included music by such iconic figures from the period as Labelle's Nona Hendrix, Was (Not Was), and Suicide.

In this week's episode, Zilkha remembers the label's origins and decline, and how A Christmas Album was in many ways emblematic of its heyday. In our conversation, he talks about Cristina--Cristina Monet--who was an artist on ZE, and she would become his wife. Since Zilkha didn't talk about it in the interview, I didn't bring up her death from COVID-19 in 2020, but I wrote about it at MySpiltMilk.com shortly after she passed.

In this week's episode, I use an excerpt from my interview with Chris Butler of The Waitresses from 2018. Earlier that year, I interviewed Mars Williams, who played saxophone on "Christmas Wrapping," and though I didn't include an excerpt from it, it shines more light on the experience. In today's episode, Zilkha talks about how the song has been covered, and although I don't announce it on the show, at that point I included a version by Kylie Minogue with guest Iggy Pop. The episode ends with an indie rock version by Hate Club from the Christmas compilation No Sleep 'til Christmas 8. 

 

Calexico

In December, I had more good interviews than I had time for, so I ran episodes that featured excerpts from conversations with a number of artists. One such musician was Joey Burns of Calexico. Calexico released Seasonal Shift in time for last Christmas, and last December I ran the part of our conversation about their version of "Happy Xmas (War is Over)" and the political significance that Calexico's music has taken on. 

This week, I'm returning to that conversation, which again ranges wildly from talking about their musical guests, their method, and their musical default settings (which aren't what you might expect.)

Unfortunately, it sounds like someone is stacking poker chips throughout the interview. That sound wasn't audible when I talked to Burns, but it showed up on the recording for the first and only time so far. I wish it wasn't there, but since the alternatives were use the recording or don't, I went with it. I didn't find it too distracting; if you do, sorry. I wish it wasn't there either. 

This episode also shines a spotlight on an album I consider to be a good but not great Christmas album: The Beach Boys' Christmas Album from 1964. I generally consider Christmas music to be a singles or playlist medium, but The Beach Boys' Christmas Album gets a lot of love. It deserves the praise it gets on the strength of a handful of songs, but the version of "Blue Christmas" illustrates some real problems that The Beach Boys just couldn't overcome.  

Peter Orullian

Prog metal is not my musical sweet spot, particularly where Christmas music is concerned. But as the arenas full of people who attend Trans-Siberian Orchestra shows each holiday season testify, it clearly is for many. For that reason, I really enjoy talking to people working in that area. I want to understand it better. 

Peter Orullian is one such artist. He's an author who moved to Seattle with his band and a dream that didn't quite work out. The band didn't survive relocation, but he continued to work with vocal coach while writing and working at Microsoft. He wrote the rock opera The Bell Ringer, which was recorded in 2019. He got a few chances to perform the show, but COVID prevented any potential 2020 Christmas tour from happening. He turned to YouTube to promote the project, but right he's looking ahead.

We talk about telling a story through heavy rock, and the aspects that were important to him. We discussed how to integrate a Christmas classic into a story like this, and how music played before 14,000 people can be intimate.

In addition, I talk about one of my favorite Christmas albums--Carla's Christmas Carols by Carla Bley, Steve Swallow, and the Partyka Brass Quintet. 

11 Acorn Lane

In 2010, the two-man act known as 11 Acorn Lane released Happy Holy Days, an album of predominantly Christmas music that nods to two very different but equally legendary talents--Esquivel and Henry Mancini. Thomas Feurer and Neal Pawley discuss their affection for the two and how they created music in their footsteps instrument by instrument, bar by bar, in a Manhattan apartment in the dead of summer. 

Feurer and Pawley talk about Esquivel and Mancini, how their own technical abilities shaped their music, and their relationships to the American Christmas music tradition since they were born in Switzerland and the UK respectively. 

This episode also returns to last week's focus on indie rock Christmas music for two from the now hard to find Christmas compilation, Star Over: "This Spirit Thing" by Sunless and "Angels We Have Heard on High" by Ormonde.

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An Indie Rock Christmas with Gareth Jones

The British Cherryade Records has been indie in concept and practice for more than 15 years. For much of that time, it has released a yearly Christmas compilation, A Very Cherry Christmas, which is only released in limited quantities and predominantly as physical objects. Cherryade's Bandcamp page features links to their Christmas comps dating back to 2005, but the CDs have long since sold out and only a few tracks from each one are available to stream or download. 

In 2020, Cherryade released an EP, not a full album, because they weren't sure they could get the CDs made, much less that artists could record songs during the pandemic. It is available for download in its entirety with proceeds going to The Music Venue Trust, a non-profit helping indie music venues survive the shutdown that accompanied the pandemic. 

Christmas music collector and DJ Gareth Jones talks today about the story behind the 2020 EP, the series, and the way indie rock does (or doesn't) sound like Christmas. Jones also posted a three-hour mix of indie rock Christmas music on Mixcloud.

This week, we also highlight one of our favorite Christmas albums, Christmas Cookin' by organ player Jimmy Smith.  

If you like what you hear or are curious, please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts—Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Pandora, or Spotify. If you want to get the music from the show, buy it through the links on this page and you help to support 12 Songs. 

Jacqui Naylor

Singer Jacqui Naylor cops to the phrase "jazz vocalist," but she has worked to broaden the tags used to identify her and the spheres where her music can live. Since she debuted in the late 1990s, she has leaned into her inner singer/songwriter on occasion, and with "acoustic smashing," she has jumped the jazz fences entirely, pairing songs by R.E.M., AC/DC, Peter Gabriel and other rock acts with famous jazz songs. She smashes David Bowie's "Space Oddity" on her new album, The Long Game, which is out now.

We talk about that song, the album, and her 2007 album Smashed for the Holidays, which features a number of well-known Christmas songs paired with songs by the heroes of arena rock. She talks about using that album as ID, as well as the business and art involved in making that album. 

We also start this week's episode with "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" by the DJ and producer Kascade, who recorded the song on his 2017 album Kascade Christmas as a mash-up of sorts by setting it to the hook in Hall and Oates' "Sara Smile."

If you like what you hear or are curious, please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts—Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Pandora, or Spotify.

If you're thinking of acquiring any of the music in the episode, do so through the links here and you help to support 12 Songs. 

 

Steve Lukather

Guitarist Steve Lukather is best known for a thousand studio sessions, as a member of Ringo Starr's All-Starr Band, and as the sole founding member remaining in Toto. He has enjoyed the rock 'n' roll life, and even though he's not the wild man he used to be, he remains unfiltered in conversation. That made our conversation on his 2003 Christmas album Santamental and his new album, I Found the Sun Again, a lot of fun and really interesting. The musician in him can make observations others wouldn't, but he's still enough of a fan to appreciate the people he has played with. 

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New Orleans' Panorama Jazz Band (an encore presentation)

COVID-19 forced major changes to Mardi Gras, including no parades, but New Orleanians still found ways to honor to day and spirit of the holiday. Since I take Mardi Gras seriously, my family and I were out on Fat Tuesday to see - and be a part of - a socially distanced Mardi Gras. 

In honor of the holiday, I've scheduled an encore presentation of the first episode of 12 Songs with Ben Schenk of New Orleans' Panorama Jazz Band. Panorama plays music from the traditional jazz repertoire and folds in music from other cultures that makes sense with it. Not surprisingly, the band has made good, interesting Christmas music that is musically and conceptually true to who they are. 

In honor of Mardi Gras, the show opens with a new cover of the '70s Philly soul instrumental "T.S.O.P. (The Sound of Philadelphia)" by Panorama's parade band incarnation, the Panorama Brass Band.

If you like that or other music in this episode, you can get it by subscribing to Panorama's Good Music for You/Song of the Month Club.

Sufjan Stevens' "Music for Christmas" with Chris Marchand

Last December, listener and Anglican pastor Chris Marchand wrote to tell me about Let Nothing You Dismay--an EP of Christmas music that could serve as a the soundtrack to A Blade Runner Christmas--and a book he wrote, Celebrating The 12 Days of Christmas: A Guide for Churches and Families. While we swapped email, we started talking about Sufjan Stevens' five-CD Music for Christmas. 

Pitchfork.com reviewed it and contended that the album's plain-spoken embrace of Christianity felt punk in an indie rock context. The review felt a little like an effort to hold on to Stevens and pull him into indie's doubt-everything ethos that he might not really share, but to be fair, Music for Christmas sends enough signals that it's hard to feel certain about readings of it. Because of that, I thought Chris brought a perspective that would prove useful, so we met online early in January to break it down a bit. 

In this episode, I also went into the collection to pull out another favorite that's hard to explain. The fiercely Canadian Stompin' Tom Connors released Merry Christmas, Everybody in 1970, and it's hard to put your finger on what's so great about it. I try though. 

If you like what you hear or are curious, please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts—Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, or Spotify.