New Music Sunday

This weekend has been a long one and pretty much none of it has anything to do with the holiday. I had all this written up in plenty of time but never got around to posting it due to everything that was going on. This is a long one though, so instead of videos I've just written up a little about each of them and am posting them as plain links (all to YT). There are a few Christmasy things in here, but the majority of it is not holiday based.

Chillswitch Engage (Sean Townsend) - The End of Heartache Killswitch Engage is one of my all time favorite metal bands. Their lyrics, the melody, the early days with Howard's vocals. There's also something very nostalgic for me in their early works based on the time in my life when I discovered them and listened to them on constant repeat. This is the second Chillswitch album from Sean Townsend and it's just as great as the first. Chillswitch is an all piano, no lyrics version of the Killswitch Album The End of Heartache. If you like piano music, or need good background music, check this album out.

Cory Henry - Tiny Desk (Home) Concert Speaking of lovely piano music, if you'd like some laid back piano Christmas music, check out this tiny desk concert from Cory Henry. It's jazzy and lovely and just that tiny little bit of Christmas that makes you feel kind of like your watching Linus play piano in the Peanut's Christmas special.

Scary Pockets - Sex is on Fire (Kings of Leon) a funk cover. I really love Kings of Leon and I would listen to an entire Kings of Leon funk covers album. It takes their melancholy-esque sound and gives it a whole new feel. I really like it.

The Staves - Home Alone Too The Staves are a group of female singer/songwriters with a folk vibe. This song is Christmas-adjacent, in that it's about being with someone and watching Home Alone with someone over the holidays. Nice acoustic sound with a cute premise.

Cuestack - Through the Night (feat. David Hasselhoff) A good 80s synthy metal song with David Hasselhoff singing. I don't know that you can ask for much more than that.

Elderbrook - Next December This guy's voice is so unique, so is this whole song, acapella with the London Contemporary Voices group. It starts slow and takes some time to get all the voices in the song, but it's lovely. I think this is one I'll have to listen to a few times to really appreciate it.

Caroline Polachek - Breathless This is such a unique take AND lyric video for this cover of The Corrs song. I have a distaste for the original song, and probably wouldn't have clicked on this if I'd known it was a cover? But Caroline always has a unique style, and I'm glad I gave this a listen. Also, just the process of animating the lyrics in this style? Very cool.

ANKOR - Everbody (Backstreet's Back) (Backstreet Boys) (obviously) I'm never not going to be a Backstreet Boys girl at heart. But also I love metal. So like the combo of these two things will always not get my attention. And I will always likely share them when I come across them so that maybe someday I'll find the one person like me that crosses over these weirdly specific genre picks. I could do with a whole lot more of this.

HALLAS - Carry On This song feels like it should be playing over some 80s sci-fi or action movie montage. I really have a love for these modern bands that are bringing back this synth rock sound, I hope we get a lot more like this.

Miley Cyrus - Plastic Hearts (Backyard Sessions) If you're enjoying Miley's new stuff, you'll probably enjoy this backyard session. I really enjoy these backyard sessions when she does them. They're not acoustic, but definitely more stripped down than the album version of the song.

DANCE WITH THE DEAD - Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy Everyone needs an EDM version of this to listen to during the holidays. I guess? IDK This band has been one of my favorite weird finds of the year, and this just makes me like them all the more.

Girl in Red - Two Queens in a King Sized Bed Did anyone order some lesbian Christmas music? NO? Well have some anyone. It's soft and lovely and I know it's just exactly the kind of thing I wanted. I don't normally post lyrics in these posts, but I feel like you just need to know how sweet this is.
"two queens in a king sized bed / there's no mistletoe above our heads / but i’ll kiss you anyway / on christmas day / yea i’ll kiss you anyway / on christmas day"

Florence Welch - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas It's Florence, singing. Does what it says on the tin. I feel like this has a classic early Florence + the Machine sound to it, so if she's not your jam, you're not going to like this.

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That's it for this week. I hope everyone had a nice, healthy, happy holiday, whatever you celebrate. Let me know if you listened to anything good this week, Christmas music or otherwise. Also, I'd love to know what people's favorite or traditional Christmas movie watch is. I never feel like it's Christmas until I've watched White Christmas, but the last two years I've really enjoyed watching Disney's Noelle, too. And I have a real aversion to two classics, Christmas Vacation and A Christmas Story, so I try to avoid them at all costs. I did watch Jingle Jangle with the boys when I was in Florida over Thanksgiving and it was delightful. So even if you don't have new music from this week, tell me what your Christmas (or winter holiday) movie watch is.