My favorite (Christmas music) things of 2014

Here it is the last official day of Christmas and I just realized that I haven't posted my Christmas Album of the Year for 2014. Honestly, it wasn't all that great of a year for new holiday music, but there were a few standouts. The best would have to be...

Chris Farren - Like a Gift From God or Whatever I began listening to the Feliz Navipod podcast a couple of months ago and Farren was a guest on one episode. I had never heard of him before and he gave a good enough interview. Tacked on at the end was the title track of his new Christmas album and I was sold. That afternoon I gave Bandcamp my $5 and those twelve songs were mine.

These days you rarely find a Christmas album containing only original songs, let alone one where the hit to miss ratio is high. This is one of those albums. I'd go into depth about how it runs the gamut of seasonal emotions, but Farren has given a track by track commentary that you can read here. Just like I did with Emmy the Great and Tim Wheeler's stellar effort several years ago, I have a feeling that I'll be returning to this one for my annual Christmas mix over the next few years.

Nick D' & The Believers - "Christmas in the City" The easy pick for my Christmas Single Only Release of the Year is this song by a band from my previous hometown of Columbus, OH. It's just a big, tinsel-laden ball of fun.

I wouldn't be surprised if it shows up in a commercial sometime down the road.

Samson Trinh & The Upper East Side Big Band - The Christmas Project Earlier I posted about seeing these local folks live and my feelings for them haven't diminished since that time.

The whole album is well worth a purchase, but their take on "All I Want For Christmas Is You" is something very special that I keep going back to.

Matty Ride - "Holiday P.D.A. (Underneath the Mistletoe)" He ain't talking about personal digital assistants.

I found this jaunty little paean to Yuletide make out sessions when doing one of my periodic new music sweeps online. It was too late to be included on my mix, but the song will definitely appear on A Very Micah Christmas 2015. The overall EP is just okay, but this track I had on repeat for a couple of days straight. (At the time of this posting it is a free download from Noisetrade.)

Jon Windle - "A Wonderful Christmas Time" I haven't seen the low budget UK indie movie (yet!), but I absolutely love the title track.

I like it so much that I can even forgive the presence of children singing along with the chorus. (Kidz Bop is the product of Satan, forged deep within the bowels of Hell, FYI.)

Tony Thaxton - A Very Merry Navipod To You, Your Friends and Family and Everybody Else! Lastly is this EP of mostly original, mostly funny songs from the podcast mentioned earlier. (Now re-recorded with live drums and guest vocalists!) You can't go wrong with this stuff.

I donated to the Kickstarter that funded this EP and am greatly anticipating the mug I should be getting any day now.