WWPV’s Guide to Christmas Music

If you’ve listened to WWPV at all recently you’ve likely heard a few Christmas tunes mixed in with our usual rotation.  This year we made it our quest to find good Christmas music–not the kind that takes over retail stores and mainstream radio stations this time of year, but instead, music that captures holiday cheer without making you want to gouge your ears out.  This is what we came up with:

If there’s one Christmas album that everyone in the world can agree on, it’s the soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas by the Vince Guaraldi Trio.  If these mellow piano jazz classics don’t put you in a festive mood, you might be heartless.

Another Christmas classic is the 1963 compilation album A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector.  40 years before he was a convicted murderer, Spector was a successful producer and arguably the most influential figure in 1960′s pop music, the driving force behind artists like The Crystals, The Ronettes, and Darlene Love. (He also, of course, produced Let It Be and All Things Must Pass a few years later.)  His Christmas Gift album features all of these artists on shamelessly bombastic holiday tunes.  Every pop Christmas song since then pales in comparison.

For a slightly more modern take on Christmas classics, there’s the complation album Verve Remixed: Christmas.  The Verve Remixed series is a series of albums featuring contemporary electronic and hip-hop producers and DJs remixing classic songs from the Verve Records archives.  The Christmas installment features Christmas standards from legends like Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone, and Count Basie being remixed by the likes of Brazilian Girls, The Orb, Oh No, and Fink (the English DJ, not the St. Mike’s band).

Do you like Christmas, but prefer warmer climates?  Christmas Greetings from Studio One is an album consisting of classic reggae and dub renditions of Christmas songs, from Studio One Records, the powerhouse of reggae music during its 1970s heydey.  On this album you’ll hear Bob Marley and the Wailers do “White Christmas,” alongside Christmas songs by Toots and the Maytals, and the Silvertones.

If there’s anyone in modern music who we can trust to make honest, heartfelt, non-tacky Christmas songs, it’s banjo-picking indie-folk heartthrob/noted state enthusiast Sufjan Stevens. His Songs for Christmas album includes 42 (!) Christmas songs he wrote and gave to friends and family over the years before releasing publicly.  It includes his take on classic carols like “Away in a Manger” and “O Come O Come Emmanuel,” as well as Stevens-penned originals with enthusiastic titles like “It’s Christmas! Let’s Be Glad!” and “Come On! Let’s Boogie to the Elf Dance!”

Sufjan’s not the only indie rocker to get in on the Christmas action, even if he is the most prolific.  My Morning Jacket‘s Christmas EP consists of a few rocking and reverb-drenched covers and originals.  An EP by Yo La Tengo encapsulates the band’s famous sonic diversity in just 3 Christmas songs.  (And yes, the band is Jewish, but lots of Christmas songs were written by Jewish composers, so why complain?)

If you’d prefer something a bit more silly, you’ll be pleased to hear that the Adult Swim show Aqua Teen Hunger Force just released an album of holiday tunes called Have Yourself a Meaty Little Christmas.  If you’re not an Aqua Teen fan you should be warned that the album consists is really more about typical ATHF surrealist tomfoolery than it is about music.  However, there is one gem of a song, a duet between Meatwad and Vermont’s own alt-country genius Neko Case titled “Santa Left a Booger in My Stocking”.  It’s about exactly what it sounds like, and Ms. Case’s beautiful voice singing about boogers is a moment of inspired brilliance.

Similarly weird is an old-school single by Beck called “The Little Drum Machine Boy.”  It’s one of Beck’s usual mid-90′s lo-fi hip-hip jams, except that this one’s about Hannukah (we love all holidays of the season here at PV), and it’s even got a beat consisting of a robot chanting a traditional Hebrew prayer hymn.

Also on our playlist is newly-solo Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas delivering a straightfaced cover of the great Saturday Night Live carol “I Wish It Was Christmas Today”, and Swedish singer-songwriter Jens Lekman‘s song “A Higher Power,” which isn’t really a Christmas song but it’s about making out in the back of church and getting drunk and puking at a Christmas party, so we’ll take it.

So there’s a little (or, a long) rundown of some of the holiday music you’ll hear on WWPV.  We fully support throwing away your parents’ Amy Grant and Kenny Rogers Christmas albums and replacing them with Sufjan Stevens.  It’s the spirit of the season.

You can hear a full 4-hour playlist of holiday tunes on Christmas Eve at 6:00 pm, and a few times throughout the day on Christmas Day (assuming I correctly set up our computer before I left).  And, of course, they’ll be sprinkled in our regular music rotation, too.  Tune into 88.7 FM on your radio if you’re in the Burlington area, or listen to our webcast at wwpv.org.  Here’s the full playlist:

1. Aqua Teen Hunger Force & Neko Case – Santa Left a Booger in My Stocking
2. Aqua Teen Hunger Force – The Little Drum Machine Boy
3. Beck – The Little Drum Machine Boy
4. Blitzen Trapper – Christmas is Coming Soon
5. Bob Marley and the Wailers – White Christmas
6. Death Cab for Cutie – Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
7. Eek A Mouse – The Night Before Christmas
8. Feist – Lo, How a Rose E’re Blooming
9. Jacob Miller – We Wish You an Irie Christmas
10. Jens Lekman – A Higher Power
11. Johnny Cash – The Little Drummer Boy
12. Julian Casablancas – I Wish It Was Christmas Today
13. The Kinks – Father Christmas
14. Los Straitjackets – Deck The Halls
15. Los Straitjackets – We Three Kings
16. Los Straitjackets – Que Verdes Son
17. Low – Just Like Christmas
18. My Morning Jacket – I Just Wanted To Say
19. My Morning Jacket – Xmas Time is Here Again
20. My Morning Jacket – Santa Claus is Back in Town
21. Phantom Planet – Winter Wonderland
22. The Ramones – Merry Christmas (I Don’t Wanna Fight Tonight)
23. The Ravonettes – Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
24. Rilo Kiley – Xmas Cake
25. Silvertones – Bling Bling Christmas
26. Sufjan Stevens – O Come O Come Emmanuel
27. Sufjan Stevens – It’s Christmas! Let’s Be Glad!
28. Sufjan Stevens – Put The Lights on the Tree
29. Sufjan Stevens – Come On!  Let’s Boogie to the Elf Dance!
30. Sufjan Stevens – O Holy Night
31. Sufjan Stevens – That Was the Worst Christmas Ever!
32. Sufjan Stevens – Away in a Manger
33. Sufjan Stevens – Get Behind Me, Santa!
34. Sufjan Stevens – Holy, Holy, Holy
35. Toots and the Maytals – Christmas Feeling Ska
36. Darlene Love – White Christmas
37. The Ronettes – Frosty the Snowman
38. Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans – The Bells of St. Mary’s
39. The Crystals – Santa Claus is Coming to Town
40. The Ronettes – Sleigh Ride
41. Darlene Love – Marshmallow World
42. The Ronettes – I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
43. The Crystals – Rudolph the Red Nosed-Reindeer
44. Darlene Love – Winter Wonderland
45. The Crystals – Parade of the Wooden Soldiers
46. Darlene Love – Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
47. Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans – Here Comes Santa Claus
48. Count Basie – Good Morning Blues (The Real Tuesday Clerkenwell Remix)
49. Louis Armstrong – Zat You, Santa Claus? (The Heavy Remix)
50. Ella Fitzgerald – What Are You Doing New Years Eve? (Mangini vs. Pallin Mix)
51. Billie Holiday – I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm (Yesking Remix)
52. Louis Armstrong – What a Wonderful World (The ORd Remix)
53. Shirley Horn – Winter Wonderland (Christian Prommer Remix)
54. Nina Simone – I Am Blessed (Wax Tailor Remix)
55. Dinah Washington – Silent Night (Brazilian Girls Remix)
56. Mel Torme – The Christmas Song (Sonny J Remix)
57. Nina Simone – (Fink Remix)
58. Vince Guaraldi Trio – O Tannenbaum
59. Vince Guaraldi Trio – What Child is This
60. Vince Guaraldi Trio – My Little Drum
61. Vince Guaraldi Trio – Linus and Lucy
62. Vince Guaraldi Trio – Christmas Time is Here
63. Vince Guaraldi Trio – Skating
64. Vince Guaraldi Trio – Hark the Herald Angels Sing
65. Vince Guaraldi Trio – The Christmas Song
66. The Waitresses – Christmas Wrapping
67. The White Stripes – Candy Cane Children
68. Yo La Tengo – Rock N Roll Santa
69. Yo La Tengo – It’s Christmas Time
70. Yo La Tengo – Santa Claus Goes Modern

What are your favorite holiday tunes?  We’ll add them to the playlist next year.

This Saturday: WWPV and Turtle Underground present JAPHY RYDER, live at St. Mike’s!

We’ve teamed up with our friends at Turtle Underground, the weekly open mic/concert series on North Campus here at St. Michael’s, to put together a rad concert featuring Burlington-based progressive jazz/rock/hip-hop band (and St. Michael’s alumni) Japhy Ryder.  Opening up will be St. Michael’s very own Travel North (formerly the John Howland Band, among other monikers).  It’s taking place at 9:00 p.m. this Saturday, November 14, at Turtle Underground’s usual pad in the Purtill Hall Basement.  Also, it’s totally FREE.  So come on out and get ready to get down!

Seven Days presents Burlington Bands 101: This Wednesday

This Wednesday, Seven Days is putting on the second annual Burlington Bands 101 showcase, taking up both floors at Nectar’s and Club Metronome.  St. Michael’s alums and PV favorites In Memory of Pluto will be playing, along with six more Vermont-based artists.  It’s a nice primer on the vibrant, diverse, and overall kickass Burlington music scene if you’re new to it…and even if you aren’t, it’s a damn lot of great music in one place at one time for a cheap price.  And WWPV will be there, so stop by our table and say what’s up.

Details: It’s this Wednesday, Sept. 23, at 9 p.m. at Nectar’s and Club Metronome.  The show’s 18+, and there’s a $5 cover charge with all proceeds benefitting our friends in independent, non-commercial community radio, The Radiator.

Click here for more info, including the full lineup.

Hippest Week Ever

Yo La Tengo

This week is shaping up to be an unusually indie week for shows in Burlington…a nice change of pace from the usual concert booking trends around here.  Out with the Birkenstocks and hemp necklaces, in with the berets and skinny jeans?  Who knows.  But hipsters, those too hip to be hipsters, and people who are simply into slightly experimental, outside-the-mainstream music have quite the week ahead of them.

It all starts tonight with Death Vessel and Barbacoa at The Monkey House in Winooski tonight.  This show is being put on by Angioplasty Media, who’ve been booking quite a few nifty little shows of late.

Tuesday is going to be huge, as indie legends Yo La Tengo hit up Higher Ground in support of their newly released 12th album, Popular Songs.  Amazingly, tickets are only $20 (that’s less than a dollar for every year this band’s been in existence).  If there’s only one show you check out this week, make it this one; bands on the level of Yo La Tengo don’t make it up to Vermont very often.

On Thursday night, Here We Go Magic play Club Metronome with support from local artists The Vacant Lots and DJ Disco Phantom.  Here We Go Magic have accrued quite a bit of hype this year, but their self-titled album is worth it–reminds me of Sung Tongs-era Animal Collective, which is a very good thing.

The Decemberists

Rounding out the week, next Sunday the 20th, The Decemberists play the Flynn Center.  They’ll be playing their new album The Hazards of Love in its entirety, followed by a second set of older material.  Opening act Laura Veirs is the female vocalist in the Decemberists duet “Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then”, so maybe that will make an appearance…?

The indiefication of Burlington’s music scene doesn’t stop this week, thankfully, with Andrew Bird, Matt & Kim, Great Lake Swimmers, Amanda Palmer, and lots more great acts coming to town this fall.

WWPV means music 24/7.

Did you know WWPV now plays music all day, every day?  Even when there are no DJs in the studio, we’re broadcasting an eclectic mix of music from our music library.  So no matter when you tune into 88.7, early in the morning, late at night, or any time in between, you’ll hear music.  Even during the summer and breaks from the school year.

If you’re having BBC World Service withdrawals, you can still get your fix at Vermont Public Radio’s Web site or on channel 107.9-2 on HD Radio.

Follow us!

Have you ever had the craving to be attached to your campus radio station WHEREVER YOU ARE?  Well we’re still working on that one.  But you can still declare your WWPV fandom in all kinds of ways on the Internet.

First, our website at wwpv.org is as rad as ever.  Here you’ll find our schedule of shows, playlists from previous shows, and our live streaming Webcast so you can listen online from anywhere in the world.  Now we’ve added a Downloads section, where you’ll be able to download podcasts, music recorded in our studio, and whatever else we think to put up there.  It’s a work in progress.

You can also become a fan of ours on Facebook at facebook.com/wwpv887. Facebook fans will get access to exclusive contests and giveaways, so trust us, it’s a good idea.  You can also connect with other PV listeners and tell us what you’ve got to say.

If you’d prefer your WWPV updates in 140 characters or less, then you can follow the station’s Twitter.  All things PV, text-message style.  And, we promise to be less annoying than the guy who’s always Tweeting about the weather and what he’s having for dinner.  We hate that guy too.

So follow us everywhere you can for maximum access to new music and free stuff from your friends here at WWPV.  And if you’re old fashioned, you can still tune in 88.7 FM on your tube radio to hear us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.