Three show up on the second volume of A Familyre Christmas from sister-label Sounds Familyre. Half-handed Cloud packed "Home for Christmas" into the volume (see if you can pick out the voices of Nedelle and Chris from Cryptacize!), Liz Janes carefully wrapped "Mary’s Song," and Sufjan Stevens must have found some of Manheim Steamroller’s gear on ebay to record "Good King Wenceslas." You can listen to all these songs, plus several more from friends like Danielson, Lenny Smith, Soul-junk, The Singing Mechanic, and Innocence Mission right here.
Chris Schlarb (also of I Heart Lung) started a new tradition this year and gathered his family to record a Christmas album. "The high-concept, two part Christmastime in… series is sure to please the closet prog-heads out there," writes Chris. You can download the four-song album (complete with amazing cover art!) here.
DM Stith also recorded "Ecstatic Only Static Peace (Peace to Me)," which showed up this morning on Stereogum’s cyber-doorstep, right here. Stith comments, "I imagined a cartoon Christmas special like the ones I grew up watching, and in this one, there’s a musical number featuring a dilapidated old house who is singing about a dream of being dressed in Christmas lights. For him it’s like the ultimate act of honor. So I imagine this old house watching the other houses on the street get all decked up for Christmas and he’s left without, no glory in the winter weather. I think David Bowie is playing the voice of the old house."
And then of course, there’s the full, free stream of Sufjan’s 5-CD Christmas boxset, a video game simulation of Christmas, a specially designed Christmas eCard generator, some last-minute ornaments from Laura Park, and some cute videos all right here.
