We’re here to tell you:  no one can top Sufjan Stevens when it comes to Christmas concerts.  Stevens, Rosie Thomas and crew simply sleighed on their recent tour in support of his new Christmas box-set, Silver & Gold.  Another group putting on a Christmas concert (for the 10th year in a row apparently) is the mega-group out of Dallas, The Polyphonic Spree.  They are currently touring in support of a new album entitled Holidaydream.  While on tour, the troupe packed into NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert space with horns, scads of female singers and assorted other paraphernalia.  Check out their three-song set below.  What (cult?) leader Tim DeLaughter lacks vocally, he more than makes up for with vigor and vim.  The set list is below.

Set List:

Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
The Christmas Song
Silver Bells

And now for something completely different from Ben Gibbard (Death Cab, Postal Service) amongst this holiday season.  Gone was the solo acoustic guitar last night when Gibbard performed with Los Angeles mariachi troupe Trio Ellas (huh? there’s about tres trios here!).  Gibbard rearranged Something’s Rattling from the singer’s solo album, Former Lives, and though the performance goes on a bit too long, we love the comparative daring-do by Gibbard and the ensemble delivery.  Bravo!

John Roderick has, as a part of the The Long Winters, written some of our favorite songs and released some of the most resilient albums of indie-pop in the annals (including the “lost” masterpiece, When I Pretend to Fall–more on that soon).  Roderick is also one of the funnier folks around, as heard on his various podcast shows, including with Merlin Mann on the Roderick On the Line podcast (thanks to Tad Wagner for that hint).  Roderick and musician Jonathan Coulton recently released a new holiday album of originals dubbed One Christmas at a Time.  Check out Mr. Roderick below solo on a song from the album entitled The Week Between (lolling between pathos and bathos).  Nicely done.

We’ve been watching Austin City Limits since its inception in 1976.  While we occasionally have differed with ACL on bands included on the show (there has been a tendency to include too many marginally-talented Americana/”roots” artists), ACL has supplied some of the more magical music moments on our televisions (recent sets by The Decemberists and Bon Iver are stunning examples).  It’s rare that we don’t know an artist appearing on the show, so we were taken aback when we saw an ACL preview featuring Kat Edmonson (to be broadcast next month).  And then we discovered that Ms. Edmonson is an Austin native and figured ACL was just giving spotlight to one of its own.

And then we listened around and came around (in the process overcoming the fact that she appeared on the second season of American Idol).  Edmonson put out a well-received album of jazzy covers in 2009 entitled Take to the Sky, and then followed it up this Spring, courtesy of Kickstarter, with a mostly-originals album entitled Way Down Low that is turning critics heads.  Mining a vein that includes Rickie Lee Jones, Blossom Dearie, and even Joni Mitchell, Edmonson’s songs are well-crafted and sung (if occasionally cloying and slightly-twee).   Check out her ACL preview below and then her Tiny Desk Concert on NPR from this October.  Time will tell, but Edmonson seems to have the style and substance necessary to become a strong presence on the scene.

Kat Edmonson on Austin City Limits “Lucky” from Austin City Limits on Vimeo.

Our recent post on Stornoway and their Sounds From a Room session engendered a timely reminder (thanks Paul) of the band’s 2010 4AD Session recorded in the band’s Oxford town.  Check out the gent’s harmonies below on the fulfilling Fuel Up (from their Beachcomber’s Windowsill album), and then go over to 4AD Sessions to hear three more sonorous songs.

After last week’s Newtown news, it’s particularly hard to carry on at times.  It’s difficult to even put one foot in front of the other, let alone get in step with the season.  And the most innocent of events can leave you shattered.  So there we were, just casually looking around, when we stumbled upon (via The Line of Best Fit) the multi-talented Kathryn Calder (of the fantastic New Pornographers) and her new video for her Christmas song Little Ones, which was made for the charitable Plan Canada’s ‘Because I Am A Girl’ campaign.  “Because I Am A Girl” is a “global initiative to end gender inequality, promote girls’ rights and lift millions of girls – and everyone around them – out of poverty”.

Calder’s heartwarming video was released a scant three days before the Newtown events and now bears unintended gravitas and weight (given the subject matter and the fact that Calder’s late parents were teachers).  It’s a beauty for a great cause.  Read Calder’s explanation below, and if you can, go donate to Calder’s good cause HERE.  The video follows, and after, the song’s lyrics.  It seems that Calder is prompted by the season.  After Little Ones (and its lyrics), if you need some comfort and consolation (because of Newtown or the season), check out her video for Turn a Light On, which was released almost exactly one year before.  Superb.  Calder is evidently also at work on her third solo album, so stay tuned.

On a completely different note, if you want to see the musical magic of Calder as a part of the New Pornographers, check the concert video after the lyrics, and at the very bottom listen to a fine Christmas original (Joseph, Who Understood) from that powerful band.

From Kathryn Calder:

“I’ve put together this little video made up entirely of photos that fans, family and friends have sent in of their Christmases past. I’ve decided to also make it for Plan Canada’s ‘Because I Am A Girl’ campaign in honour of my late mom and dad, who were both elementary school teachers for their entire career. I would like to ask you to find out more and consider donating any amount to this important cause by going to my fundraising page: http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?registrationID=1696268

I had a very happy and fortunate childhood, we always had enough money for food, clothes, music lessons, etc. and so when I put together this video, I was naturally thinking about those who were having a harder time. I picked this particular cause because, as teachers, my parents were big advocates for improving childhood education both at home and abroad. As a woman, I want to help give young girls around the world the knowledge and tools to reach their full potentials.

This is a song about the magic of a childhood Christmas, and even though not all Christmases are happy ones, it’s as good a time as any to remember to cherish the ones we love while we have them, and to be thankful for the good life we have while it’s here!

Thanks, hope you enjoy!

To download the Ho! Ho! Ho! Canada 4 compilation of Christmas songs ‘Little Ones’ was featured on, visit The Line Of Best Fit: http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/new-music/art-of-noise-mixtapes/download-ho-h…

love,
K”

Lyrics:

“No one said that Christmas eve was a good time to go
I know we didn’t have a choice
How suddenly it changes from the snowy festive cheer
How suddenly the Christmas magic dims and disappears

Everyone out bustling, all the parties and the smiles
The melting snowflakes in our eyes
This winter scene the icy air, it’s my favourite time of year
Like everyday and always still, I’ll be wishing you were here

Hold onto our little ones,
The one’s who make you laugh when all you want to do is cry
Hold onto our little ones,
The carols and the lights, hot chocolate by the fireside
Hold onto our little ones,
With Santa on his flight, the reindeer on the roof at night,
Hold onto our little ones,
The stockings and the tree, the friends who are like family

Hold onto our little ones..
Hold onto our little ones..
Hold onto our little ones..
Hold onto our little ones..”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=6dKrdr1Ewzo&feature=endscreen

Montreal’s très intelligent band The Luyas don’t provide easy access.  Their music and lyrics are, at times, challenging, difficult to decode and dark.  You know, like the first time you heard Joy Division or OK Computer or Kid A, and you were left scratching your head.  But eventually, once you got it, they became your favorites.  The Luyas’ lead singer Jessie Stein writes dense, brilliant lyrics and sings them perfectly a-kilter, all the while backed by inventive, multi-instrumental bandmates.  Eventually, your time spent pays off in spades. Their latest album Animator on Dead Oceans continues to win over critics and fans.  Include us in that calculus.  We hope they make their way to Cali next year.

In the meantime, check the band out below performing earlier this month at Le Guess Who? Festival in Holland, as captured by 3voor12.  If you only have a short time, move up to the 8:45 mark for song Fifty Fifty to get a great feel for The Luyas.  All good.

Andrew Bird is another cat showing up on a lot of Best Albums/Songs of 2012 lists.   Chicago’s Bird released two albums this year, first a conventional (by Bird’s standards) album entitled Break It Yourself, and then this fall the second, more folk-Americana oriented album Hands of Glory (which featured mostly cover songs).  Bird stopped by Minnesota Public Radio’s The Current studios this morning to play a few songs off the latest album, including Three White Horses as captured below.  You can listen to the rest of the session HERE.  That’s musical beauty, right there.

Damien Jurado’s Mariqopa album is one of our favorite albums of 2012 (the list is “soon come,” as the Jamaicans say).  Jurado has written some of the more moving songs in the modern singer-songwriter genre.  Now watch him as he performed his comparatively straightforward “love song” Let Us All In at the Fremont Abbey in Seattle last Friday as a part of the Ballard Sessions series.   Another winning addition to the holiday season.

As this holiday season progresses, Sufjan Stevens’ song Justice Delivers Its Death bears repeated listening.  A beauty and a great reminder of what remains valuable in this life.  Enjoy.