5 Albums for Your Consideration

It's the week of Thanksgiving which basically means Christmas season is in full swing.

Re: that, 5 albums that will make you feel hip, feel British, feel good, feel cozy, or are just frenetically ADD. Most importantly, they all sing of Christ's birth in a way worth celebrating.

Sufjan Stevens- Songs for Christmas:

The Indie wunderkind does Christmas. Don't buy it digitally, however. If you really want to indulge the kitsch Indie aesthetic, order the album via Amazon so you don't miss out on the stickers, fold out comic escapade, poster, and thoughtfully constructed essays by "Santa Sufjan." Mmm.. love me some metacognitive treacle for Christmas.

Sting- If on a Winter's Night...:

Sting is a blowhard. That's why he calls himself Sting, probably. Here he finds a lot of niche musicians of the old order, sits indian-style with them in a circle, and ruminates on the soul of a traditional British Christmas. It's really great, actually. He draws from a lot of olde poetry, creates fun sheets of sound-canvases from spooky to toe-tappin', and throws in a Klaus Nomi cover to boot. I think he chose a Klaus Nomi song because, you know, Santa Klaus. Ha.

The Vince Guarldi Trio- A Charlie Brown Christmas:

What needs to be said? The reformed boogie-woogie piano player complements Shultz' creation in a bizarre, arty kinda way. It completes the vision for a work that is misleadingly simple. The stuff Ol' Sparky did to manhandle the network into playing on his terms is John Wayne type stuff, and thank God for it. Among other things, Guaraldi is responsible for the steel-brush-snare, quasi-melancholy, sentimental, thoughtful, "Christmas Time Is Here."

Christmas time is here
We'll be drawing near
Oh, that we could always see
Such spirit through the year
Oh, that we could always see
Such spirit through the year...

Game, set, match.

Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra- The Glorious Sound of Christmas:

It's all the really good traditional standards. This is the stuff you turn on in the evening next to the fireplace with a mug of cocoa. It also has a rollicking rendition of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen."

Relient K- Deck the Halls (And Bruise Your Hand):

So I like this album a lot. Matt Thiessen hints at a depth, even while desecrating Handel's Hallelujah chorus with a sickly buzz of pinched distortion and hyperactive 20 year-olds singing through their nose. The album is fun. If you have a problem with it, then you probably also eat little children's dreams for breakfast.