THING TWO

THING TWO 11/17/2011

Still more singles and, yes, still more vinyl!

Austrian Death Machine scored a bit of an underground hit the last time they tackled Christmas with their "Very Brutal Christmas" single. So they have returned to the scene of the crime, as it were, and have put together an all new holiday single with songs featuring Ahnold-esque vocals inspired by the movie "Jingle All The Way". "I Am Not A Pervert" appears to be the lead track, though it shares the 7" "A" side with "It's Turbo Time". On the flip is "Who Told You You Could Eat My Cookies". The digital single is expected to be released December 6. The vinyl 7" is limited to 500 copies and can be ordered direct from Metal Blade, with the shipping date anticipated to be around December 19. ADM is basically a one joke band, but they've gotten a lot of mileage out of it. And if you happen to like the one joke, then not much else matters, right? Oh, and look, we've got a preview.

Not a single, but I wanted to let you know that Schuyler Fisk's Christmas EP has arrived and it sounds like it was worth the wait. "Sounds of the Holiday" is 6 songs of Indie Pop seasonal joy. I think you're going to like this one, especially the bonus track from Schuyler's side project band FM Radio. Digital downloads are available now on iTunes and Amazon MP3 and physical copies should be available from Amazon next week.

1. Rockin Around The Christmas Tree
2. Sleep Sleep (Christmas Lullaby)
3. Silver Bells
4. It's Christmas, So We're Singing
5. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
6. More Than I Wished For (Bonus Track by FM Radio)

Is Ska making a comeback? Well, certainly one of the great Ska bands of the 70s and 80s seems to be. The Selecter were, in the day, almost as synonymous with Ska as the iconic checkerboard print of their label 2-Tone. After a long time of doing other things, original lead vocalist Pauline Black and original guitarist Gaps Hendrickson have reunited to lead a new Selecter. The band has already released a new album, "Made In Britain", which has been very well received. They've lined up a tour for 2012. And, most importantly (to us), they've announced a double "A" sided Christmas single which will be released the first week in December. That's all we know so far. Honest.

I have to admit that the concept of Christian Metal has always been a tough one for me to wrap my head around. We're not talking about that faux almost comical Metal of, say, Stryper, but real honest-to-goodness-heavy-progressive-Death-Metal Metal. Only Christian. Well, its worked well for August Burns Red and it seems to be working well for Atlanta's Becoming The Archetype as well. And BTA is jumping into the Christmas music thing this year with a Metalized "O Holy Night", due for release on December 6. It's either going to be very good....or very scary. Maybe both. If you want to get yourself in the proper mood, pop on over to Pure Volume and listen to Becoming The Archetype's take on "How Great Thou Art". Yeah, definitely very good. And definitely very scary. Amazon MP3 has the 30 second clip up and there's not much help there (and what's with the singing kids?). Well...keep an ear out...and one eye open. No word yet on whether there will be any hard copy edition, but...probably not.

We've been waiting on a Christmas album from country stars Little Big Town. And, maybe its the pessimist in me, but I see the appearance of this digital single from the group as a bad sign about the album--like maybe we're going to have to wait another year. It's been quiet. Too quiet. I do know that the group set out to record a full album and I do know they did record more than this one song. Alas, the band hasn't been talking or posting anything on Facebook. And the only thing we know for sure is that "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" debuts on Amazon MP3 and iTunes on November 21. Oh well. A least we'll always have Paris.

Mmmmm. More Christmas Blues. You would not believe how common the name "Smokehouse" is for a Blues band. I'm pretty sure this isn't anything to do with the Florida Swamp Blues group that recorded for Kingsnake. And I'm positively certain this isn't the Montana Blues group. No, in this case, the Smokehouse is singular...as in Mr. McKinley "Smokehouse" Porter. And Mamie Porter is (presumably) the Mrs. They bill themselves as the King and Queen of Gutbucket Blues and that's exactly the kind of music they play. "Rudolph's Got The Blues" finds the red-nosed protagonist fed up with hauling Santa's fat butt around. Rudy has decided he'd rather find himself a doe and settle down. I'm not as high on this one as I was on yesterday's "Let Me Be Your Santa Claus". But it is authentic Gutbucket Blues and you can never have too much of that. As an added attraction, this one even comes in both digital and hard copy CD single formats. You'll find it at Amazon and pretty much everywhere else.

Mmmmm. More Christmas Bluegrass. Kathy Boyd & Phoenix Rising hail from the Pacific Northwest where they are big festival favorites. "Bluegrass Christmas" was actually released last year. But Kathy and the boys have added another verse and cut the song anew for 2011. This one is pretty hard core Bluegrass, musically, though the vocals lean a little towards folksy. You'll find "Bluegrass Christmas (2011)" at Amazon MP3 and CD Baby.

I'm not entirely sure how old Monica Matocha is (her official bio doesn't offer), but she was a young teen when enjoying a bit of Radio Disney success with the trio #1 Crush just a few short years ago. Out there on her own, now, Monica's debut single "Imposter" only debuted earlier this month. And "Imposter" was actually really good--in a sort of Avril Lavigne kind of way. Monica also has a free download available if you "Like" her Facebook page--and that one's pretty good, too. Monica says she has a couple of Christmas songs coming up, the first of which is her cover of "Holiday Road" (the Lindsey Buckingham song from "Christmas Vacation"). "Holiday Road" reaches Amazon MP3 and iTunes on November 22. The 30 second clip doesn't impress me much, but it is a good song and a 30 second clip doesn't tell you a lot. As a bubblegum child, myself, I'm rooting for Monica (though I'm sure she wouldn't consider herself bubblegum). And, besides, I love doing a post that includes Death Metal and Bubblegum, Blues and Bluegrass, Country and Rock N Roll. I like to think that kind of diversity is what sets Stubbys apart.

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