The Neighbourhood Mixtape: Holiday Edition 2011
The Neighbourhood Mixtape is a collection of newly-released songs by Toronto musicians. The mixtape is meant to celebrate Toronto's music culture and provide a forum to listen to and discover new local music.
Every Sunday, I post a five-track mixtape (along with my own mini-reflections for each track) that you can download or stream as a soundtrack for the week. For this week, we revisit some old and give you some new holiday tunes as a sweet treat. The Neighbourhood Mixtape returns January 1st!
Track #1: Carnival Moon, "Ring Christmas Bells"
Elaine Kelly-Canning leads the choral magic in this classic carol, while friends and band-mates join along to the flick and pluck of Canning's harp.
Track #2: Evening Hymns, "Sonjas Sang Til Julestjernen"
"Sonjas Sang Til Julestjernen" is borrowed from a beloved Norwegian holiday film, Reisen til Julestjernen (The Journey to the Christmas Star) - a warm tune, although most of us may never know the story Jonas Bonnetta sings about.
Track #3: Ohbijou, "Last Christmas"
Ohbijou covers the 80's big-hit holiday song "Last Christmas" by Wham! Bright synths and gusts of strings light up the track, illuminating Casey Mecija's delicate and shivery vocals.
Track #4: The Wilderness of Manitoba, "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing"
Join The Wilderness of Manitoba as they charm you with bells, handclaps, soft strums and a merry banjo in their folk version of "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing".
Track #5: Fucked Up & Friends, "Do They Know It's Christmas?"
Kevin Drew (Broken Social Scene), Yo La Tengo, Tegan and Sara, members of Vampire Weekend and others unite with Fucked Up for this fine anthem for the holidays.
If you wish to be a part of The Neighbourhood Mixtape, you can contact Aldrin at aldrin [at] blogto [dotcom]
