
Unless you're living totally off the grid, it's hard to ignore the signs. Church Christmas bazaars and crafts fairs pepper the New England landscape, their wreaths and wraps and wooden ornaments a constant temptation. Television relationships get warmer by the fire; the commercials all begin to come in red velvet and white fur trim. Even the older family down the street has gotten into the act, draping the gutters with fauxcicles, topping the old stump with a glittering wire angel, trimming the lawn with white plastic snowmen and skeletal reindeer that blink furiously into [...]

Though the basic tenets of the movement include finding truth in a diversity of sources, thanks to the large number of post-Christian seekers in their membership, Unitarian Universalist congregations can be a bit oversensitive about "the Jesus thing". This makes seasonal celebration a bit tense. For example, in our own UU Society, though no one balked at last weekend's celebration of Hanukkah, and though we expect solid support for similar services on both Kwanza and Solstice in the coming weeks, past practice suggests we'd do well to avoid mention of the trinity, angels, miracles and the [...]

folkperlen fürs wochenende, die 1. die auflistung kann sich mittlerweile als solche fühlen, da es der linkverfolgungen mehrere gäbe, um nachzuzeichnen, wie wir robin allender auf der spur sind ( vol. 1 . im august 07: allender brachte sein debutalbum heraus, als mitwirkender bei gravenhurst fiel er auf; vol. 2 im januar 08: stellten wir dreamboat records und deren aktuellen labelsampler vor, auf dem auch die frisch konstruierte allender band aktiv war). "o uter dark", das neue album (16.03.) der the allender band , beginnt [...]

To suggest that all true Christmas music is kidsong is only a slight oversimplification. Put aside the tales of holiday romance and heartbreak, allow for the minor exception of a few overly religious holiday hymns, and a surprisingly large percentage of the melodies in the frosty air this time of year is kidmusic. And why not? We are, after all, products of a culture which weans its adults on a steady diet of commodification fetish through childhood tv. Religious or secular, Christian or otherwise, the way we come to Christmas springs - at least [...]

Santogold - Lights Out The Teenagers - Starlett Johansson Fourth Of July - She's in Love Robin Allender - We, Emmanuel Light, Love Ocean (Rollercoaster Project Remix) Amy Winehouse - Love Is A Losing Game (Truth & Soul Remix) Once again, June 21st has arrived. The kids are out of school, save for the few who have resigned themselves to summer classes. Here's some songs that remind me of typical lazy summer days, with delirious sunshine, and the [...]

Christmas Eve Part I — The Rollercoaster Project A Christmas Song With No Cheer — Robin Allender Farewell My Friend — Tom Wilson Christmas Eve Part II — The Rollercoaster Project via Dreamboat Records

. "Very simple cauliflower soup (potatoes, onion and caulifower) topped with chopped chives, chives blossoms and olive oil. With toasted homemade wholewheat and ground flax seeds bread. - flikr " . " Lunch. Fun Tracks From Around The Blog " 01. Robin Allender - The Bower ( hp ) The Bird And The Word (Dreamboat Records, 2007) 02. The Bridal Shop - From Seas ( MySpace ) [...]
This year I got ambitious and decided to jot some thoughts on every one of my 50 favorite songs (though about half of these blurbettes are quotes from earlier posts). Each song is so different and delightful in its own way that I couldn't rank them. You'll find the list in alpha order by song title. I'd love to host an mp3 for every one, I really would, but given bandwidth constraints, that's out of the question. So I tried to put up the songs that may be harder to find via Hype [...]
I rarely listen to comedy albums, but Patton Oswalt is an exception. His latest album, Werewolves and Lollipops , is due July 10th on Sub Pop. Patton Oswalt : "The Dukes of Hazzard" [mp3] from Werewolves and Lollipops (out July 10th) other music blog posts: @lhb @hype @elbo.ws | @myspace Anon Good Nurse : one track [mp3] [...]

Robin Allender - The School Field "The School Field" is from Robin Allender's upcoming album, The Bird and the Word , being released later this summer on Dreamboat Records. I've been checking out the Dreamboat Records site for awhile now, and it's interesting to hear the changes that this song went through in the transition from its demo version to this new album version. Predictably, now that I'm looking for it, I can't seem to find the demo version to post. There's another track from [...]
Co-inciding with the year anniversary of this sites conception a year ago, I'm introducing a new feature to counteract the ephemera (something that disappears quickly) of writing about new bands. Basically, I write about a lot of new music, but rarely get the chance to talk about what these artists go on to do, release, who they get to dance to their funky music. A similar thing will probably happen again every few weeks so that all the bands and artists I write about won't get so lost in the tubes the internet. *********** [...]

Simon Grant - Little Donkey The Gala Band - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas The Rollercoaster Project - O Little Town of Bethlehem Robin Allender - Walking in the Air While I was searching for the Inconsolable track from my last post, I discovered the Dreamboat Records Christmas EP. "Little Donkey" and "Walking in the Air" are particularly gorgeous. Enjoy! via Dreamboat Records

I was going to follow Sunday's post with more true tales of death, but I couldn't unleash that double downer. Not when it's the season to deck the halls and fa la la la la. So instead, allow me to introduce a song of molten silver arpeggio and sugar-dusted murmur, a cover by SYF friend Robin Allender. "Walking In The Air" is the theme from The Snowman , the animated film based on the book that I lived in ignorance of until just a few days ago. (Apparently, this is odd even for an American.) [...]