Free Streaming Christmas & Holiday Music - Something Traditional, Something Different

Looking for some options for listening to Christmas tunes and other holiday music free online? Last year I wrote about some options for listening to holiday music online, but didn't manage to post the article until the day after Christmas. I'm slightly ahead of the game this year, getting the information to you just before the clock marks the arrival of Dec. 24th in the Eastern U.S.

Web-Radio.fm offers a sleighfull of streaming Christmas radio stations.

As with last year, Web-Radio.fm has an extensive selection of all kinds of Christmas radio stations, from traditional to rock, classical, country, and R&B. And AOL Music's album-streaming service once again is featuring holiday music at this time of year, including "Glee: The Music: The Christmas Album Volume 3" and "Now That's What I Call Christmas 5," featuring seasonal songs by Carly Rae Jepson, Justin Bieber, Sara Bareilles, Lady Gaga, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, and many more. AOL's other two streaming holiday albums this year are "Bing Crosby Christmas" and "A Rat Pack Christmas."

For more information on Christmas music listening, you can check out the music section of the bulletin boards of Christmas 365.(see in particular the posts "Christmas Music/Radio Odds and Ends" and "The Week Link - Yule Audio Sources all year!").

If (mostly) classical music and carols are more your taste, check out the special 24-hour stream of seasonal music from New York's classical radio station, WQXR. (It'll be running until Jan. 6th.)


Darlene Love performing "Christmas, Baby Please Come Home" on Letterman last week.

One of the most sought-after Christmas music collections from last year was Bill Adler's "Christmas Jollies," a mix CD of off-the-beaten-track songs that the New York City record collector and former record-company executive put together for his friends.

I've searched online a number of times in recent weeks but can't find mention of what songs are on the 2012 edition of "Christmas Jollies"—perhaps the publicity over last year's collection brought too much media attention to Adler's door, intruding on his own holiday enjoyment. In any case, you can hear the 2011 version of Bill Adler's "Christmas Jollies" here (playing each tune one at a time). P.S. If anyone reading this knows where to hear the 2012 edition of Adler's mix, leave a comment for us below.

Though you may not be lucky enough to spend Christmas in Hawaii with the President of the United States and his family, you can enjoy a bit of an island holiday with another item I featured in last year's post, "Aloha, Merry Christmas From Hawaii" by Ian Stearns (disclosure: we're related).

  Aloha, Merry Christmas From Hawaii by IanStearns

Choose your favorite holiday music stream, grab a mug of spiked eggnog, and enjoy. Merry Christmas, all!

Free Album Streaming: New CDs from Best Coast, Beach House, & More

Just in time for summer, there are new albums from Best Coast and Beach House up for online preview this week. NPR Music says that on "The Only Place" Best Coast "doesn't just advance the band's irresistible garage-pop formula; it perfects it." I've only listened to the album once, but I also enjoyed it, and was glad to hear that they've added some new textures to the simple sound found on their debut album.


Above: Best Coast plays a new song, "Last Year," at the 35 Denton Festival.

Another popular group that made a splash a couple of years ago, Beach House, is back with a new album, "Bloom," and a reviewer from KEXP radio in Seattle calls it "a masterfully crafted set of expansive dream pop that rivals their 2010 breakthrough album 'Teen Dream.'" I haven't taken to the dreamy, layered-synth sound of Beach House the way many other people have, but I'll definitely give "Bloom" a listen and see if it gets me into the band.

Also streaming this week: Spinner has "Neck of the Woods" by Silversun Pickups (which was streaming on MTV's website last week); a four-song EP by S. Carey of Bon Iver; the new album by Animal Kingdom, and "Dr. Dee" by Damon Albarn of Blur and Gorillaz, a soundtrack to an English opera about a 16th-century sorcerer who was a royal adviser.

Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune and "Sound Opinions" liked the early songs on "Dr. Dee," but says it fades from there, noting that it's "peppered by stuffy opera singers, slow-moving elegies, and unintentional silliness...."

In addition, Garbage announced online today that its new album, "Not Your Kind of People," will be streaming later this week. I'll post details on that when I hear them.

As always, the albums shown below are just a few of the many releases streaming each week; visit the websites to see the full listings.

NPR First Listen:
"The Only Place" by Best Coast
"Bloom" by Beach House
"Passage" by Exitmusic

Spinner.com's Listening Party:
"The Looking Away" by Animal Kingdom
"Neck of the Woods" by Silversun Pickups
"Dr. Dee" by Damon Albarn
"Hoyas" EP by S. Carey
"Fading Light" by Justin Jones
"Journey Through the Shadows" by The Parlotones
"Secret Handshake" by Anthony Da Costa

Free Album Streaming: New Music from Kathleen Edwards, Cate Le Bon, Howler, Laura Gibson, & More

New CDs from singer-songwriters Kathleen Edwards, Cate Le Bon, and Laura Gibson are most notable of the relatively small crop of albums available for streaming this week. Edwards burst on the scene a few years back with her song "Six O'Clock News," and the Canadian has gotten some solid critical and commercial success with her debut album "Failer" and subsequent efforts. You can hear her latest album "Voyageur" (produced by Edwards and Bon Iver's Justin Vernon) at NPR Music below.


"Change the Sheets" by Kathleen Edwards from "Voyageur," streaming free at NPR Music. 


Welsh singer Cate Le Bon has a new album, "CYRK," coming out on next week, which coincides nicely with her first headlining tour beginning early in February (she plays at the Mercury Lounge on Feb. 9th and at Maxwell’s in Hoboken the next night.) You can hear"CYRK" at the at the Paste Magazine preview below.

The Minneapolis band Howler has been racking up critical acclaim despite its youth (in the age of its members, and in its existence as a group). On the heels of EP earlier this year, it's out with a full-length, "America Give Up," that's full of short, catchy power pop tunes.

Singer-songwriter Laura Gibson hails from the Portland, Oregon area and has appeared with other well-regarded performers from that area, including Colin Meloy of The Decemberists and Laura Veirs. Her latest album, "La Grande," is also streaming at NPR Music, and the title song is today's free song download from Minnesota Public Radio's The Current (download the song "La Grande" here).

There's a modest number of other albums for free preview, most from artists I haven't heard of, but I'll check out some of them. Based on a quick first listen I enjoyed the self-titled album from Grand & Noble and "Normal" by Run Dan Run.

NPR First Listen:
"Voyageur" by Kathleen Edwards
"La Grande" by Laura Gibson
"America Give Up" by Howler

Paste Magazine Album Stream:
"CYRK" by Cate Le Bon

Spinner.com's Listening Party:
"Dark Matters" by Expensive Looks
"Normal" by Run Dan Run
"Grand & Noble" by Grand & Noble
"Passenger" by Kalyn Rock

AOL Music Listening Party:
"From the Vanishing Point" by Red Wanting Blue
"Peace of Mind" by Rebelution
"Garden Window" by O'Brother

Free Streaming Christmas & Holiday Music - Still Tasty the Next Day!

Like leftover turkey and cookies, holiday music is still with us after Christmas or Hanukkah have ended... and sometimes these tunes are just as tasty after the fact. Since there are no new albums available for free online streaming this week (a usual Podcast Party feature on Monday or Tuesday), I thought I'd offer some streaming and/or downloadable holiday music to listen to if, like me, you enjoy hearing it after the actual holidays.

Spinner has an all-holiday group of album previews this week (as of Dec. 26th, at least).

Over at Spinner.com, a variety of holiday albums are still up for streaming, including some I've mentioned before like "A Brushfire Holiday, Volume 2" by This Warm December (featuring G. Love, Zee Avi, Matt Costa, and more). There's also "The Beach Boys' Christmas Album," "Christmas in California" by Ash Reiter, the four-song EP "Tennessee Christmas" by Lindi Ortega, Shonen Knife's three-track EP "Sweet Christmas," and one that sounded odd to me: "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year," a collection of traditional Christmas songs by Scott Weiland, the troubled singer for Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver.

TV viewers may want to check out AOL Music's streaming offerings, including "Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album Volume 2" and "The Sing Off: Songs of the Season" (with performances by Pentatonix, the Dartmouth Aires, season two winners Committed, and many more). Also on AOL Music is "Now That's What I Call Christmas 4," featuring seasonal songs by contemporary artists such as Sheryl Crow, Carrie Underwood, and Maroon 5 and by old-timers like Andy Williams, Nat King Cole, and Burl Ives.

Note: there's no telling how long the Spinner and AOL Music holiday albums will be streaming, so you might want to check them out sooner rather than later.

The cover of the 2011 edition of Bill Adler's eclectic "Christmas Jollies" mix.

The homemade mix tape "Christmas Jollies" by Bill Adler was the subject of an NPR story yesterday, and it has gotten a lot of holiday love via re-tweeting and other forms of online sharing. Adler does a "Jollies" mix each year and distributes it to friends; this year's edition includes songs from Peggy Seeger, Solomon Burke, The Beach Boys, and more. You can read the transcript of the NPR story here, hear excerpts from each of the songs here (with notes from Adler), and see the complete track listing here.

(Oh, and to answer the question everyone's asking, "Where can I buy the 'Christmas Jollies' CD?!," the answer is: you can't. Apparently Adler burns CDs for his friends, but otherwise doesn't distribute the mix on physical media [due to copyright issues, I'd guess]). 

Also from NPR Music is the collection "Jingle Jams:  A Holiday Mix For The Rest Of Us," what it calls off-the-beaten-path holiday songs for folks having hard times during the season (the mix is co-curated by Adler). It's billed as a set for those who "get dumped or lose their jobs, or spend the night in jail." The artists include everyone from the Andrews Sisters to Paul Simon, Lady Gaga, and The Pogues, and includes one of my favorite modern holiday tunes, "Christmas Wrapping" by The Waitresses.

If you're interested in listening to Christmas music year round, check out the 400 or so streaming stations at www.web-radio.fm/christmas. You'll find genres from traditional to rock, R&B, classical, Christian, Latin, jazz, and more

And since family is a major theme of the holiday season, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention "Aloha, Merry Christmas From Hawaii," a catchy Christmas song which, in the interest of full disclosure, was written and performed by my nephew Ian Stearns. Yes, I know what you're thinking, but he is an accomplished musician who has been honing his chops in various bands over the last two decades, including the bluegrass group Brooklyn Playboys.

Take a listen to it below. It's got a nice, warm island vibe, and who couldn't use a little warmth (or the musically induced reasonable facsimile thereof) this time of year?

  Aloha, Merry Christmas From Hawaii by IanStearns

Look for a batch of new albums for free streaming early next week, as the holiday season wraps up and labels start pushing out their new releases.

Free Album Previews: New St. Vincent and Ivy, the Latest "True Blood" Collection, & More

St. Vincent - "Cruel"

There aren't a lot of new albums for free preview this week, but there are some good ones available. One of the most anticipated is the new release from Annie Clark, the singer-songwriter and guitarist who performs under the name St. Vincent. She's back with "Strange Mercy," her first album in several years (release date: Sept. 13), and NPR Music is calling it her best yet. It's available for free streaming there and at KCRW (for a longer period).

Also available this week are new albums from a number of singer-songwriters including A.A. Bondy, Joe Firstman, and Tom Russell (with contributions from Calexico, Lucinda Williams, and others) … the album by the Horrible Crowes, the side project of Brian Fallon from the Gaslight Anthem … and the latest album by Ivy (the trio including Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne).

One album I've been enjoying is "True Blood: Music From The HBO Original Series Volume 3,"with music by Neko Case and Nick Cave, PJ Harvey and Gordon Gano, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Nick Lowe, Massive Attack, and others. Some songs (or their performances/arrangements) don't do anything for me or seem like filler (does the album really need four versions of "She's Not There"?), but I really like some of the contributions, and there's a great range of artists on the album.  

Album previews from NPR Music and AOL/Spinner are usually available for one week, from Monday to Sunday; KCRW's album previews are up for a longer time and the date is given when known.

KCRW Album Preview: 
"Strange Mercy" by St. Vincent (streaming through Sept. 18)

NPR First Listen:
"Believers" by A.A. Bondy  

Spinner.com's Listening Party:
"Hanna - Original Soundtrack" by the Chemical Brothers
"True Blood - Music from the HBO Series, Volume 3" by various artists

AOL Music Listening Party: 
"Mesabi" by Tom Russell
"Swear It Was a Dream" by Joe Firstman
"Elsie" by the Horrible Crowes  

Amazon.com Album Preview:
"All Hours" by Ivy

Which of these albums do you like, and which other new albums are you enjoying? Leave your comments below!

South by Southwest 2011 (SXSW): Free Music for Download and Streaming

The music part of the South by Southwest festival gets underway in Austin, Texas tomorrow, but you can enjoy a lot of the music in the comfort of your home with free podcasts and online streaming. Here are some of the choices available. The SXSW Music festival runs from March 15th through the 20th.

* The official 2011 SXSW Music website has links to free iTunes downloads and the SXSW Shoutcast radio stations. You can also subscribe to the SXW Music Blog feed and get updates by connecting to SXSW on Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace.

* As usual, there's a huge collection of songs by SXSW artists to download via torrent (this year's is over 6.5 GB). (From what I've been told this download is legal, though I can't find any statement explicitly stating that.)

* NPR Music will once again be offering extensive SXSW coverage, including live concert webcasts (mostly audio, but there may be some video) that are usually archived for streaming or podcast download later. See their SXSW Music site for the Austin 100 Mix, a streaming collection of new songs by artists playing the festival, and see their SXSW preview (streaming or podcast) for the artists the NPR Music staff is most looking forward to.

* L.A. radio station KCRW will have a big presence in Austin as well, and you can find their schedule, a free SXSW sampler, and more at their SXSW site. "Morning Becomes Eclectic" host Jason Bentley will be broadcasting the show live from Austin, too.

* Amazon.com has a selection of free SXSW music samplers, including Bloodshot Records and Saddle Creek Records.

* Pitchfork has a link to a compilation Bandcamp has done of  "467 SXSW artists that host their music on the site, complete with a huge grid of images assigned to said bands, a streaming player, and a counter telling you the amount of music you still have yet to listen to." I haven't checked that out yet, but it sounds very promising.

* Due to its location, it's not usual that SXSW has a decent selection of Latin music. As a fan of Latin rock and pop music, I was glad to see that the Remezlca Music website has a free 10-song SXSW Latin music sampler that you can stream or download. Artists include Mexican Institute of Sound and David Garza.

* Paste has an article covering "20 SXSW Bands You Might Not Know (But Should)," with links to free MP3 downloads for each one.

* Also check out Spinner.com's SXSW free song sampler and AOL Music's SXSW website.

There are plenty of ways to enjoy SXSW with free podcasts, webcasts, and downloads—no need to catch a plane and deal with lines, crowds, heat, or spilled beer!

Free Album Streaming: New CDs from Lucinda Williams, Devotchka, The Low Anthem, & More

Billy Preston's first solo album, getting its first release in over 45 years, is one of the albums available for free preview.  

New Lucinda Williams and rare Johnny Cash and Billy Preston are among the interesting new releases you can preview for free this week. There are many more albums than those listed here, especially on the AOL Music and Spinner sites.

KCRW Album Preview: 
"Blessed" by Lucinda Williams* (streaming until March 1)
"Smart Flesh" by The Low Anthem* (streaming until Feb. 27)
"100 Lovers" by Devotchka* (streaming until Feb. 27)

* Also streaming on NPR (below)

NPR First Listen:
"Anna Calvi" by London singer-songwriter Anna Calvi (streaming until March 1)
"Fading Parade" by Papercuts (which NPR calls "warmly psychedelic") (streaming until March 1)

Spinner.com's Listening Party:
"From Memphis to Hollywood - Bootleg Vol. 2" by Johnny Cash (A compilation with "demos, unreleased songs and rare singles from the '50s to the late '60s.")
"Rachel Goodrich" by Rachel Goodrich

AOL Music Listening Party: 
"Fixin' to Die" by G. Love
"The Color" by Yellowbirds (AOL says, "This is the debut album from the Brooklyn, N.Y. psychedelic sextet fronted by Apollo Sunshine's Sam Cohen.")
"16 Year Old Soul" by Billy Preston (Debut album by the late, legendary keyboardist who played with The Beatles and Eric Clapton, and had a long solo career. This album was released Feb. 22nd, marking the first time in 45 years that it has been available. See Billboard article on Billy Preston's "16 year Old Soul" here)

Also on AOL Music: reissues of albums by The Ronettes, The Crystals, and Darlene Love, as well as a Phil Spector retrospective.

Free Album Streaming: New CDs from The Boxer Rebellion, Deerhoof, The Go! Team, & More

Video for The Boxer Rebellion's "Step Out of the Car." It's from their new album "The Cold Still," which is available for free streaming.

The new year got off to a slow start in terms of new albums available for free streaming, but things have definitely picked up recently. Right now there are new CDs for streaming from Deerhoof, John Vanderslice, The Boxer Rebellion, Amos Lee, and the infectious dance-pop of The Go! Team.

KCRW Album Preview: 
"Rolling Blackouts" by The Go! Team (streaming until Feb. 22)
"Bella" by Teddy Thompson (streaming from Jan. 31 to March 1)
"The Cold Still" by The Boxer Rebellion (streaming from Jan. 31 to March 1)

Spinner.com's Listening Party:
"Deerhoof vs. Evil" by Deerhoof
"There are Rules" by The Get Up Kids
"White Wilderness" by John Vanderslice
"Low Country Blues" by Gregg Allman
"Kiss Each Other Clean" by Iron and Wine

AOL Music Listening Party: 
"Mission Bell" by Amos Lee
"Some Kind of Cure" by David Berkeley

Free Album Streaming: New Stereolab, K.C. Accidental, Albert King with Stevie Ray Vaughn

I'm not familiar with many of the new albums that are now available for free streaming, but there are a couple that I'm pretty interested in hearing. One is the new album by Stereolab, the British band that for more than a decade has been making synthesizer-based rock using old-fashioned keyboards. The other album is "Captured Anthems" by a band called K.C. Accidental. You may not know that name, but you've probably heard of the band that they became: Broken Social Scene.

KCRW Album Preview: 
"Not Music" by Stereolab (streaming until Nov. 21)

Spinner.com's Listening Party:
"In Session" by Albert King with Stevie Ray Vaughn
"Captured Anthems" by K.C. Accidental
"Live in New York" by Dave Matthews Band
"WHWH" by The Concretes
"An Introduction to Syd Barrett" by Syd Barrett
"The Memory Machine" by Julia Stone

AOL Music Listening Party: 
"I Know I've Been Changed" by Aaron Neville
"Radio Down!" by The Aquabats

Free Album Streaming: New CDs from Neil Young, Deerhunter, John Legend & the Roots, Chromeo, More

Above: Deerhunter playing at New York's RiverRocks festival last month. Their new CD "Halcyon Digest" is streaming free on NPR Music. 

It's been too long since I've written about new albums that are available for free streaming, but with today's post I'm hoping to make it a regular weekly feature again. There are some great new CDs out or almost out that you can preview for free now, which motivated me to resume this feature.

As always, the Spinner and AOL sites don't indicate how long the free streaming is offered, while NPR Music and KCRW do tell when the streaming ends.

Spinner.com's Listening Party currently features more than 15 albums including:

* "Mobile Chateau" by Matt Costa

* "Buzzard" Margot and the Nuclear So and So's

* "The Sound of Sunshine" by Michael Franti and Spearhead

* "The Place We Ran From" by Tired Pony (haven't heard of them, but the description says "The music project is collaboration by members of R.E.M. and Belle & Sebastian with guest spots from She & Him, Editors, Snow Patrol, and more."
* "Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride" by The Black Ryders

* "Out at Sea" by Magnetic Island (haven't heard of these guys, either -- Brooklyn band less than a year old)

* "Imaginational Anthem v 4" by New Possibilities (compilation of acoustic guitarists)

AOL Music about 15 free album previews, which have some overlap with Spinner: 

* "You Get What You Give" by the Zac Brown Band

* "Guitar Heaven" by Santana

* "Audition" by the Cast of Glee (five-song EP from the first episode of Season 2)

* "Imperfect Harmonies" by Serj Tankian (former System of a Down singer)

* "Available Light" by James McCartney (debut EP from the son of that-guy-from-The-Beatles, & co-produced by the Dad)

* "Taken" by Rhonda Vincent

* "Killing. Mourning. Love" by Victory in Numbers

* "Bring It On" by Kaci Battaglia

NPR First Listen:

* "Le Noise" by Neil Young (streaming until Oct. 5)

* "Wake Up!" by John Legend & the Roots (until Sept. 28)

* "Halcyon Digest" by Deerhunter (until Sept. 28)

* "Business Casual" by Canadian hip-hop duo Chromeo (until Oct. 4)

* "Epic" by singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten (until Sept. 28)

* "Good Things" by soul singer Aloe Blacc (until Sept. 28)

KCRW Album Preview: 
* "Station to Station" by David Bowie (special edition reissue of his 1976 album) (until Oct. 3)

Free Album Streaming: New CDs from Stone Temple Pilots, The Cure, Ratatat, Tift Merritt, Widespread Panic, More

Here are some new and upcoming CDs that are streaming for free as of now. The NPR First Listen series has specific dates for which free streaming is available; Spinner and AOL don't, as far as I can tell.

Spinner.com's listening party: 
* "Stone Temple Pilots" by Stone Temple Pilots
* "Crystal Castles II" by Crystal Castles
* "Disintegration: Deluxe Edition" by The Cure
* "Flip and Twist" by Toots and the Maytals
* "See You on the Moon" by Tift Merritt
* "Dirty Side Down" by Widespread Panic
* "In Person and On Stage" by John Prine

AOL Music listening party:
* "Ultra Weekend 6" by various artists (party hits and remixes by Lady Gaga, Selena Gomez & the Scene, Britney Spears, LFMAO, Deadmau5, and more)

NPR Music's First Listen:

* "Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook" by Bettye LaVette (avail. May 17 - 25)

* "Wake Up The Nation" by Paul Weller (avail. May 24 - June 1)

* "LP4" by Ratatat (avail. May 24 - June 8)

Free Album Streaming: New CDs from The Dead Weather, Toni Braxton, The National, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, More

Here is this week's selection of free album previews available online. As usual, the Spinner.com and AOL Music releases don't seem to have a set period of time they're available for streaming, so you might want to check them out first in case they disappear without notice. The NPR First Listen previews are up for a set time period (and sometimes a day after the specified date).

Spinner.com's Listening Party currently features about 20 albums including:
* "Latin" by Holy F*ck
* "Friday Night Lights Original Soundtrack, Vol. 2" by various artists
* "Omni" by Minus the Bear
* "A Balloon Called" by The Joy Formidable
* "Court Yard Hounds" by Court Yard Hounds (Martie Maguire & Emily Robison from the Dixie Chicks)
* "Still Here" by the Temptations
* "Live at the Troubadour" by James Taylor & Carole King
* "Uni5" by Bone Thugs-n-Harmony
* "Take a Bow" by Greg Laswell

AOL Music, which runs Spinner, has a slightly different selection of free album previews on its own site, including:
* "Pulse" by Toni Braxton
* "I Rhyme with Orange" by Christa Borden

NPR First Listen is now featuring:
* "This is Happening" by LCD Soundsystem (streaming until May 18)
* "Cosmogramma" by Flying Lotus (streaming May 3 to 11)
* "Sea of Cowards" by The Dead Weather (streaming May 3 to 11)
* "High Violet" by The National (streaming May 3 to 11) (only two songs are still streaming at NYTimes Web site)
(Free album previews for Josh Ritter, the New Pornographers, and Kris Kristofferson are still up until May 9.)