New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Amazon
Music is excited to announce that 15 new songs have been added to Indie for the Holidays, last year's popular Amazon
Music Original holiday playlist, featuring newly-written or recorded songs from artists like YACHT, Rogue Wave, Langhorne Slim, Tuxedo, Ivan & Alyosha, and Lisa Loeb. Beginning today, December 2, fresh tracks are available on Indie for the Holidays, exclusively streaming on Amazon
Music - both Amazon
Music Unlimited and Prime Music. See below for the full list of new songs.
Today, Amazon has shared streams of Tennis' cover of
Lindsay Buckingham's "Holiday Road" and Joseph's cover of Sufjan Stevens' "Sister Winter" via Soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/amazon-music/sets/indie-for-the-holidays-2016/s-1oIyG
"Sufjan
Stevens has been an inspiration for years and his Christmas music guts me in the best way," said Joseph's
Natalie Closner. "I love playing this song because sometimes Christmas time is sad, a reminder of what's lost, and 'Sister Winter' expresses the pangs of that feeling when it seems like everyone around you is happy."
Yesterday, Stereogum premiered the Melvins' version of "Carol of the Bells" and Los Campesinos!' original song "When Christmas Comes (Boxing Day Version)."
As Steve Boom, VP of Amazon Music, explained when Indie for the Holidays launched last November, the goal of this playlist is about "connecting customers with not only new, original holiday music, but with amazing artists and bands that they may not have discovered yet." Keeping true to this vision, the 15 new songs are about highlighting diverse talent ranging from mainstream artists like the
Dandy Warhols with their inventive cover of "Silver Bells," to emerging artists like Sam Evian and his original song, "Snow." Elsewhere on the playlist, Savoir Adore provide a delightful electro-pop take on "
Baby, It's Cold Outside" and The Submarines'
Blake Hazard offers the dub-laced original "Headphones for the Holidays."
"I tried to remember what it was like to be a kid who was enraptured in the magic of Christmas," said Chris Staples in regards to writing his new song, "Christmas (The Way It Was Back Then)." "There are not many times in life that we are taken quite like that."
Some artists were inspired in unusual ways, taking a classic Christmas song and transforming it into a contemporary tune. Tennis first heard a cover of "Holiday Road," before deciding to perform the song, "I'd actually never seen
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation when Patrick and I decided to cover Holiday Road," says Alaina Moore. "I only discovered the song after seeing The Walkmen's awesome live performance of it for an NPR holiday feature a few years back. That inspired us to cover it for fun, at which point we consulted Lindsey Buckingham's original version for the first time. This was my fortuitous gateway to all things Lindsey Buckingham, lending the song even more personal significance. What I'm saying is,
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation helped me get into Fleetwood Mac. That's a Christmas miracle."
"Silver Bells has always made me swoon," explained Courtney Taylor-Taylor, guitarist-vocalist of the Dandy Warhols. "For me it is the Christmas-iest of Christmas songs and I'm still not sure exactly why. There's something in those words and that melody. I just love it."
New Tracks Coming to Indie for the Holidays:
1. "Sister Winter," Joseph
2. "Baby, It's Cold Outside," Savoir Adore
3. "When Christmas Comes (Boxing Day Version)," Los Campesinos!
4. "Carol of the Bells," The Melvins
5. "Hard Candy Christmas," The Nymphs & Inger Lorre
6. "Christmas (The Way It Was Back Then)," Chris Staples
7. "Azusa," The Album Leaf
8. "Plastic Mistletoe," Glint
9. "Santa, Baby," Red Rosamond
10. "Holiday Road," Tennis
11. "Headphones for the Holidays,"
Blake Hazard
12. "Silver Bells," Dandy Warhols
13. "Ritmo De Vida," Bostich + Fussible
14. "Snow," Sam Evian
15. "Come on Home (It's Christmas)," PINS
Amazon
Music Unlimited is available on all Amazon
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Music Unlimited can begin their free 30 day trial today. To find out how to listen, visit www.amazon.com/howtolisten.