Too Cool for the YuleVarious Artists
Price: 10.97Limited Edition CDInstant Download
This ain't your grandma's holiday record. These twelve original songs by Serious Vanity Records’ artists represent the times we're living in: the cheer, the angst, the love, the longing, the pain, the trysts with men in red velvet suits, the jail-time...finally, there's a Christmas album that gets you.
So, It was a couple of years ago that I wrote this little gem. It was looking to be a pretty bleak Christmas season and I was totally not in the mood for Christmas Cheer. I got to dwelling on the commercialism of the holiday and what it has really come to mean for so many people. Now don't get me wrong, I'm far from being all Bible thumpin', but I do feel that there is more to the holiday than the economic boon. It's just turned into another reason to lavish tons of un-needed crap onto a bunch of kids that already have an over developed sense of entitlement.
So, I approached my new Christmas song from a very jaded, almost punk rock mental space and I think it comes out pretty well in the delivery. It's simple, it's honest, it's catchy, and it's me. Take from it what you will and Merry xXxmas!
Sometimes a tailhook echo precedes a vicious, violent storm. Sometimes it just gives a hint that one might develop, keeping you on your toes to either run for cover, or get ready for the show of your life. With layers of guitar riffs, bass grooves, electronic architecture, and soulful poetry, Paul Clark and Tailhook Echo proves that a focused pen and a volatile heart can be more dangerous than a midwestern twister.
I'm a bit of an eclectic composer, inspired by everything from Eno to Bartok. For this track, I wanted to clearly invoke things like the pictures of scenes I got from pieces like Claude Debussy's "The Snow is Dancing" and Erik Satie's "Gymnopedie No. 1" (though I prefer the sparseness of the solo piano arrangement, the strings in the prior example really illustrate where I went with my tale a bit more). I like composing with real and unreal (surreal?) sounds and instruments, so I brought that element in, too.
Being predominantly a guitarist, but not using guitar as the lead here, I wanted to incorporate it in a non-traditional, unexpected way. I went with an almost percussive accompaniment role for it, giving just a little bit of low-end to an otherwise treble-heavy piece for me (I didn't want anything to compete with the cello, so I left any sort of traditional bass completely off).
There's some odd layering and repetition that's staggered, but ultimately, all of those details don't matter. The story does.
In my mind's "painter's" eye, I wanted the light of the moon shining off of snow to be the source light for the children trickling slowly onto the cold slope. I wanted the crystalized crispness of the air to take the listener's face off-guard, freezing tear ducts and noses, raising scarves up just a little bit over their chin. Gradually, warmth builds between the body heat of multitudes of children huddling together in the repeated treks up and down the hill, and all discomfort is forgotten in the magic of the quick journey down, with laughing and distant barking and that indescribable sound of snowfall as the soundtrack.
In the end, there's one last child straggling back, heading toward home as the traces of precipitation are only faintly visible nearest the glow of the streetlight. The listener can sense that, in the lone child's mind, they are still playing out that last pass down the hill, and preparing for the next snowball fight as they will soon be snuggled under covers, heading off to dreamland. Or were they already there all along?
The holidays are a perfect time for remembering the organizations that keep the love flowing year round, and we've got a few favorites we want to spotlight. Ending the spread of AIDS in Africa is definitely a cause we get behind, and (Red) is certainly an organization that has rallied the troops to get some big names and big brands in on the fight. Check 'em out, and learn all of the small ways you can get involved to make a big difference.
You can easily license the track "Too Cool for the Yule", as well as all of the other tracks on Too Cool for the Yule through Serious Vanity Music, the resource group and production studio twin to Serious Vanity Records.
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Our opening track on Too Cool for the Yule is, well, "Too Cool for the Yule". It doesn't hurt that we're voice over artists, as well as musicians, and this track brings that up front and center, especially from Paul Clark. You can even hear Dana Detrick's first self-produced voice over ever, if you're paying close attention.
This piece really sums up why we chose to do this record in the first place: making music is fun, it's something to be celebrated. It revels in myth, it takes itself seriously while it let's loose and allows itself to play in the dirt. Sometimes it's quirky, it's cheesy, and unapologetically so. That's what makes it awesome. Enjoy!
Limited Edition CD
