Hi Cherryaders!
Ok, so, once again I don’t get around to posting till after midnight, but who needs to sleep in December anyway, it’s just too magical! Anyway, finished off decorating the tree today while watching Christmas TV, god I love Christmas TV, I’ll watch any old rubbish as long as it mentions the c word (no, not that one!). In my advent calendar there was a chocolate angel and, somewhat perplexingly, a picture of a winking Hello Kitty (hmm…) anyway, got lots of work done today as we’re away at All Tomorrow’s Parties this weekend and I don’t want to fall behind!
As promised, here is a bit about my favourite Christmas music and why I love it so much. I'm going to start by posting the full version of an article I wrote for the December edition of the wonderful Pull Yourself Together zine, an edited version of which can be found in the current issue along with an advert for A Very Cherry Christmas 5 (which you can still buy direct from:
www.cherryademusic.co.uk/buyavcc5.html
on special offer with the first 4 volumes and on its own from all good record shops and Itunes, distributed by Cargo, did I mention that?)
Tomorrow I will post about some of my favourite Christmas albums, singles and individual seasonal tracks. Hope you enjoy the article, lots of Cherry Christmas love, Rach Cherryade xx
When we started running Cherryade Records, one of my dreams for the label was to release a great Christmas album, I love Christmas and Christmas music and they play such a significant part in my life that it seemed like something we just had to do. So, in December 2005 we released our second ever record, entitled A Very Cherry Christmas featuring 13 tracks from artists including Das Wanderlust and Misty’s Big Adventure. I’d considered it as something of a vanity project, something which I would enjoy but that not many others were likely to care about. However, I was wrong. I’d always been told that being so obsessed with Christmas music was a bit odd but after releasing A Very Cherry Christmas I realised my passion for festive music wasn’t as unusual as I’d imagined. We sold lots of copies of the Christmas album to Christmas music officianados all over the world and I was contacted by dozens of fellow enthusiasts offering to swap obscure and often forgotten Christmas gems with me. I’ve kept in contact with many of them and we continue to exchange Christmas tunes that we’ve unearthed throughout the year because, Christmas songs aren’t just for Christmas!
Another thing that happened after the first Very Cherry Christmas compilation was released was that we were contacted by a number of bands asking if they could be on volume 2. We hadn’t really considered a volume 2, I’d released a Christmas album and that was that, but then how could I resist the offer of more new Christmas songs? Many bands told us that they’d been recording Christmas songs (or wanted to) for a while but that they just couldn’t figure out what to do with them. I think there’s a view of Christmas songs as having a very short shelf life and that if they’re not listened to by December 25th then they’ve lost all relevance. This seems unique to Christmas songs though, because there are lots of summer and spring inspired songs but people don’t seem to have much compunction about listening to those at other times of year.
I think there is also the idea that many Christmas records are ‘novelty’ records, which becomes a synonym for silly or effemeral. Of course some Christmas songs are silly, but others can be beautiful, heart-breaking, gloomy, joyful or uplifting, just like other subjects that can inspire amazing records Christmas can inspire a range of emotions and artistic expressions.
So, now we’re up to volume 5 of A Very Cherry Christmas, I can’t quite believe we’ve got this far. I hope that the truly amazing artists who’ve contributed to our compilations since 2005 and the quality and diversity of tracks has gone some way to proving that Christmas records are not necessarily disposable or cynically cashing in. We’ve sometimes been asked if A Very Cherry Christmas is meant to be ironic, which is a little frustrating as it implies that it’s only ok to like Christmas in an ironic way, there’s nothing ironic about my love for Christmas or indeed about the love a lot of the bands we’ve featured have for Christmas! However, we don’t limit appearances on the compilations to those who feel like I do about the season, I also love songs that deal with the dark side of the season because that is one of the elements which make it such an inspirational time of year, and I hope that A Very Cherry Christmas celebrates the fact that not all Christmas songs have to be bright and joyful.
I’ve talked a lot about our own Christmas albums but I’d like to recommend the following Xmas classics to any fellow fans who might not have heard them, these are absolutely essential listening:
Get Thee Behind Me Santa (Zombina and the Skeletones, Jeffrey Lewis, Herman Dune, etc.)
A Christmas Gift From Fortuna Pop! Volumes 1 and 2 (Bearsuit, Aislers Set, The Loves, etc.)
Gold, Frankincense and Purr (Motormark, Bucky, Velodrome 2000, Seven Inches, etc.)
There are so many more albums, singles, eps and individual songs which I just don’t have room to list here, but if anybody would like some more recommendations or would like to recommend something to me or offer a song for A Very Cherry Christmas vol. 6 then please do e-mail:
Cherryade.records@gmail.com
Have a Very Cherry Christmas!
www.cherryademusic.co.uk
www.dandelionradio.com
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