I'm way ahead on my shopping this season (it's easier because the family has finally come to its senses and agreed to a strict one-gift-per-person rule). Per usual, local discs dominate my shopping — and, hey, out-of-towners don't know the GFAC disc has been out for months. Just in case you've still got a few gifts to buy, though, here are some local-music suggestions for everybody on your list. Of course, many of the bigger local albums of 2008 are good for just about everyone, but everyone who's anyone has got all of those already, right? Here's a list for the more discerning set.
FOR THE CHRISTMAS-MUSIC LOVER WHO'S TIRED OF SPINNING THAT SINATRA LP AT EVERY CHRISTMAS PARTY
The SEA CAPTAINS absolutely have the spirit. Their CRUST AND SLUSH is some of the coolest new Christmas music I've heard in years, catchy as hell and balancing winsome and silly appropriately. "It's Gonna Be a Cold One Tonight" is a classic indie love song, about a couple stuck in bad weather, but happy to miss the party for the sake of their own company: "We got the heater all the way in the red/We're singing Christmas songs and holding hands." Tim Collins sings above the sleigh bells, and Overtones Ryan Zoidis and Dave Noyes chip in on the horns. "The Snowman and the Snow Angel" recalls that classic Kilpatrick/Isaacson "Working on Your Heart," with mythical winter figures circling the pond on skates until dawn. It's a sweet Perry Como chorus mixed with an indie aggressive acoustic guitar strum in the verse. Adam Flaherty fronts the final "Whitewash," a nostalgic number with "bop-bop" backing vocals and a sweet sentiment: "We'll break at the street light and meet on the other side."
FOR ANYONE GETTING ONE OF THOSE NEW HIGH-DEF THINGIES
Local-music DVDs are starting to proliferate. A couple of the better ones I ran across this year are CIVIL DISTURBANCE's LIVE: THE DVD (JUNE 27, 2008, THE STATION, PORTLAND, ME) and CAROL NOONAN's LIVE AT THE STONE MOUNTAIN ARTS CENTER. Civil D's can be a bit dark (low ceiling at the Station, not the best lighting), but videographer Richard Pelletier gets some good shots, and switches up the perspective with multiple cameras. The sound is great — huge, really — and the eight-song set goes almost too fast.
Noonan's disc is chock full of an hour's worth of content, with full-song outtakes from the recording of As Tears Go By (though maybe a little too much slo-mo there), the first concert at Stone Mountain (which Noonan built out with her husband), and a St. Paddy's Day show, complete with guest fiddlers to help out with that Celtic sound. Noonan's vocals really come through nicely, as does the guitar playing of Duke Levine. This is pretty much the essence of what you can seemingly only accomplish in Maine.
FOR THAT GUY FROM COLLEGE WHO NEVER DID STOP SPINNING THE TOASTERS
Yep, people keep making ska discs, and they can be pretty dang fun. The Beat Horizon put in a pretty nice effort this year, as did EL GRANDE, whose CROSSTOWN RIVALS was a tight little EP some of you may have missed. Frontman Chris Gironda has a playfully aggressive growl and the horn section — featuring Jon Blood, Mike Ouellet, Jordan Kramer, and contributions by Jason Ward — really pops. It's more So-Cal than it is Kingston, and there's plenty of rock flavor and grit: "Crosstown rivals, so territory tough/Envious with evil and greed/From the inside out."
