It's hard for me to believe, but Christmas is less than a week away! In honor of this joyous season, I have decided once again to take a little break from PA-related topics and share some of the music I'm enjoying this holiday season. This year I actually figured out how to create a playlist with some of the music so you can actually listen to some of my suggestions without even leaving this page. Neato, right? Also, should you like what you hear, I've provided links for each of the fours albums I'm highlighting. So, without further ado, here are the albums I'm listening to this year:
First and foremost is The Oh Hellos' Family Christmas album. I discovered The Oh Hellos last winter through their song Hello My Old Heart (a rather wonderful song) and eventually found both their EP and full-length album. Some of their songs took a little while to grow on me, but I think now I love just about all of them. I was incredibly excited when they hinted they might release a Christmas album and the result has not disappointed me. It's not exactly a traditional album, more like a mashup of favorite Christmas tunes arranged by theme, but I love it. I listened to it four times the day I got it. I can't promise everyone will like it as much as I do, but it's in the playlist, so give it a listen. If you like it, you can get it (and their other albums) here: http://theohhellos.com/Store
If you like the sound of The Oh Hellos, but are interested in individual Christmas songs done in a similar style, look no further than Tyler Heath's A Christmas Album. Tyler is the brother in the brother-sister duo that make up The Oh Hellos and a few years back he released a solo Christmas album. I couldn't find the album on SoundCloud to add to the playlist, but it's pretty excellent, and if you go to the link, you can not only listen to the entire album, but also get it for free! It's a win-win. http://tylerheath.net/album/a-christmas-album
Last year's list featured at least one song by the Piano Guys. This year they released an entire album, called A Family Christmas. If you've never heard of them before, the Piano Guys are an amazing pianist, cellist, and their team who came together to make awesome videos of great music. They have certainly succeeded. They have two other full-length albums besides their new Christmas album, and all the music is so lovely. Some are new arrangements of old tunes or covers of popular songs or mashups of new songs with classical hits (like the absolute stunning Code Name Vivaldi and Beethoven's 5 Secrets), and some are completely original songs. The videos are just as good (they once filmed on the Great Wall of China). If you've never listened to them before, or watched any of their videos, you really should. I couldn't pick just one video of theirs to include with this post, so here's two of their Christmas ones:
Also, here's the link to buy their Christmas album: https://thepianoguys.com/shop/albums
Lastly, I've included some Christmas songs from Lindsey Stirling as well. She has not yet released a full Christmas album, but each year she tends to release at least one new Christmas song. So far she has covered Silent Night, What Child Is This?, and Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel, as well as released her original song Celtic Carol. She's an extremely talented and creative violinist, as well as very fun to watch. Her videos are also quite entertaining and it's no surprise that she and the Piano Guys teamed up to create a Mission: Impossible Mashup. Because she doesn't have a full Christmas album yet, her songs are a bit trickier to get. Most of her music is on iTunes, but for some reason all her Christmas covers can only be found through her online store here: http://lindseystirling.mybigcommerce.com/music-singles-1/. And here's one of her fun videos:
First and foremost is The Oh Hellos' Family Christmas album. I discovered The Oh Hellos last winter through their song Hello My Old Heart (a rather wonderful song) and eventually found both their EP and full-length album. Some of their songs took a little while to grow on me, but I think now I love just about all of them. I was incredibly excited when they hinted they might release a Christmas album and the result has not disappointed me. It's not exactly a traditional album, more like a mashup of favorite Christmas tunes arranged by theme, but I love it. I listened to it four times the day I got it. I can't promise everyone will like it as much as I do, but it's in the playlist, so give it a listen. If you like it, you can get it (and their other albums) here: http://theohhellos.com/Store
If you like the sound of The Oh Hellos, but are interested in individual Christmas songs done in a similar style, look no further than Tyler Heath's A Christmas Album. Tyler is the brother in the brother-sister duo that make up The Oh Hellos and a few years back he released a solo Christmas album. I couldn't find the album on SoundCloud to add to the playlist, but it's pretty excellent, and if you go to the link, you can not only listen to the entire album, but also get it for free! It's a win-win. http://tylerheath.net/album/a-christmas-album
Last year's list featured at least one song by the Piano Guys. This year they released an entire album, called A Family Christmas. If you've never heard of them before, the Piano Guys are an amazing pianist, cellist, and their team who came together to make awesome videos of great music. They have certainly succeeded. They have two other full-length albums besides their new Christmas album, and all the music is so lovely. Some are new arrangements of old tunes or covers of popular songs or mashups of new songs with classical hits (like the absolute stunning Code Name Vivaldi and Beethoven's 5 Secrets), and some are completely original songs. The videos are just as good (they once filmed on the Great Wall of China). If you've never listened to them before, or watched any of their videos, you really should. I couldn't pick just one video of theirs to include with this post, so here's two of their Christmas ones:
Also, here's the link to buy their Christmas album: https://thepianoguys.com/shop/albums
Lastly, I've included some Christmas songs from Lindsey Stirling as well. She has not yet released a full Christmas album, but each year she tends to release at least one new Christmas song. So far she has covered Silent Night, What Child Is This?, and Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel, as well as released her original song Celtic Carol. She's an extremely talented and creative violinist, as well as very fun to watch. Her videos are also quite entertaining and it's no surprise that she and the Piano Guys teamed up to create a Mission: Impossible Mashup. Because she doesn't have a full Christmas album yet, her songs are a bit trickier to get. Most of her music is on iTunes, but for some reason all her Christmas covers can only be found through her online store here: http://lindseystirling.mybigcommerce.com/music-singles-1/. And here's one of her fun videos:
Merry Christmas everyone!
