Merry Christmas [Part II]

Sorry for the delay, but here's some additional great christmas music! If I've missed some great releases, I'm sure I have, just post it in a comment!

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December 2010 EP
The Innocence Mission
♫ In the Bleak Midwinter (mp3)
+ Full EP stream

How To Throw A Christmas Party
Brown Feather Sparrow
♫ Let Us Come Together (mp3)
♫ December Radio (mp3)
+ Full Album Stream

I Do Not Care For The Winter Sun
Beach House
♫ I Do Not Care For The Winter Sun (mp3)

Snow Angels
Over the Rhine
♫ Darlin' (Christmas is Coming) (mp3)
♫ All I Ever Get For Christmas Is Blue (mp3)
+ Buy

Music For Winter: Volume 2
Dogs on Tour
♫ Jingle Bells (mp3)
♫ Santa Claus, Where Is He (mp3)
+ Free Full Album Download

Tracks in the Snow
The Civil Wars
♫ Tracks in the Snow (mp3)
+ Download Free EP

All I Want is the Truth (For Christmas)
The Mynabirds
♫ All I Want is the Truth (For Chrismas) (mp3)
+ Buy

Merry Christmas!!

Free Music: Alex Winston

Just in time for Christmas, here's a little present from LMLI (in fact it's from Alex ;-) ) It's an FREE EP of Alex Winston. While it’s a great accomplishment to play a single instrument well, it’s a truly rare gift to play many perfectly. With The Basement Covers EP, singer Alex Winston proves she is one of the exceptional few. Classically trained in opera and bred on musical Americana, Winston’s truly unique and refreshing sound, comparable to innovative musicians Lykke Li and Kate Nash, thrives on her self-recorded EP. The beautiful Detroit- native remarkably played each instrument—guitar, piano, drums—on the four-song EP which she recorded in her actual home basement. But for now you can freely download the EP HERE it features versions of songs by Mumford & Sons, the Rolling Stones and Jack Peñate, as well as by Teddy Bears and Francis and the Lights.

@ Detroit, USA

♫ Indie, Pop

♥ Choice Notes (mp3)
♥ It'll Be Better (mp3)

♥ The Cave (mp3)

▸ MySpace

▸ Facebook

+ Free EP

Merry Christmas [Part I]

LMLI all wishes you a Merry Christmas, and to celebrate, today the first special post dedicated to christmas music featuring old and new christmas releases, you should check out. Additionally I've provided some christmas projects from other sites you also should not miss out on! Tomorrow I'll post part two! (I've provided as much free mp3's as possible, you can also try clicking on the album covers to listen to the full albums on Spotify!)

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Songs for Christmas
Sufjan Stevens
♫ Sister Winter (mp3)
♫ That Was the Worst Christmas Ever! (mp3)
+ Buy

Let It Snow Baby - Let It Reindeer

Relient K

▸ Merry Christmas, Here's To Many More (video)

+ Buy

By the Fire Side With You
Ellen and The Escapades
♫ By The Fire Side With You (mp3)
+ Buy

Home For Christmas

Maria Mena

♫ Home For Christmas (mp3)

+ Buy

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Stay tuned for part two, tomorrow, including (at least) two free christmas albums!

Hayley Taylor

If you're getting a lot of music, it happens that albums get to the bottom of the pile, and some stay there unfortunately way too long. The same happened with singer-songwriter Hayley Taylor debut. But once he was discovered, it remained in my CD player. Hayley was born in Michigan and raised in Los Angeles, began performing at a young age, working as a professional actress into her teens in TV and film. Though she began playing music and singing early on, it wasn’t until college that she realized music was her true passion. Her music has been featured in commercials, TV shows, and films, including How I Met Your Mother (CBS), Royal Pains (USA), Privileged (CW), Heartland and most recently a Vick’s commercial. On the ten-track debut One Foot in Front of the Other produced by Dan Romer (Ingrid Michaelson) and Eric Robinson (Matt Nathanson, Kate Voegele), Hayley touches on the heartstrings without running over. Her voice conveys her emotions as honest and unflichingly clearl and catchy as her melodies. A real treasury for the ear. It features performances by an all-star cast of players, including Michael Chaves (John Mayer), Ben Peeler (Alexi Murdoch), Adrienne Woods (Josh Radin, Jonas Brothers), Elliot Jacobson (Ingrid Michaelson), and producer Marshall Altman (Kate Voegele) and is not to be missed out on if you love catchy indie pop songs.

@ Los Angeles, USA

♫ Acoustic, Indie, Pop

♥ Felt Like Love (mp3)

♥ No More Wishing (mp3)

▸ MySpace

+ Spotify

Melodica, Melody and Me

Sometimes, submissions in my mailbox immediately convince to be featured on LMLI. Today’s feature is one of those submissions I, unfortunately found way too late partly caused by my temporary hiatus this summer, is Melodica, Melody and Me, shortly MMM. Their catchy but o so beautiful folksongs dragged me in right from the first seconds of their “Piece Me Back Together EP”. When checking their profiles on the internet, I discovered they’ve found quite a following in the two years they’ve played so far. But it wasn’t always so. All six members of MMM went to Graveney school in South London and lived in nearby Brixton. They use to meet up in Rudi’s attic to smoke weed and play guitars. Quiet, introverted, it was a way for them to communicate without having to talk. During this period they wrote some of their most beautiful songs. Delicate, heartbreaking folk ballads about the first throes of love. But the bands nervousness towards the outside world meant the songs might never have left that room. Two things happened that changed both their sound and their confidence. First, the few songs they chucked on Myspace gained an immediate cult following. Second they started to blend their Bert Jansch and Bob Dylan folk influences with the music they were hearing on the streets of Brixton. Despite their massive and growing following, the band are reluctant to get too drawn in by the machinery of the music industry. They very reluctantly have a twitter account let alone a youtube channel, they aren’t “synchronising content across web platforms”, they’re just writing and playing music. By letting the music speak for itself they’ve commanded a genuine word-of-mouth phenomenon. So don’t miss out, and be a part of it! (even if you like social media like me ;-) )

@ London, UK

♫ Acoustic, Folk

♥ Piece Me Back Together (mp3)
♥ Ode To A Mountain (mp3)

▸ MySpace

+ Spotify

Field Mouse

Two years ago, I played Rachel Browne's selftitled solo debut EP quite often, now she's back with Field Mouse. Field Mouse is the music of Rachel Browne and collaborator Andrew Futral. Their debut album, entitled You Are Here, is a modern collection of melodic, lush pop sensibilities filtered through dreamy reverb, paired with sincere reflective songwriting. Rachel also cites childhood car rides with her mother listening to the Talking Heads and The Clash during her years growing up in New England as musical influences. Starting from the garage as most musicians do, Rachel cut her teeth in several bands since the age of 13 and continued throughout high school and college. She decided to get a formal education in music, attending the music conservatory at Purchase College, where she met and began working with Andrew. It’s been non-stop collaboration since, with musicians such as Toby Goodshank, Arms and Legs, Kyle Gilbride, Apse, Gregory & the Hawk, and Kiss Kiss to name a few. Most recently, Field Mouse have formed a solid lineup including Allison Weiss on bass and Geoff Lewit on drums, and plan to tour in support of You Are Here.

UPDATE: You can even download their album for FREE, just for a tweet: click

@ New York, USA

♫ Indie, Rock, Pop

♥ Good at Me (mp3)

♥  Where You Go (mp3)

▸ MySpace

▸ Official Website
+ Full album stream