OUT LAST WEEK, SPIN, USA, RELIX HAIL 'FESTIVUS 2,' HEARTWARMING INDIE POP CHRISTMAS MUSIC COMP

Out last week, Highline Records' indie pop Christmas music compilation 'Festivus 2' saw track debuts this week at SPIN and USA Today and a full album stream at Relix. SPIN debuted LIlys' psychedelic verstion of "Good King Wenceslas."

Western Lows' dream pop rendition of "Silent Night" premiered at USA Today.

Relix is streaming the entire release.

Here's a music video for "The Coldest Night" by Left With Pictures, assembled from mid-century footage, also brand new last week.

1. Silent Night - Western Lows
2. I Wish You A Merry Christmas - Ulysses
3. In The Bleak Midwinter - Trevor Moss & Hannah-Lou
4. Ho Ho Hos Before Hos - Red Pony Clock
5. One Christmas Wish - The Priscillas
6. It's Christmas - Piney Gir
7. Don't Freat Out On Me - Mi Mye
8. Good King Winceslas - Lilys
9. The Coldest Night - Left With Pictures
10. Baby Jesus Was The First Glam Rocker - Glam Chops
11. Silver Bells Sing Their Chime - Francis Macdonald and Anna Sheard
12. Christmas at the Foodbank - Dodgy
13. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlmen - Dennis Hopper Choppers
14. Thank God It's Christmas - Darling BOY
15. My Heart Is As Pure As The Snow - Antony Elvin
16. Three Kings - Alexander's Festival Hall

"The Coldest Night" video by Left With Pictures from 'Festivus 2' (Highline Records)

IT'S AN INDIE POP CHRISTMAS!

HIGHLINE RECORDS' 'FESTIVUS 2' COMPILATION, OUT NOVEMBER 26, TO FEATURE THE LILYS, WESTERN LOWS, GLAM CHOPS (EDDIE ARGOS), FRANCIS MCDONALD (OF TEENAGE FANCLUB), NPR FAVORITE PINEY GIR, AND LA DREAM-POP BREAKOUTS WESTERN LOWS

Indie pop Christmas compilation 'Festivus 2' will be release November 26 on Highline Records, featuring The Lilys, Glam Chops, Piney Gir, Western Lows, and members of Teenage Fanclub and Art Brut.

Paste and Philadelphia Inquirer' both featured "standout tracks" (Paste) from last year's 'Festivus' on its Christmas 2012 playlists. NME praised the "jingly-jangly label showcase" and Q said, "Highline is similarly opposed to breadhead solstice-mongering, and offer up 15 skiffly, lovelorn tunes with a Brian Wilson aesthetic adorned with both kinds of jangling (guitars and jingle bells)." Oklahoma Gazette said, "Give it to your favorite hipster."

'Festivus 2' may be the rare sequel that's better than the original. The album kicks off with the moody synth-pop version of "Silent Night" submitted by LA dream poppers Western Lows, who have been championed by Bob Harris and The Guardian ("a particularly enervated form of shoegaze"). Other highlights are Glam Chops (featuring Eddie Argos of Art Brut) with "Baby Jesus Was the First Glam Rocker" (with a wicked David Bowie impression); The Priscillas driving power-pop "One Christmas Wish"; Ulysses' overdriven-with-harmonies "I Wish You a Merry Christmas"; and Francis Macdonald (of Teenage Fanclub) with Anna Sheard "Silver Bells Sing Their Chime." Washington, D.C. indie rockers The Lilys' version of "Good King Wenceslas" delivers a rare slice of guitar-bending psychedelic delight from the indie veterans. The subject of two NPR segments in the past year, Kansan-via-London's Piney Gir serves reverb-soaked psych-pop.

'Festivus 2' is an eclectic mix of great holiday music from UK and US artists alike. 

'Festivus 2' Track Listing

1. Silent Night - Western Lows  

2. I Wish You A Merry Christmas - Ulysses  

3. In The Bleak Midwinter - Trevor Moss & Hannah-Lou  

4. Ho Ho Hos Before Hos - Red Pony Clock  

5. One Christmas Wish - The Priscillas  

6. It's Christmas - Piney Gir  

7. Don't Freat Out On Me - Mi Mye  

8. Good King Winceslas - Lilys  

9. The Coldest Night - Left With Pictures  

10. Baby Jesus Was The First Glam Rocker - Glam Chops 

11. Silver Bells Sing Their Chime - Francis Macdonald and Anna Sheard 

12. Christmas at the Foodbank - Dodgy 

13. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlmen - Dennis Hopper Choppers  

14. Thank God It's Christmas - Darling BOY  

15. My Heart Is As Pure As The Snow - Antony Elvin  

16. Three Kings - Alexander's Festival Hall

'Festivus 2' album cover

Piney Gir "Every Day's a Holiday" music video

From 'Festivus' (Highline Records):

'FESTIVUS': AN INDIE POP CHRISTMAS FEATURING EDDIE ARGOS (OF ART BRUT), PINEY GIR, CORREATOWN, AND MORE, OUT NOW ON HIGHLINE RECORDS

Highline Records is presenting its first Christmas album 'Festivus,' a newly recorded, 15-track indie pop collection featuring Glam Chops (with Eddie Argos, also of Art Brut), Piney Gir (who was recently featured on NPR's Weekend Edition), Correatown (one of SPIN's "next big things"), the "beautiful" (Time Out) Real Tuesday Weld, and others.

The compilation skips between new wave (The Birthday Kiss, Piney Gir), Phil Spector-inspired pop (Hunks and Friends), synth-pop (Baubles), glam rock (Glam Chops), garage (The Werewandas), and 80s-inspired pop (St. Veit). Handclaps, harmonies, bells, and synths abound to warm up listeners during the holiday season.

'Festivus' Track List

1.      Christmas Time is Here - Correatown
2.      Just Because It's Christmas - Skiffle and the Piffles
3.      Every Day's a Holiday - Piney Gir
4.      Countdown to Christmas - Glam Chops
5.      The New Going Out - The Baubles
6.      Dearest Santa - Alphabet Backwards
7.      Song of December - The Real Tuesday Weld
8.      Everywhere at Once - Monnone Alone
9.      St. Veit - Still Flyin'
10.     Sentimental Christmastime - The Birthday Kiss
11.     Santa Claus is Not a Number - The Little Kicks
12.     Christmas Day (Time to Let You Go) - Russell (El Disastre)
13.     I Love You Santa Claus - The Werewandas
14.     The Magic of Christmas - Hunks & Friends
15.     Present and Correct - Alexander's Festival Hall

HIGHLINE RECORDS proudly presents FESTIVUS Released November 16th

Christmas time may well be imminent, and the goose might verily be getting on the girthy side, but something has been missing from our hallowed winter festival the past few years: the worth-its-weight-in-solid-gold-vinyl Christmas Record.

London's fastest-rising indie label Highline Records is here to fill this festive chasm, with a whole compilation jam-packed with bona fide original Christmas classics-in-waiting, featuring a host of luminaries including Piney Gir, Art Brut's Eddie Argos, and The Real Tuesday Weld.

Says label head Heather Willensky, "I've been obsessed by Phil Spector's Christmas album since I was a youngster and thought it would be great to bring everyone in our Highline circle together to create something festive."

Kicking off with LA-based chanteuse Correatown's gentle, woozily joyous 'Christmas Time Is Here,' the album segues into an accordion-laced romp courtesy of the fantastically-monikered Skipple and the Pipples before settling on the ever-brilliant Piney Gir's 'Every Day's A Holiday', containing surely the finest Christmas riff since Slade gave Crimbo a firm glam boot up the derriere way back when.

Speaking of glam, Art Brut's rakish lynchpin Eddie Argos also makes an appearance on Festivus, as part of the stomping Glam Chops, whose mischievous offering conjures up images of a half-naked Santa dancing on his Lapland HQ desk, clutching a bottle of Harvey's Bristol Cream and singing raucously to The Sweet.

Jangling sleigh bells herald The Real Tuesday Weld's languid, jazzy 'Song Of December', while Hunks & Friends' 'The Magic Of Christmas' opens with the immortal whispered lines:

"Daddy, what's this?"

"It's a Christmas song!"

"But it sounds just like every other Christmas song…"

"That's the magic of Christmas!"

The Christmas magic of this compilation, of course, is that each song has very much its own character –and a most endearing one at that. FESTIVUS is not only here to bring back the lost art of the Christmas record, but also to take it to new levels of artistic merit and listener enjoyment.

FESTIVUS has been brought to you by Highline Records and Father Christmas, because you've been very good this year.