Christmas Is Cool, But I Recommend the Free Demo

• Christmas - "Namiot" single (K) [MySpace]



"Namiot" single - Download here

• These guys rock. This single was released by K Records today, but most of the songs recorded by the Olympia four-piece called Christmas appear on a free MediaFire upload they describe as "the early Christmas tapes". That includes a demo version of "Namiot". 
• The demo sounds very different from the samples of the "Namiot" single on Amazon. It's much more lo-fi, and I actually prefer it. The new single version reminds me of Blondie or Bow Wow Wow in their most fun moments.
• "Namiot" is the "poppiest" song on the demo tape. The rest is pure, fun, noisy art punk with female vocals and a soulful bent.
• The B-side on the new release is called "Namiot Version". This is a remix by Calvin Johnson, a.k.a. Selector Dub Narcotic, also of K Records. Apparently it's a "muddier" version. I don't hear much difference in the Amazon sample, but I don't have the whole thing. Johnson remixes various K Records artists as part of a Dub Narcotic Disco Plate series.
• Christmas's first full-length release will be a 12" vinyl on CMRTYZ/Highfives and Handshakes, coming March 15th. You can hear one of those tracks here.

So what I'm gonna play for you here is the demo version of "Namiot". I don't know when this was recorded, but it's not the new single version. Pretty underground stuff, and very cool.

Christmas - "Namiot" (demo version)