It’s December, which round these parts means it’s time once again for The Joyzine Advent Calendar! This year we’re celebrating our 20th edition, so we’ve scoured the archives to mix in some calendar classics along with a few fresh festive cuts from our favourite artists.
As always every track on the calendar will be absolutely free to download, and we don’t force you to sign up for our mailing list (though you can if you want, here) or hand over all of your personal data. The calendar is our Christmas gift to the world (or at least the part of it that enjoys seasonal songs by obscure indie musicians), but if you’re also in the giving mood we’d love you to make a donation to our chosen cause, the excellent anti-racism charity HOPE not hate, which you can do here.
On with the free festive tunes!
Oh how we spoil you good reader, for today we have not one, nor even two but three hearty slices of musical goodness for you to download absolutely free. All of them feature Mikey Georgeson (aka The Vessel of David Devant & His Spirit Wife, aka Mister Solo, and recently featured on Joyzine’s 20th birthday album with family band We Are Everywhere) and all are rather splendid in their own distinct way. We have ‘We Live and Learn’, an exclusive track from his current solo incarnation myKey as well as two seasonal cuts from Glam Chops, the festive glam rock supergroup who also count members of Art Brut, Thee Headcoats, Ulysses and Yummy Fur amongst their number – they’ve provided an exclusive demo recording of ‘Glue and Glitter’, along with a demo of live favourite ‘Don’t Be Glum, Be Glam’. You can download both below.
We caught up with Mikey to find out more.
Who is myKey?
myKey is my shamanistic pop persona who curates Cosmiknot, a collective of lyrical artists who traveled to Athens for platforms projects in October and created the kitchen Soup Song ritual at the Way out East gallery. This involves making and sharing soup whilst singing improvised songs in a collective trance.
The name (my key) is a joke way of reminding people I don’t like being called Mickey (I’m seeing a therapist).
It’s also a way of addressing the idea that I’m somehow esoteric by being deliberately esoteric in a playful way.
Tell us about your tracks.
‘We Live and Learn’ invokes the longing and melancholy that the festive season brings. Looking back and ruefully chuckling about how absurd life is and that actually we really do live and learn in a cyclical way. Wonder is not esoteric or hidden but just stuff as we experience it in all its imperfect glory.
An exclusive of a staple of the Glam Chops xmas gigs, ‘Glue and Glitter’ is about making xmas cards as a child and watching TOTP. This is the demo I made. Never before aired. ‘Don’t Be Glum, Be Glam’ is a Glam Chops live xmas fave, demo by Tim Orchard.
Download ‘We Live and Learn‘
Download ‘Glue and Glitter‘
Download ‘Don’t Be Glum, Be Glam‘
Make a donation to HOPE not hate
Follow Mikey Georgeson and in his many avaried forms on Twitter
Check back tomorrow for another free festive download!
Catch up on all of this year’s Advent Calendar Tracks so far:
1: MJ Hibbett – I Got You What You Want For Christmas
2: Matt Edible & The Obtuse Angels – Advent Beard
3: Old Man May – Laden Sleigh
4: Michael M (SLIME CITY) – It’s Easy To Hate This Time of Year
5: The Fades – Last Christmas (On The Beach)
6: AK/DK – Auld Lang Syne
7: Modesty Blaise – I’ll Be Home for Christmas
8: The Awkward Silences – I’ll Be Getting a Divorce for Christmas
9: Dead Horse – Eating The Reindeer
10: Palm Ghosts – Always Christmas Time
11: Charley Stone – Merry Christmas Actually
12: Premium Leisure ft. Piney Gir – September Gurls
13: Fierce Panda Records present Wynona Bleach – (Don’t Know Why) I Wished You Merry Christmas
14: LOUD WOMEN present I, Doris – Merry Menopause
15: Damaged Goods Records – Wild Billy Childish & The Musicians of The British Empire
16: Peter With Rosie – Shortest Day, Longest Night + And What Will Be Left of Them – Filthy Little Christmas
17: Here Are The Young Men & Uncle Peanut – Christmas In The Clink
18: PNKSLM Records present 7ebra – I Have a Lot to Say (Lucern Raze Remix)
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