so i am an uncle and my song was true!

A quick update…

For those who were following along with my Christmas tunes this year, you probably remember the last song I released, “Nobody Wants to Be Born on Christmas Day” was an original song about my future nephew.

My nephew was due on December 23rd, which was alarmingly close to Christmas day. So I wrote this song from his perspective and how “he hoped” he was born any day other than Christmas! (more details about the song here.)

Well good news…

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2010 christmas ep recap

This year’s volume 5 of festive.mood.inducing.music was a lot of fun to make. Overall, I was pretty proud of how it turned out. Recording the album during November/December and releasing them each week is a bit stresssful at times, but it’s really worth it and I’m glad so many folks streamed and download the songs!

To all of the new folks who stumbled on to my music thanks to the glorious Internet, stick around and check back so often, believe it or not – I create original music too (not just Christmas tunes!)

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f.m.i.m.v.5 song #5 = “nobody wants to be born on christmas day”

Every time a new song is released I will post a little write-up about the song from festive.mood.inducing.music.vol.5

Song #5 = “Nobody Wants to Be Born on Christmas Day”

Phew… the last song! I didn’t know if I was going to make it with this one. Typically, when I’m recording these Christmas songs I give myself at least a two or three week headstart before I have to release the song. That way I have enough time to record all of the parts and mix the song adequetely. Well, with this last song, I started recording on Monday of this week, and finished all of the recording and mixing late Thursday night. Just a bit stressful.

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f.m.i.m.v.5 song #4 = “wonderful christmastime”

Every Monday I will be posting a little write-up about the song released that week from festive.mood.inducing.music.vol.5

This week, song #4 = “Wonderful Christmastime”

Some people really love to hate on the song “Wonderful Christmastime.” If we’re being honest here… it IS a bit annoying and repetitive. And Paul McCartney can really do no wrong as far as I’m concerned, but this song is surely near the bottom of his quality scale. However, who cares… it’s FUN! Am I right or am I right?

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f.m.i.m.v.5 song #3 = “o holy night”

Every Monday I will be posting a little write-up about the song released that week from festive.mood.inducing.music.vol.5

This week, song #3 = “O Holy Night”

“O Holy Night” is one of my all time favorite Christmas songs. I’ve tried to tackle it for the last three years on my Christmas EP’s but I’ve never ended up with an arrangement I was satisfied with. So I’ve always kept it on the back burner, and knew one year or another I’d be ready to try it out for real.

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f.m.i.m.v.5 song #2 = “hark! the herald angels sing”

Every Monday I will be posting a little write-up about the song released that week from festive.mood.inducing.music.vol.5

This week, song #2 = “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing”

I guess I have a thing for Christmas songs about Angels, or perhaps there’s just a lot of songs about Angels? Either way – I was happy to add this gem to this year’s Christmas EP.

When I’m working through potential song ideas every year, I probably play through at least 10-15 songs before I settle on which ones to record. Sometimes, arranging the song can be a major pain and take me many different sessions to figure out a direction. Luckily, “Hark!” was an immediate connection for me.

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f.m.i.m.v.5 song #1 = “deck the halls”

Every Monday I will be posting a little write-up about the song released that week from festive.mood.inducing.music.vol.5

This week, song #1 = “Deck the Halls”

I’ll be honest, this is not my favorite Christmas song ever. Actually, it’s probably near the bottom of the list.

However, for whatever reason, I really wanted to record this song.  (..It sure wasn’t the poll results, because this song came in dead-last. Sorry! Sometimes I just do what I want.)

I was shooting for a way to make the song less annoying. I wanted to make it more mellow, less joyful (yeah, i went there), and mess with the melody a bit.

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all about festive.mood.inducing.music

Over five years ago I decided last minute that I wanted to record some Christmas music and give it away for free on the web. This was a relatively novel concept at the time. So the last five days before Christmas, each day I released a simple acoustic recording of myself performing a Christmas tune.

And there started the tradition of releasing a new volume every year of the “festive.mood.inducing.music” Christmas music EP. Each year’s volume has gotten a little better than the year before (if I do say so myself…), with more involved arrangements and more production.

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write-up on CoverLayDown.com

One of the best blogs focused on Cover songs online, Cover Lay Down, recently posted a little write-up about my upcoming 5th Volume Christmas EP. Over the years, Josh (who runs the blog) has been a really strong advocate of my music and I really appreciate it! Anyway, below you can see the portion of the post about my music.

Meanwhile, with Christmas just around the corner, it’s great news indeed to find our favorite Sufjan-meets-Denison Witmer singer-songwriter Joel Rakes gearing up for another festive.mood.inducing.music holiday coverage sampler. This time, however, he’s looking for our input, letting fans vote to influence his yearly selection. And I’m thrilled to have a chance to advocate for both songwriter and song selection in one fell swoop.

We’ve featured the Philly-bred artist for several years running, thanks to his fun yearly takes on the classic hymns of the season; he’s sure to revisit some oldies this time around, too, but I’m gunning for some stripped-down coverage of more modern songs, like Paul McCartney’s Wonderful Christmas Time and Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You. Won’t you help this coverblogger’s Christmas dreams come true? Head over to Joel’s blog to vote now, and pick up his newest full-band EP The Philadelphia Sessions, recorded just before his move to Nashville late last year, while you’re there.

(Source: CoverLayDown.com)

vote for the 2010 christmas EP songs

As you may, or may not know, every year for the past four years, I’ve recorded and released a five song Christmas EP entitled “festive.mood.inducing.music.” Over the next few weeks I’m starting to put together Volume 5 and I want your help narrowing down the list of potential songs.

Below you will see a poll with 15 potential song ideas, please select your top 5 and i’ll take the crowd’s vote into consideration for the final track list! Feel free to write your own song ideas in as well.

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