THE M:M MUSIC TEAM (LOTR): Crystal Ann Lea, Meg MacDonald, Rene Magallon
FEATURED ARTISTS
Rayland Baxter
"Hey Larocco"
Amos Lee
"Little Light"
morgxn ft. Walk the Moon
"Home"
SYML
"Clean Eyes"
Alice Merton
"Funny Business"
Elle King
"Baby Outlaw"
This is the second to last chart of the year, and with only 21 days left to Christmas Eve, it’s clear that I’m not the only one suffering from senioritis, as I’ve been getting an inordinate number of calls from airports, stores and your parents’ kitchens.
Our preparations here are in full swing and we got our tree on Sunday. The day started out with a few bumps, mainly for my other half as texts were coming in on my phone non-stop starting at around 6 a.m. Several of my siblings are on central time and either don’t remember we are two hours earlier out here than they are, or they don’t care. My money is on the latter.
Her (mumbling): Why is your phone blowing up at 6:30 on a Sunday? Me: It’s my family. Her: Did someone die?
Me: No, they’re fighting over flocked tree vs. fake vs. real. And apparently one of their kids put a ball through a hoop in a game.
No words came after that. Just a glare only an only child could muster.
We have managed to cut down on some of the more frustrating trappings of Christmas. A few years ago, we stopped hanging our outside lights by ourselves. Every year the process became more and more intricate and after spending countless hours untangling the lights, we’d end up on our knees in the dirt, digging small trenches to hide unsightly extension cords to ensure the mailman wouldn’t trip and sue us. This was inevitably followed by at least two trips to Target in traffic to replace burned out strands and pretty soon we’d be throwing egg nog at each other instead of drinking it.
The score in early December was usually Christmas: 228 Us: 0 (228 was the number of minutes it took us to untangle the previous year’s unfortunate storage choices).
This year, since we didn’t hang the lights ourselves, we’re ahead of the game:
Christmas Tree – Up Shopping – Done Antlers – On head of very annoyed dog Stockings – Hung Mom in Iowa – Packing Alcohol – Purchased (that one’s a given if you know us)
Monday 12/10 is the last chart of the year, and it’s also when the elves of M:M Music will close up our workshop until January 7. We’ll be checking email but please note, if our responses seem nonsensical, it will be due to the wonderful gifts of wine, spirits and assortments of food that have been sent by many of you recently.
These generous gift baskets all are very much appreciated, but know that they will send us into a drunk, sugar-shocked state, so expect some interesting and discombobulated responses.
“We are a nation of communities… a brilliant diversity spread like stars, like a thousand points of light in a broad and peaceful sky.”
– Former President George H.W. Bush (1924 – 2018)
Jade Bird
“Twenty-year-old Bird hearkens back to golden age alt-rock heroes like Alanis and Courtney Love. But it’s the traces of Loretta Lynn-style-down-home feminism that put 'Uh Huh' over the top.” – Rolling Stone
"...an English songwriter with a country-rock streak and a furious rasp when she gets riled..." – The New York Times
SYML
“Clean Eyes is a catchy song that Alternative can own!”
– KXTE/Ross Mahoney
“Sounding like the best song The Killers never released, the Seattle native’s latest single is an upbeat synth-pop track with an anthemic chorus…one of 2018’s best pop songs..." – Idolator
Anderson East
“…On ‘Encore,’ He blossoms”– The New York Times
"Best Albums of 2018" – Pop Matters
“One of Nashville’s Most Promising New Talents” – Billboard
Sister Sparrow
“One of the biggest voices in rock music… The song is a bit of an ear worm, but in the best way possible. You won’t mind singing this one all day long.” – NPR
“Sister Sparrow has not only distinguished herself with “Gold” as a talent beyond that of a powerful soul singer with a really tight band but succeeded in digging into herself and setting free more than perhaps even she knew was possible.” – Glide Magazine
