I have a couple of interesting Christmas albums for you here. They come from total polar ends of the music spectrum. The first is from the indie darling Rosie Thomas with a very low-key CD of her (and yours’ I’m sure) Christmas favorites, title “A Very Rosie Christmas.” The second is from Project 86 (yeah, I’m not kidding) and is titled “This Time of Year.”

Rosie Thomas , “A Very Rosie Christmas””

First up is Rosie Thomas. She is a Seattle based indie musician. She got together several of her friends and family and put together a CD of all her Christmas favorites, including “Christmastime Is Here”, “O Come Emmanuel”, “Christmas Don’t Be Late” (of Chipmunks fame) and “Winter Wonderland”, the original “Why Can’t It Be Christmastime All Year?” and the Prairie Home Companion style radio sketch “Sheila’s Christmas Miracle”. It’s a nice album done in a very low-key still, kind of somber and quiet. It’s sort of a cross between the Cowboy Junkies and Leigh Nash, acoustic and quirky.

You can listen to samples and purchase the MP3 downloads here.

Project 86, “This Time of Year”

On the other side of the spectrum is Project 86. Where Rosie is eggnog, family and parties, “This Time of Year”” is right out of Tim Burton’s “Nightmare Before Christmas”. It’s dark, heavy and dramatic. It’s not just Christmas covers, it features new material and a couple of covers. The covers are Brenda Lee’s “This Time Of Year” and “What Child?”, an instrumental remix of “What Child Is This?”.

Project 86 won’t come right out and say that this is a Christmas CD. But it clearly has some of the Holiday themes in the music, done, of course, in a way that only they can do. Make no mistake, this isn’t your parents’ Christmas music.

Listen to samples and buy the MP3 downloads here.

So pick up some new music and have a Merry Christmas!