Because at Aye Tunes we don’t do merry.

First things first, see all that money you got as a Christmas present? Put aside £5 of it, and with that fiver go and buy the debut album from Happy Particles, Under Sleeping Waves. It is released today on Bandcamp, and it is really blooming good.
<p>&lt;a href=”http://happyparticles.bandcamp.com/album/under-sleeping-waves”&gt;Under Sleeping Waves by Happy Particles&lt;/a&gt;</p>

Now for some free stuff. I’d like to say they are my Christmas gift to you, but since I am not any of the people giving away the free music that would be a quite blatant lie, and telling fibs is bad.

Gargleblast Records gave away a free download on the twelve days running up to Christmas. If you missed out on them, including a brand new song from Martin John Henry, you can download the lot here.

Pensioner have made their self titled debut album available as a free download until new year. It’s pretty good, nice and loud. Grab a copy of that here

The Bird and the Monkey are another band giving away their debut album. Until new year you can download BalloonBaboonBallroom for free over here

As mentioned when I had him in the Advent Calendar (ooh-err) Kevin P. Gilday has picked Christmas day to release his first album too. Graphite is available for free from Bandcamp.

That should be enough to keep you busy for now, and better than Now That’s What I Call Music 735 that someone bought you in a panic.

Have yourself a stupidly happy Christmas, thanks for visiting, come back soon! Also, don’t be a dick, eh? Good on you.

This final Advent Calendar post is brought to you by a terribly happy Jim. I’ll let you work out why for yourself.

I should probably end things with a Scottish band, but we’ve had plenty of them throughout December, and I’ve been gradually trying to take in more from beyond our borders this year anyway, so here’s some folk from Manchester instead. Tribal Fighters, like most of the English bands I’ve liked this year, were first nudged my way from Stewart from Black International, so cheers for finding good new music for me Stew.

Listen to Christmas Stalkings below, and download it (and some other songs) free from Bandcamp.

<p>&lt;a href=”http://tribalfighters.bandcamp.com/track/christmas-stalkings”&gt;Christmas Stalkings by Tribal Fighters&lt;/a&gt;</p>

Tribal Fighters: Bandcamp - Facebook

That’s it for the Advent Calendar for this year. If you missed and of the 24 days of mostly festive nonsense you can find everything using the Christmas tag on the posts.
Have a lovely Christmas, try not to fight any relatives or break your new toys, and remember to vote in the Readers’ Poll by the end of Boxing Day.

It seems only right that after celebrating with them at the Aye Tunes Birthday Bash back in June we have The Big Nowhere back for Christmas too.

Just, barely, making it in time for inclusion in the Advent Calendar after much badgering of the band to hurry the heck up and get it finished comes The Big Nowhere’s Christmas EP, Christmas In The Gutter.

You can listen to Christmas In the Gutter at Bandcamp, and buy it for a quid (or more) if you like it.
As a wee Christmas treat, you can download one track from the EP, a cover of Big Star’s I’m In Love With a Girl, for free from me below too.

The Big Nowhere - I’m In Love With a Girl

The Big Nowhere will be re-releasing their debut album Pull Down the Moon on a limited special edition CD in January. Don’t worry, I’ll tell you when you can get your paws on that.

The Big Nowhere: Website - Bandcamp - Facebook

Curses, I had the name of whoever pointed my towards Birdlips written down on a bit of paper, to remind me to give them a nod when I got round to posting this. I’ve lost the bit of paper. Thanks, mystery person.

I’ve not had much in the way of traditional, or God bothering, depending on your viewpoint, Christmas songs, but there’s some on this, so enjoy or avoid as you wish. Listen to Slow Burners for the Holidays below, and download it at the price of your choosing at Bandcamp.

<p>&lt;a href=”http://birdlips.bandcamp.com/album/slow-burners-for-the-holidays”&gt;Slow Burners for the Holidays by Birdlips&lt;/a&gt;</p>

Birdlips: Website - Bandcamp

We like Numbers and Letters round here, enough that I braved the three buses to get there and long walk home on a Sunday night when they played in Glasgow a few months ago. It was worth the annoying trip.
Every year they record and release a Christmas song too, so I’ve been patiently waiting all month for their new one so I can slip it in here.

This year’s Christmas song from Numbers and Letters is a version of In the Bleak Midwinter and is, as all their previous Christmas songs have been, lovely. I think Sarah and Joe from Admiral Fallow pop up on this, but I could have gotten that completely wrong, and I’m clearly not professional enough to fact check.
Listen to the lot below, and grab them from Bandcamp for whatever you feel like paying. While there download a copy of the Numbers and Letters EP if you haven’t already, it’s good and free too.

<p>&lt;a href=”http://numbersandletters.bandcamp.com/album/merry-christmas-songs”&gt;Merry Christmas Songs by Numbers And Letters&lt;/a&gt;</p>

Numbers and Letters: Website - Bandcamp - Facebook

Although I’ve not actually looked back to check, I think most of the Christmas songs this year have been of a fairly cheery variety. Let’s end that run then.

Two tracks today from Kevin P. Gilday, who did a wee opening spot at the last Aye Tunes gig a few months ago. Kev has an album out on Christmas Day, featuring contributions from Kevin Frew, Tim Courtney), David Flood, Emily MacLaren, James Campbell, Jennifer Campbell and Rebecca Kilgour, but I’ll get back to the album properly later.

First off, a poem, My Crappy Christmas.
My Crappy Christmas by Kevin P. Gilday

Secondly, a wee preview from the album, Graphite, in the form of Crooked Christmas.
Crooked Xmas Reprise by Kevin P. Gilday

Kevin P. Gilday: Tumblr - Facebook - Soundcloud

Gig plug related Christmas song, yay!

The Second Hand Marching play play at The 13th Note tomorrow (Thursday) in a gig that I’ve already mentioned a couple of times, but I’d be wasting an opportunity not to mention it again, since they’ve got a Christmassy song to go with it.
Also playing at the gig are Withered Hand (Christmas song HERE) and The Last Battle (Christmas song HERE). It’ll be dead good. You should go. Tickets can be bought here.

Bonbon is taken from The Second Hand Marching Band’s Grit and Determination EP, which you can buy here. I wrote a wee bit about it when it came out ages ago, which you can read here. Although you’re probably better off buying Compendium now I think about it, since it contains all the songs on that EP and is dead cheap…. Yeah, buy Compendium.

<p>&amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href=”http://thesecondhandmarchingband.bandcamp.com/track/bonbon”&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;bonbon by the second hand marching band&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;gt;</p>

the second hand marching band: Website - Bandcamp - Facebook

It’s been ages since I’ve heard anything from The Recovery Club, but here they are, popping up with a new festive offering. Good, I like them, so it’s nice to see them still around.
Silent Night is available free from Bandcamp for a limited time, so get it while you can.

<p>&lt;a href=”http://therecoveryclub.bandcamp.com/track/silent-night”&gt;Silent Night by The Recovery Club&lt;/a&gt;</p>

The Recovery Club: Bandcamp - Facebook