The Singing Saw at Christmastime

Anyone who knows me well knows my unhealthy obsession with Sufjan Stevens' Christmas box set. Even in the middle of summer, not a week goes by without me thinking, "Boy, I'd really like to hear "Get Behind me Santa" right now." Due to this intense love and my tendency to over play music, I limit myself to listening to it December 1st--January 1st. It takes discipline. I occasionally make the exception for "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing," because it's probably my favorite song (and favorite recording of it), and technically, it's not a Christmas song.

This year, I'm excited to have a new obsession (though not a replacement, of course). Julian Koster's putting out an album of all singing saw Christmas music. Here's Koster is in all his singing saw Christmas glory:


On a related note, I hear that Low is putting out a Christmas 7" on SubPop. When I saw them at the MFA last week, they played one of the tracks, and it was rather terrifying. To quote my review:

A new Christmas song started off innocently (“Tapping on the rooftop…”), but quickly turned menacing as Sparhawk yelled “Santa Claus is coming!” The words were not so much a gleeful declaration as they were a command to get the hell out of the house.

On a final note, for those of you who don't know, I finally bought a piano! And I'm in desperate need of good Christmas music. I have one book that I grew up playing, but the music's a little too basic. Let me know if you have any good sheet music I can borrow. Thanks!