Every Day is Christmas for Sia

Modern Rock

By Kristi Kates | Dec. 16, 2017

Sia’s new seasonal album, Everyday is Christmas, is in outlets now, a collection of 10 original festival tunes that the singer-songwriter penned alongside producer Greg Kurstin, who happens to be Jewish and who mentioned in a recent interview that he’s “pretty new at this Christmas thing.” (Kurstin also worked on Kelly Clarkson’s 2013 Christmas album, Wrapped in Red.) New or not, Kurstin helps Sia deliver a refreshingly new batch of holiday songs. This mix of ballads and up-tempo pop tracks is comprised entirely of songs you’ve never heard before, from “Candy Cane Lane” and “Snowman” to the set’s first joyous, peppy single, “Santa’s Coming for Us”…

Kendrick Lamar is prepping the European leg of his upcoming tour, which will kick off in February with stops in the U.K that include Birmingham, Manchester, and London (where he’ll bring along James Blake as opening act). Lamar hasn’t toured in that part of the world since 2013, so ticket sales are sure to go fast. In March, he’ll expand the tour across the English Channel to Paris, Oslo, and Berlin. No word yet on more stateside dates, but they’re likely to be added as Lamar’s Damn tour continues …

Heading west for New Year’s Eve? Then you might want to point yourself to San Diego for the big night, when OMFG NYE 2018 will place in San Diego’s Valley View Casino Center, complete with live performances from Dillon Francis, Kayzo, NGHMRE, Zedd, Tiesto, Illenium, and more — but you’re not limited to New Year’s Eve alone. OMFG 2018 will actually start ramping up the tunes the night before, on Dec. 30­, bringing you two full days of EDM bliss …

London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra has added instrumentation to 14 recordings made by Motown original Aretha Franklin, giving some essential Detroit classics an entirely new ambiance and drama. Called A Brand New Me, the album takes tracks like “Respect” and “Think” into completely different audio territory, with the orchestral approach having been devised by British producers Don Reedman and Nick Patrick. You can snag Franklin’s A Brand New Me in outlets now via Rhino Records … 

LINK OF THE WEEK
Sia is celebrating her Christmas album with a strange little music-video family made up of actors including Kristen Bell, Henry Winkler, Susan Lucci, and J.B. Smoove. All appear in the vid for her new festive tune “Santa’s Coming for Us.” Check out the holiday mayhem at https://tinyurl.com/yc7q6btc …

THE BUZZ
The Shelter in St. Andrew’s Hall in downtown Detroit is all set to welcome Eden for a special show at 7pm on March 26 …

Kalamazoo’s Yolanda Lavender has released her third album, Back 4 the 1st Time, a mix of hip-hop, R&B, gospel, and poetry …

Grand Rapids outfit Bigfoot Buffalo has a new album out, The Sun is the Moon, complete with singles “Boots in Molasses” and “Mr. Noodle”…

Demi Lovato will make several stops in the Midwest as part of her 2018 North American tour, including shows in Minneapolis, Minnesota (March 10); Detroit (March 13); Columbus, Ohio (March 14); and Toronto, Canada (March 19) …

Pop Evil will rock Detroit’s Fillmore on April 6 …

… and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.

Comments, questions, rants, raves, suggestions on this column? Send ’em to Kristi at modernrocker@gmail.com.