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Song Premiere: Kishi Bashi, 'It's Christmas, But It's Not White Here In Our Town'

Courtesy of the artist

Kishi Bashi, my favorite new artist of the year, now has a holiday song. It's such a great way to bring us back around to a musician I first discovered while sifting through 1,300 songs for the South by Southwest music festival back at the beginning of the year. We all ended up falling in love with his music. And judging from all the comments on a recent post about the timing of holiday music, I think we're safe to premiere this song Kishi Bashi wrote especially for the holidays called "It's Christmas, But It's Not White Here In Our Town."

In an email, K Ishibashi tells us he thinks of holiday music as a way to get him through the frosty days of winter.

From Kishi Bashi:

"I always love the winter holidays and the joyful spirit that it brings to what I always considered to be the worst season of the year. Classic Christmas songs like those sung by Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra almost seem magical to me when I hear them. How could you get through a brutal winter without songs like these? I wrote this one for a good friend and Kickstarter backer down in Florida who I thought might miss the snowy Christmases we used to enjoy when we lived in Brooklyn together."

Kishi Bashi is releasing "It's Christmas, But It's Not White Here In Our Town" as a snowflake-shaped flexi-disc, with all proceeds going to a charity called Ear Candy, an organization that donates used instruments to kids.

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In 1988, a determined Bob Boilen started showing up on NPR's doorstep every day, looking for a way to contribute his skills in music and broadcasting to the network. His persistence paid off, and within a few weeks he was hired, on a temporary basis, to work for All Things Considered. Less than a year later, Boilen was directing the show and continued to do so for the next 18 years.
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