Our final post for the year comes from Philadelphia, courtesy of Knifeplay and their For The Holidays EP. They’ve been putting out seasonal songs the last few years and have, for 2023, compiled them together along with a haunting Counting Crows cover, selling it digitally and directing all proceeds to the Broad Street Ministry, dedicated to helping homeless Philadelphians.

Says bandleader TJ Strohmer of the release:

I am happy to be expanding this record once again for the 5th year in a row. The holidays can be such a specifically emotional time and I’m grateful to have this outlet as a space to explore that. This concept of letting the record come and go with the season itself feels right to me because it returns each year with a little growth, much like we all try to do. I know this music won’t be for everyone and it’s certainly not what people expect from us. But that’s how so much of my favorite work from myself and other artists usually tends to be. Thank you to Johanna Baumann and Max Black for helping to make these songs everything they could be, and thank you to everyone interested enough to pay for this record and help support Broad Street Ministry in all the work they do to help our local community.

TJ Strohmer, Knifeplay

It sounds like the release will be taken down after Monday, so if you’re here and you want to hear it, click now or better yet, buy the damn thing.

Update: yup, it’s gone.