There aren’t many underground acts that get the kind of respect Streaking in Tongues does, and it makes sense listening to their music. It’s raw at a time when over-processed beats are the biggest thing on the planet – these are artists who dare to be different and go a way that others are too intimidated by to experiment with, and alongside author and poet Marty Achatz, they deliver another treasure of a tracklist in Christmas with Bigfoot this December. A companion to the book of the same name, Christmas with Bigfoot is a selection of stories that play out much like songs on an avant-garde album because this is what they essentially are.
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When we’re not celebrating the joy of the holiday season, there’s a lot of personal suffering that frequently joins a lot of folks this time of year. A sense of loss that comes with not seeing every family member you hoped to, or just the general letdown that comes after the last presents are opened and the cleanup begins – “Bigfoot and Little Women” goes a step deeper into the question of what it is to feel pain, and in terms that make sense to a child as easily as they would an adult.
“Bigfoot Noel” is the most metaphorical work in this tracklist, but it doesn’t stand out nor overshadow the tone of the other material in Christmas with Bigfoot. Instead, I think its depictions of personal growth are a good bridge point for “Live Long and Prosper” and, later on, “The Christmas Eve Wrinkle” as well. There’s not a single stitch of filler in this album, but there’s absolutely a lot of substance to be uncovered seemingly with every listen the music is afforded. Streaking in Tongues take a supporting role for most of the LP, but it’s necessary to give us everything they can artistically.
The progressive structure of Christmas with Bigfoot is well calculated, and best of all it doesn’t have the over-the-top artsy feel that often supports even the most inventive of alternative releases to get as surreal as this one does. If there’s one thing I know, it’s that Streaking in Tongues isn’t one to stick with the mainstream standard even if it’s going to make their job in the studio that much easier, and I think this is a reminder of just how natural a talent they’ve got when it comes to making the super indie sound just a little more digestible.
APPLE MUSIC: https://music.apple.com/us/album/christmas-with-bigfoot/1600406139
Collaborations are an amazing thing when you love music as much as I do, and this is one of the best that I’ve had the great pleasure of listening to in the latter half of 2021. In a year that didn’t have much to offer avant-garde fans with a hankering for something rather optimistic rather than the same old gloom and doom we heard in 2020, Christmas with Bigfoot is a beacon and a saving grace that would look rather terrific nestled beneath the Christmas tree beside a record player.
Jodi Marxbury