UPDATE: The Weeknd, Miley & Radiohead join Free Music Festive fray

The mistletoe’s out, the dongs have been dinging merrily and often on high, and Free Music Festive has a suitably seasonal collection of downloads, streams, vids and promos to put a smile on even the grinchiest of faces.

Doling out a huge pressie in the shape of their new ‘Heathrow’ single are Shannon and Limerick hip hop crew the Rusangano Family. A dark, gritty addressing of the migration issue, it’s the first taster from the chaps’ Let The Dead Bury The Dead EP and their first full-length album, which is due early in the New Year. Together with Shankill’s Dah Jevu, they’re the reason why we think the Irish urban scene is going to blow right up in 2016.

An [link]zaphod.uk.vvhp.net/vvreg/10294-435125[/link] swap of your email address gets you Ellie Goulding’s version of ‘O Holy Night’ in return.

Not very Christmasy, but good in a wildly weird way is the new six-minute opus from David Bowie, ‘Lazarus’. Goodness knows what Bing Crosby would have made of it!

The Weeknd treated fans to a surprise late Xmas pressie with the posting of two new tracks featuring the respective talents of Future and Jeremih.

Also gifting fans a tasty new tune is Miley Cyrus whose ‘My Sad Christmas Song’ seems to address her breakup with former fiancé Liam Hemsworth.
“Why even put up a fucking tree,” she rues, “if there’s no one here who’s going to see?
With a Rickenbacker strumming away in the background, it almost strays into Anna Calvi territory and contains a “’This is my sad Christmas song / I light another bong” line that guarantees it won’t be getting much radio airplay.

Not to be outdone in the festive freebie stakes, Radiohead are giving away the song they recorded for the new James Bond blockbuster, Spectre, but was rejected in favour of Sam Smith’s frankly below par offering.
“Last year we were asked to write a theme tune for the Bond movie Spectre,” the band confirm in an official communiqué. “Yes we were. It didn't work out, but became something of our own, which we love very much. As the year closes we thought you might like to hear it. Merry Christmas. May the force be with you!”

Cheap Trick celebrate their induction into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame - about bleeding' time! - by giving away the brilliant 'No Direction Home' at [link]tailorednews.com/u/Welcome/86520-145181-0/145181/Sign-Up-to-get-No-Direction-Home[/link] We have extremely fond memories of the time they rocked Vicar St. to within an inch of its life!

Rather than going for the commercial jugular, Tinie Tempah appears to be re-establishing his underground credentials with this granite hard [link]soundcloud.com/james-army/sets/tinie-tempah-junkfood-mixtape/s-mcqaz[/link] taster from his Junk Food mix.

Wiz Khalifa also ends the year on a free mixtape high. Get Cabin Fever 3 while it’s extremely hot.

Mark Geary and Glen Hansard’s ‘Christmas Biscuits’, Vyvienne Long’s ‘Please Santa, Let’s Go’ and Sleep Thieves’ ‘November Christmas’ are among the quality festive tunes featuring on the name your price - make it at least a fiver! - A Co-Present Christmas compilation.

The magically larynx-ed Sharon Jones treats us to the wonderful It’s A Holiday Soul Party, which finds her mixing such standards as ‘White Christmas’, ‘Silent Night’ and ‘Please Come Home For Christmas’ with the somewhat less traditional – but just as good! - ‘8 Days (Of Hanukkah)’ and ‘Ain’t No Chimneys In The Projects’.
She’s once again accompanied by the straight outta Brooklyn Dap-Kings who featured extensively on Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black album.

Hot Press is very taken with ‘Wish Upon A Star’, the accomplished debut single from 13-year-old Shannon singer-songwriter Adam Moloney. Available on iTunes, all proceeds go to Pieta House. Recorded live in Limerick’s Steamboat Music Store, the accompanying video was shot by Shane Serrano and the mastering taken care of by Richard Dowling, two lynchpins of the local scene.

Salt Odelund is giving away her gorgeously melodic and every so slightly folky 'Magic (Supposed To Grow)' single. The accompanying video is zero budget but equally lovely.

Free Music Friday is saddened to learn of the death from cancer of Mick Lynch, a lynchpin of the Cork punk scene who headed in 1983 to London where he became a founder member of Stump. Included on the NME’s influential C86 compilation, they became firm John Peel favourites and got to number 2 in the UK Indie Chart at a time when that meant selling serious amounts of records. Before crossing the Irish Sea, Mick had helped Our Man In The People’s Republic, Paul O’Mahony, with doing window displays for Hot Press. The video for ‘Charlton Heston’ shows what a visual as well as a musical force they were. Let us remember him this gloriously anarchic way…

We're loving this sneak peek at Yallah! Underground, a documentary about the dissident music scenes in various Middle Eastern countries. Powerful stuff.

Lovers of super smooth funk will adore ‘Strange Lookings’, the new single from The RattleShakes who also make a mean video.

‘Tis the season not only to be merry, but also to start looking at who’s going to be making it big in 2016. Lots of smart money is on Londoner Dua Lipa who sounds like a genetic splicing of Adele and Shakira.
 

 
On their way next month to Eurosonic – funny that, so are we! – Vant are a London four-piece who popped their musical cherry listening to Foo Fighters. Or so it would appear on steaming single ‘Parking Lot’.
 

 
 
A veritable sensation in Denmark where he’s scored five hit singles, Lukas Graham has just released his first music here. We understand there's Irish blood involved, so we may have a future Choice Music Prize winner on our hands.
 

And that’s where we have to love and leave you for not just another week but 2016. We will however be adding tunes to Free Music Festive throughout the holiday period, so keep them links coming @stuartclark66. Happy Christmas!