Producer Ben Hosley has announced the upcoming release of Slow Xmas 2, a compilation of alternative Christmas music released by Bone Sound Records. He has also shared a new track from the album, “Lulajże Jezuniu,” from the California-based trio Heavy Gus. Hosley notes, “This time it’s even slooooower.” Slow Xmas 2 will be released on December 19th.
Listen: Heavy Gus: “Lulajże Jezuniu”
Heavy Gus is led by songwriting couple Dorota Szuta and multi-instrumentalist Stelth Ulvang (The Lumineers) along with percussionist Ryan Dobrowski (Blind Pilot). They released their debut album Notions through BMG in August 2022. Szuta writes, “‘Lulajże Jezuniu' is a traditional Polish kolęda (Christmas song) that I grew up listening to and singing every year. It's a rather sad lullaby sung by Mary to her crying baby."
Like its 2021 predecessor, the 2nd official Slow Xmas album showcases a variety of musicians all interpreting and creating based on one simple prompt: gotta be slow. In addition to Heavy Gus, this years’ release is a veritable stocking stuffer of jams from artists including Heavy Gus, Nicky Francis, Roman Mars and more.
The creative force behind the newly-founded Slow Xmas tradition is NYC based audio producer Ben Hosley. What began in 2020 as a bonus content offering for Blank Check - the acclaimed film / comedy podcast where Ben serves as the longtime producer - has continued to evolve from its chopped and screwed, vaporwave-adjacent origins. In 2021, the first official volume was released featuring performances from Sad13, the solo project of Sadie Dupuis from Speedy Ortiz, recording with members of Cloud Nothings.
Hosley has spent seven years as Executive Producer and on-mic personality for Blank Check. He previously worked at Spotify’s in-house content studio and founded the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater’s bicoastal podcast network. He is an alumnus of The Annoyance Theater in Brooklyn and UCB. His work has appeared on IFC, Vulture, The A/V Club. He has also been “getting into fashion,” and launched his own clothing and lifestyle brand called Congratulations that includes pairs of buried jeans (literally, jeans that were naturally aged through the process of temporary burial beneath the fashionable topsoil of New Jersey). His sleep podcast Sound for Sleeping Sleepy Sleep Sleep, is launching in 2023.
About Blank Check
Blank Check is a long-running movie and culture podcast. It’s hosted by film critic for The Atlantic, David Sims, and by actor Griffin Newman; whose recent credits include Netflix’s Masters of the Universe: Revelation and Disney’s Disenchanted.
