Did you have a good Christmas? Even if you didn't, that's totally fine—it's only one day a year. And now you can bid farewell to 2014 with the year's final set of local releases, and welcome 2015 in style with a New Year's Eve album-release show. We'll start with a re-release from Homecomings, a Provo “freak-folk” project from the mind of Mike Dixon. His self-titled debut was released more than five years ago, and was followed by a short tour in Japan. But since the album was released primarily to the Utah County crowd with no real distribution online, the album vanished almost as soon as it arrived. Flash forward to 2014, when the Dirty Provo crowd decided to dig up the album and throw it onto cassette and digital formats, and have presented it to the music scene once more. The album is quite charming and totally worth a listen; you can download it for whatever you'd like to pay on Bandcamp.


Moving into electronica, we have the debut album from LeRoytheKid Rocket. The 22-year-old musician and producer is fairly new to the game; he broke out in spring 2013 as the producer for theAstroknots. His first venture into solo works is an instrumental album titled MoonChild, which is made up of experimental hip-hop, rap beats and electronic tones. It makes for great background music to chill to, and I'm sure a lot of emcees will enjoy the fresh approach. You can download it for absolutely free from Bandcamp.


Getting into heavier rock, mathcore project Gates Of Nocturne has a new album out. For those unfamiliar, this is a solo project from Lindon musician Ian Fordham, who plays every instrument and then mixes the elements together to make a song. Since November 2013, Fordham has come out with something new every four to six months, most recently an EP called Pariah in June. To end the year, he has released his third full-length album, Dead But Dreaming, which you can purchase for whatever you'd like on Bandcamp.


And then finally, the only release show taking place in the next week is on New Year's Eve, when Max Pain & The Groovies will release their debut full-length album. You can read more details about the album in an awesome article by Music Editor Kolbie Stonehocker in this week's City Weekly. This particular album has been in the works for a long time, teased again and again for the later half of 2014. I've had the pleasure of listening to it and it sounds like some of their best work to date, a lot more ruckus and a lot more depth to the writing. The direction they're headed in is an awesome one. The album, Electro Cosmic, will be released this Wednesday at The Urban Lounge, with DJ Matty Mo and DJ Flash & Flare opening the show. Tickets are $3 before 10 p.m. and $6 after.


Love music, head out, buy local.