Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp (NYOP)

The Aux have released a really nicely produced, lo-fi Christmas EP the past two years, and can usually be counted on to have one of the most profane and funny releases of the season. This year is a bit different – the profanity is there, but as the title suggests, there is a bit of a shift. The first two songs are both really well written, introspective struggles with life and the season. Trying to find comedy in a year like this leaves you with a lot of those “it would be funny if it weren’t true” situations that can be hard to take. The third track, “all i wanted for christmas was my fantasy football super bowl,” brings out the clever bitter lyrics that I’ve come to expect from Mike. I feel for this song… I lost out on my fantasy football super bowl last year after a Thursday POINT ADJUSTMENT after I had specifically benched my defense as to not have one of those dreaded -1 weeks… DAMN IT. Heh. The final track is the obligatory cover the classic Wham! track, “Last Christmas,” but with way more fucks than usual. The autotune works really well on this track too, and has a great ending, “This song is fucking repetitive and this is the end.” Ha! About time someone cut that song off.

Bottom Line: The Aux are always a refreshing listen, even when the entire song is bitching about something. I do hope that Mike finds some inspiration for next year, and I share his hope that 2017 will be in improvement on what was a supremely unenjoyable year.