October 2023 – Christmas Underground

October 31, 2023October 31, 2023

Bunnygrunt – Season’s Freaklings: Thirty Years of Holiday Hits By the Grand Elves of Midwest Twee Core (2023)

The Bert Dax Cavalcade of Stars
Buy: Bandcamp (Digital/Vinyl)

Bunnygrunt, the scrappy indie pop band from St. Louis, Missouri, has been releasing Christmas tracks for nearly 30 years (not yearly – that would be nuts!), and takes this moment in 2023 to compile the majority of them into one, single-sided red vinyl 12-inch. Checking in with 8 songs, six of which I believe to be originals, this is a tight crop of short indie pop goodies that has grown on me a good bit over the past few weeks. The originals work wonderfully, leaning into their clever songwriting, jangly guitars, and lo-fi production – they know their strengths and it shows. They were facing an uphill battle with their choice to cover “Blue Christmas,” one of the most-covered, and one of my least favorite Christmas songs of all time… and we’ll just leave it there. The other (confirmed) cover, recorded under the name Blondiegrunt, is indeed a cover of Blondie’s “11:59.” This song fits their voice and vibe so much better, and is a welcome closer to the record. Not quite sure why their track on the rare Kindercore compilation XMAS-3 The War on Christmas!, “Got the Blues for Xmas,” nor the cover of “Holiday Road” missed the cut, but I suppose their attempt to keep the record single-sided may have played into that. Either way, quite happy to have these songs all in one place, as I did not have many of them before!

EDIT: A couple people sent me messages about this. You all know me well! Thank you to those who did, and keep them coming, as it doesn’t matter if I knew about it or not – the next one I might be completely ignorant to!

Bottom Line: “Seasoned Freaklings” is a wonderful addition to your underground Christmas collection. Grab one of those 200 records before they are gone!

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October 24, 2023

Photo Ops “Odd Christmas” (2023)

This song came in via a tip from a friend… AND I CANNOT HUNT DOWN WHO SENT IT. So… here I am, not giving credit where credit is due… feeling like a jerk. Gotta soldier on, but if you did send this to me, let me know so I can properly thank you. I think it was in Twitter notifications… but of course, those don’t work as well as they used to and I can’t go back to summer/spring, because I don’t pay for it most likely.

Photo Ops, the recording project of Los Angeles’ Terry Price, brings electro-indie-folk goodness with “Odd Christmas,” a wonderful new track off Burns Bright, his latest full-length which came out earlier this year. “Odd Christmas” is going to appeal to folks who love the Sufjan Stevens’ Christmas records, as it shares the complex emotional content of the best songs from those records. It also doesn’t hurt that Terry and Sufjan share similar vocal qualities. The bits of synthesizer really fills out the sound, taking what would have been a lovely folk song and adding just enough color to separate it from the crowd. Multiple listens have brought me closer to this song… perhaps they will for you as well.

Bottom Line: An early highlight of the season.

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October 23, 2023

Eastern Conference Champions “Christmas Time” (2014)

RockHampton Records
Buy: Apple Music

October chugs on, which means that November is nearly here and I can already feel the stress of finding new Christmas songs creeping in. So, as I did back in 2020, I find myself falling back on that backlog of draft entries for great songs… posts begun, but soon neglected, as a new shiny thing distracts me away. Don’t let that lack of concentration lead you to believe that this song will be less-than-stellar, as Philadelphia’s Eastern Conference Champions were not capable of writing a bad Christmas song and 2014’s “Christmas Time” would be a stellar B-side to a perfect indie rock Christmas single, with 2013’s “Saving Christmas” only edging it off the lead track by the tiniest of margins. The song has a less aggressive pace, but just wait for that epic bridge… damn this band was great. Really wish they were still around. Hope you enjoy this overlooked gem and have your Halloween costume ready. I, for one, will be the Karate Kid from the second movie (the red gi), as I always am. I plan to be a fun anecdote in our local paper one day…

Bottom Line: If indie rock Christmas is what you want, Eastern Conference Champions certainly knew how to provide it.

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October 17, 2023

Collars “Christmas In The 90s” (2022)

Laundry Rooms Records
Buy: Bandcamp

I have this feeling that someone sent me this song last year… and I just can’t remember who. It was on my Soundcloud list last year, and somehow I didn’t write about it, and I have no clue why. My best guess is that I added it without really listening to it, which in the heat of the season… well… it happens. A well-meaning, “save something to listen to later,” kind of gesture. Well, if you tipped me off on this, and I have plum forgot, I apologize.

NOW, how about this very British bop about “Christmas in the 90s!” (Look at me using bop…) Hidden towards the end of a proper, non-Christmas record, 2022’s Clyde, Collars are really channeling the Britpop wars (well, the war between the Gallagher brothers), the Hacienda, raves, and gentrification. Wrap that up with a catchy-as-hell beat and that wonderful layered ending… this one is bound to be a popular mix-addition.

Bottom Line: This song is a ton of fun. Pair it with The Futureheads’ “Christmas in the 80’s” to begin a tracklist of decade-specific holiday fare!

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October 16, 2023December 6, 2023

UPCOMING: Jangle Bells – A Rough Trade Shops Christmas Selection (12/08/2023)

Rough Trade Shops
Buy: Rough Trade (UK only so far)

Rough Trade Shops has a little Christmas gift lined up for their (so far) UK devotees… as they are releasing one of the strongest Christmas complications of the past few years. Compiling a number of top tracks from the recent past with a few exclusives, Rough Trade are flexing their taste muscles with this lineup. I’m most intrigued by the exclusives, obviously, and am paying particular attention to that Marika Hackman song, “Driving Under Stars,” as it sounds like a stripped-back version of one of my favorite holiday songs of the past ten years. The Peaness track, “Kiss Me Sweet Pea,” (edit – added below) could also be pretty amazing, as I really love this incredibly catchy band. There also appears to be a new Ellie Bleach track (edit – posted below!), which is encouraging… as I still may write about her previous song from a few years back (edit – she deleted it!) … Most certainly a worthy addition to your Christmas music collection, should you be the collector-type.

Tracklist (* denotes that I believe them to be exclusive to this release)

Marika Hackman – Driving Under Stars (Piano)*
Pale Waves – Last Christmas
Allo Darlin’ – Will You Please Spend New Years With Me?
Julia Jacklin – Baby Jesus Is Nobody’s Baby Now
The School – Shouldn’t Be Alone For Christmas
The Big Moon – It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Los Bitchos – Los Chrismos
Linda Lindas – Groovy Xmas
Black Midi – Jingle Bell Rock
Chubby and the Gang – Violent Night (A Christmas Tale)
Peaness – Kiss Me Sweet Pea*
Bubble and Squeak – The Christmas Stick
Ellie Bleach – Merry Christmas, Do You Ever Think Of Me?*
Sinkane – Christmas Wrapping
CD Only
Dream Nails – Lonely Star (Christmas Song)
Willie J Healey – Merry Christmas
Girl Ray – I Wish I Were Giving You a Gift
Stars – Christmas Anyway
Alex Lahey – Merry Christmas (I Don’t Wanna Fight Tonight)

Bottom Line: A good number of these tracks have been celebrated here before, so yeah, this looks good. Check it out, maybe buy the limited vinyl or the expanded CD… or cherrypick some songs below (where applicable) and give your money directly to the bands!

LISTEN

October 13, 2023

Hotel Lux “The Carvery” (2022)

Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp

Portsmouth, England’s Hotel Lux dropped a nice jangly sing-along Christmas cracker last year, and like many things in life… I missed it. The song is very English, with some references to Nigella (which I assume to be English chef and writer Nigella Lawson) that may be lost on us stateside, and a sing-along chorus purpose-built for shouting out down at the pub. Hotel Lux’s lead singer, Lewis Duffin, excels in the milieu of talk-singing post-punk (e.g. Art Brut), and this song does perhaps highlight that he’s not going on The Voice anytime soon. But fuck, neither am I. The character of his voice is what matters, and the creaks in those boards aren’t a bug, but a feature, as I detest perfection. The song came together quickly with what I have gleaned was some gratis studio time for a charitable purpose (Shelter, a UK homelessness charity), and you can actually see the process in one of the videos posted below. It is rather fun to watch the song come together. Hopefully, they’ll grab some more time to record another this year, as this is actually their second Christmas single, following 2019’s “Stop the Calvary.” Lean into this guys, I’m here for it.

Bottom Line: A solid pub singalong that gets better with subsequent listens.