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!
Christmas Underground 