Month: October 2025

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Communist Daughter “I Was Thinking I Could Clean Up for Christmas” (2025)

girl reaching out to touch a lit Christmas tree.

Self Released
Buy: 7Digital (MP3/FLAC) | Apple Music

It’s official – I’m excited. Saint Paul, Minnesota’s Communist Daughter has announced a follow-up to 2015’s Sing Sad Christmas EP, which featured (IMHO) the definitive version of The Boy Least Likely To’s “Blue Spruce Needles.” This band can take a song, filter it through their fingers, and make something truly special. They just teased us with the first song off their upcoming November release, Sing Sad Christmas Vol. 2, and it’s just what you’d think. Communist Daughter does not shy away from the darker sides of Christmas – so Aimee Mann’s “I Was Thinking I Could Clean Up for Christmas” is right smack in their wheelhouse. I love it when a band looks beyond the same 10 songs to cover – I am very on board and can’t wait for November.

Bottom Line: A dark and delicious tease for what promises to be a highlight of the season.

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Oliver Wilde & Herbal Tea “Without You, Die Hard’s Not The Same” (2018)

Gold Day
Buy: Bandcamp (NYOP)

There are few topics that alternative Christmas bloggers enjoy digging into more than songs about Die Hard being a Christmas movie (or not a Christmas movie). The topic has become such a trope that I’m fully expecting someone to start a blog devoted to this subject, similar to this now-defunct blog I recall that collected and catalogued all the “Last Christmas” covers. Well, I kinda found a new one – well, technically from 2018. Bristol singer-songwriters Oliver Wilde and Herbal Tea teamed up for a dreamy tune of his and her vocals, trading lines over the phone at Christmas. Let’s look at the title, which is also part of the chours: “Without you, Die Hard’s not the Same.” Implicit in this statement is that Die Hard is a Christmas movie, as it gets name-checked along with the Muppets, Bublé, and Rudolph. The song is about nothing being the same without you at Christmas. Classic premise, clever approach IMHO. While you’re on Oliver’s page, check out the similarly styled dreampop Christmas of “Yuletide,” a collaboration with EBU from 2015. Certainly, some solid dream pop Christmas tunes to be had here.

Bottom Line: It’s early folks – I’ll get over the dreamy songs and into the more acerbic stuff as the season comes closer and new songs get released. My prediction: It’s gonna be a bumpy ride, so enjoy the smooth travels of Oliver Wilde and Herbal Tea while you can.

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Art Acoustic “X-Mas in the Woods” (2010)

Self Released
Buy: Soundcloud (FREE!)

As we all stumble through the darkest timeline, I find myself reaching for comfort food. If you’ve been reading this blog over the past thirteen years, you probably know that my north star is Swedish indiepop. So hold my hand, and let’s travel back to 2010. We’ll listen to this perfect three-minute specimen that represents everything I love about Swedish indiepop: lyrics that mix melancholy with sweetness, paired with upbeat electro-indiepop-disco—absolute perfection.

Art Acoustic may have disappeared from the searchable internet in 2013, but “X-Mas in the Woods” has remained on my playlist ever since I first pressed play. That was another time. It feels like we’re a million miles away from it now.

Hope you enjoy, and welcome to 2025. We are all in this thing together.

Bottom Line: Swedish pop perfection from a long-lost project. Art Acoustic – should you ever find this, drop me a line.

LISTEN