Month: November 2025

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Exnovios “Ya Es Navidad” (2025)

Munster Records
Buy: Bandcamp | Vinyl (in the US)

We live in incredible times, as I continue to find Artificial Intelligence more amazing and terrifying as each day passes. I’m desperately trying to avoid ever featuring an AI Christmas song here – but I fear it is just a matter of time. Why the hell am I talking about AI?? Well, because I find myself cherishing folks whom I’ve come to know and love. You see… I know they are human… and I love their music. A wonderful example is Pamplona’s Exnovios, and while they may not have released a Christmas song before (to my knowledge! – THERE IS ANOTHER!), one of their members, Tamu, has released several songs which I have had the pleasure of writing about here on Christmas Underground. So, when Exnovios drops a new record, and I get that Bandcamp email, I’m checking that shit out. They dropped their latest album, Fin, a little over a week ago, and I immediately clocked that tenth track, “Ya Es Navidad” (It’s Christmas!). I know this wasn’t a present specifically for me, but it certainly felt like one. Two chords gently rock back and forth through a song that is so fucking hopeful that you’re going to think you’re in an alternate reality. Who saw that one coming? Everything is so fucked, I was expecting a deluge of grim Christmas tunes.

I needed this song.

Remember me talking about AI? Well, I stripped the vocals, got a transcription, then a translation… all with AI… in about 5 minutes. Wild. I’ve pasted it below, and please excuse the formatting. In addition, if you are either 1) in Exnovios, or 2) fluent in Spanish, please excuse any translation mistakes. I took German in high school… and I can’t vouch for these robots. (EDIT – the robot made some mistakes, and my friend over at Popcasting fixed it!)

Year after year, it happens again, lights and the cold fill my city. I make promises, I ask for peace, and all my dreams will come true. They will come true, they will come true. Another year is here, yet none of my dreams came true, But you’re heare, and nothing can go wrong. The good stuff is yet to come, so much to do, so much to achieve. It’s Christmas already, it’s Christmas already. One year is over and a new one begins. It’s Christmas already. Ha. It’s Christmas.

Bottom Line: One of my favorites of the season so far, from some of my favorite people to boot. Go buy their record, Fin, as I am currently listening to it.. and wow this thing is great.

LISTEN

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Le Mal “Red Maple Door” (2024)

A glowing red door on a dark background with "Le Mal" written above and "Red Maple Door" written below

Machine with Teeth
Buy: Bandcamp

Well shit. I’m really digging this Christmas-timed post-punk song by Phoenix’s Le Mal. (Thanks to Joe for sending it my way!) I want to write something interesting about this song, but the more I read the post over at post-punk.com, the less I feel I can add anything to the conversation. Their description has me fucking jealous. “The track’s pulse feels like a heartbeat trapped in glass — tense, insistent, and strangely devotional.” Dammit. Not only am I not going to try to top, or even converse with that… I am going to send you directly over there to read Alice Teeple’s piece. She did a wonderful job breaking this song and video down.

See you later!

Bottom Line: A bloody post-punk Christmas tableau.

LISTEN

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Kean Kavanagh “Christmas Mode” (2023)

Soft Boy Records
Buy: Bandcamp

Irish singer/songwriter Kean Kavanagh has captured something special with his 2023 holiday track “Christmas Mode.” Soulful and nostalgic, while keeping that edge and dropping some f-bombs, this song makes you think you’re going to bobbing to a smooth Steve Parks-esque jam, then he hits you with that emotional, fuzzed-out finish. Damn Kean. That one took me on a journey.

Bottom Line: This one is hard to classify if you’re trying to stick to a genre… and that is a good thing!

LISTEN

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HBM Presents: Sleigh the Holidays, Volume 2 (2025)

A cartoon of a woman in a mrs claus outfit laying down with "Sleigh the Holidays" in script above her.

Head Bitch Music
Buy: Bandcamp | Apple Music | Spotify

If you’re a casual reader of my blog, you probably have a sense of what my values are. I’ll admit that some topics have more gray areas than others, and I can entertain good-faith arguments from folks on many issues. However, when it comes to racism, sexism, or homophobia, I don’t have time for it. There’s a basic human decency that should be the bare minimum—our shared humanity. The pendulum has been swinging the wrong way on this most fundamental principle, so when I see something that pushes back, I’m going to give it a listen.

Head Bitch Music, a full-service music production house based in LA, dropped HBM Presents: Sleight the Holidays, Volume 2 today, partnering with Jack Antonoff’s charity, The Ally Coalition, to raise funds for LGBTQIA+ youth by supporting organizations dedicated to improving their lives. The record is full of excellently produced, modern pop Christmas songs. There are classic covers (e.woolf’s “A Marshmallow World”), modern covers (Niki DeMar & Julianne Hope covering girl in red’s “Two Queens in a King Sized Bed”), a solid number of originals, and even something in between a cover and an original (Olivia Reid’s “Singing in the Snow”).

There’s a lot here to check out. The record does skew quite pop—very well-done pop, the kind you could easily hear out and about this Christmas season—but pop isn’t the language I’m best suited for. Still, I’m going to highlight two tracks for you to check out that I feel come closest to the Christmas Underground vibe.

The Blah Blah Blahs’ “retro glamwave” take on “Jingle Bells” had me thinking about The Waitresses ripping through this classic Thanksgiving (yes, THANKSGIVING) song. It’s not a tune I normally find particularly enjoyable, but they’ve infused it with a level of fun that should require a photo ID.


LA’s Skyler Cocco‘s “snowglobe” is an indiepop ode to a Los Angeles Christmas. Skyler is originally from NYC, so I can imagine the balmy LA Christmas making you feel out-of-sorts… and this song captures that beautifully.

Can we pretend we’re in a snowglobe?
Shake up this city Christmas Eve
Stick out your tongue
And taste the falling snow
Like silver glitter on the beach

This is on my mix shortlist now, as it is giving me strong girlhouse vibes, who released one of my absolute favorite Christmas tunes a few years ago (“Ugly Xmas Sweater Party“).

Bottom Line: Absolutely essential for those pop music Christmas fans, and even has a few treats for weirdos like me.

LISTEN

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The Bret Tobias Set “25th December” (2023)

Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp (NYOP)

There are so many songs that I’ve been meaning to write about – had this one in the drafts for 2 years! You should see my email or my text messages… even worse.

Philly’s The Bret Tobias Set, led by the titular Bret Tobias (ex The Bigger Lovers), recorded this lovely version of Everything But the Girl’s “25th December,” lending a jangling, more dense orchestration to contrast with the more sparse original. A very nice change of pace indeed.

Bottom Line: A great cover of an indie-Christmas classic.

LISTEN