I want to stress to folks who submit songs and records… I can’t promise I’ll get to your song this year, next year, or any year. I will very likely listen to it pretty quickly. I will digest it. I will live with it. I might get so crazed that I must write about it immediately. I might let it sit around for a few years, then put it on a mix… and still not write about it. I can’t tell you what gets me to write a post, nor when. I’m just one guy, with limited time, looking for that hook to get me writing about Christmas music.
So… all that said, this song from 2012 – I discovered it last week. I haven’t been sitting on it for 12 years… but you know I mentioned the need for a hook? Well… in this post, that’s the hook! The hook is the hook! I don’t make sense. But this song does! Charleston, South Carolina’s Brave Baby crafted a clever song from Santa’s perspective, with cheeky (slightly-dated, “Sears??”) lyrics and a rollicking, familiar chorus. “It’s Christmas Time… Oh Yeah” isn’t as happy as the title (and my initial description) suggests, with lyrics about reindeer who have passed and children who are alone at Christmas, but the chorus kicks it up to a high enough gear to leave you feeling like the song was a good time. Hey man, I just dug it… the oddly dark lyrics, the echoey vocals, and the indie rock casual attitude… this is most definitely a recipe this site supports.
It always surprises me when a song like this can elude me for 12 years…
Bottom Line: A clever, free original for clever, free people.
I hear the same songs all the time. Give yourself a win if you are not knee-deep in Christmas music for 4-5 months every year. Thus, when I hear something markedly different from the norm, I grab on for dear life. Nashville’s Liza Anne has provided this rescue buoy with her refreshing rendition of “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.” The orchestration makes this sad song sound downright happy, as instruments bounce around, popping in and out of the familiar melody. The damn thing just made me smile. This song is a vibe, one that I’m happy to surf on.
Bottom Line: Liza Anne has beautifully reimagined a classic.
I’ve been thinking about this song for a while. Of course, you all might expect that as an American, I do not speak any other languages. You would assume correctly. Do I wish I could? Damn right I do. I was born on Bastille Day… boy I would love to go to France for my birthday, watch the Tour de France, drink great wine and pass out in a tiny camper on the side of a very windy road. Perhaps not quite the Quebecois French experience lived by the indie folk trio Les Hay Babies, but hey… in the neighborhood! Of note, I had my car stolen in their neighborhood… Montreal… on July 4th! Kind of a reverse Bastille! Fun times…
Les Hay Babies happens to feature a performer that I’ve had on this site before, Julie Aubé, who has not only been featured on CU, but also on a yearly mix! But I did say trio and this is very much a group affair, including the equal efforts of Katrine Noël and Vivianne Roy, each a wonderful solo performer as well. The group took a break after their 2020 LP, Boîte aux lettres, but have since reunited, have a new record (Tintamarre), and are touring once again… thus a perfect opening to talk about this song! “Mam pis Pap” is sung by a daughter who is watching her parents stop celebrating Christmas, as they are older and there is nobody to celebrate with in their house anymore. So, she’ll save her pennies and go home next year, try to recapture the holiday and celebrate with her parents. It is a simple sentiment, one that I can put myself in, both as a son… and as a parent. The holidays are a lot of work – I could see myself phoning it in someday as well. But hey, sing it in French with 3 wonderful voices? Sounds far lovelier a song than this realistic rumination on aging could ever be.
Bottom Line: A lovely trio with a gorgeous, unique, and realistic approach to Christmas.
This is a very small community – I see my stats. I feel like I know most of my readers’ full names and have even met a few in real life (Hi!). So I was delighted to get a ping to my Twitter this morning, as Bennett sends me notes from time to time (sometimes hidden in a package of REAL MAIL), and today he tipped me off to this wonderful song by Young Jesus (aka John Rossiter). “Christmas Day” can be found on John Case, a 5-song benefit EP that dropped today, with all proceeds to be split between the hurricane relief efforts of BeLoved Asheville, and a Gofundme that is created to help a 93-year old woman find a new place after being evicted. So the motivation behind releasing the record is great… how about we take a look at the song itself? Bennett highlighted the first line in his note to me, which is no doubt fantastic, but get a few lines in and you get lines like, “Love’s the only prayer that lasts.” I mean… fucccck.
I met your ass on Christmas Eve broken nose and your torn-up sleeve You said God won’t love you unless you bleed.
I met you and your fancy shoes gold necklace and a crooked tooth Love just waltzed into the room
They say the holy ghost gone mad so walk with me and take my hand. Love’s the only prayer that lasts.
Those lyrics may be the highlight (for me), but I must also mention John’s intriguing voice. John’s voice has a patina far more interesting than those who can belt it out like you hear on the TV. I love this kind of voice… like a gap-toothed supermodel; The flaws are part of the package, part of the beauty – what makes someone uniquely interesting. Thanks again Bennett – this one’s pretty damn fantastic.
Bottom Line: “Christmas Eve” benefits from multiple listens, so why not throw some money down (on this #bandcampfriday) and get cracking. I need the universe to send me more of these.
What timing – to announce your new record on the same day as Dean & Britta & Sonic Boom’s album… I’ll let you in on a little secret: I ordered this record first. If you are new to this blog, you may be new to Sunturns, and I’m a little jealous of you. There are two previous records full of wonderful, original indiepop Christmas songs for you to discover. Comprised of members of Monzano, Making Marks, Little Hands of Asphalt, Moddi, and Einar Stray Orchestra, this crew has been killing it since 2011 – which predates this blog! Hell, you might say that they were part of the reason I started this thing… not enough folks were talking about Sunturns! Well, 2024 brings us Christmas III, compiling several tracks they’ve released in the years after Vol 1 & 2, while also gifting us a whole fistful of brand new songs. I’m incredibly excited about this one – and boy does that vinyl look pretttttty. Of note, if you haven’t bought Vol. 1 & 2 on vinyl… it appears they are down to 2 copies on Fika’s website. I nearly bought one today so I could have a backup copy…
There’s a rather extensive press release on their Bandcamp page – I’d say go there and check it out to further pump yourself up for December 6th. I will highlight one paragraph below that I found particularly useful (and endearing):
If previous albums Christmas I (2011) and II (2015) are somewhat different from each other, then Christmas III represents a fusion of the two. Sunturns’ debut is full of youthful exuberance and was recorded with plentiful overdubs in Oslo, while 2015’s follow up is more pensive and somewhat darker, and was recorded live during one week in the Swedish forests. Einar elaborates: “I love making records like this: short, effective sessions with limited time and therefore no bland ‘perfection’. There’s a nerve to knowing you can collectively bring it all together without the luxury of time”. Christmas III represents a return to the lighter tone, on at least some of the songs, but with the wisdom of age that emerged on the second. You can’t just return to your twenties, however much you might want to!
“You can’t just return to your twenties, however much you might want to!”
I don’t have the time for this today. Two of the biggest releases of the season, each popping up in succession on my Bandcamp feed. I’m not going to give away the other one yet (those in the know… know already), so I’ll start with the biggest news – a full-length holiday record from Dean Wareham (Galaxie 500/Luna/Dean & Britta), Britta Phillips (Luna/Dean & Britta), and Sonic Boom (Spacemen 3). While this was not necessarily expected, it is not exactly a surprise. Dean & Britta have long-dipped into holiday music, with Luna’s “Egg Nog” being a particular favorite. Dean did a Lagniappe holiday session a few years back on Aquarium Drunkard, and the pair also booked a full, holiday-themed livestream concert a few years ago (which was wonderful). However, the spiritual ancestor to this release is most certainly the holiday 7″ from back in 2007, “He’s Coming Home,” which features all three of these folks – and was absolutely killer. I’ll drop the press release below.
In a season where we all seek comfort, tradition, and a return to a home of sorts, a trio composed of indie music’s foundational members have gifted us A Peace of Us—an album of diverse holiday tunes filtered through their musical imaginations. Dean & Britta, well-known from their work defining a genre with Galaxie 500 and Luna, join Spacemen 3’s Sonic Boom, another bastion of indie’s collective adolescence, to bring to life a collection that draws from early ‘60s pop, garage, country, James Bond soundtracks, Christmas carols, and electronica. Dean Wareham recalls a sentiment from his DJ friend Chris: “You can experience all the emotions of Christmas through music: love and hate, joy and heartache, nostalgia, regret, anticipation, and frustration.”
Their venture into a holiday album was organic, spurred by a few cover tunes over the years, a Christmas special during the pandemic, and finally collaborative sessions between Dean & Britta in L.A. and Sonic Boom in Portugal. The trio all contributed vocals, with guitars by Wareham, bass and keyboards by Phillips, effects, and mixes by Sonic. The result is an album of exploration as well as comfort, “like Bing Crosby…on acid,” Britta adds, the tracklist a reminder that the holidays are complex and tragicomic.
As is often the case with holiday merriment, the album has a soft undertone of the bittersweet. Wareham sings one of David Berman’s final songs, “Snow is Falling in Manhattan,” one Dean believes is “destined to be a holiday classic.” Its lyrics foreshadow Berman’s tragic death: “Songs build little rooms in time / and housed within the song’s design / is the ghost the host has left behind.”
The Christmas blues surface again with Willie Nelson’s “Pretty Paper,” rendered here as a duet between Britta and Sonic Boom, their pulsing synth-heavy production updating the song for a darkened nightclub rather than a bright honky tonk. This collection steers clear of the usual Christmas chestnuts, but fans of classic indie haze may find a new favorite in “Peace on Earth / Little Drummer Boy” (created for Bing Crosby and David Bowie’s 1977 TV duet). Wareham notes that “Our favorite version is the German one by Marlene Dietrich, so that was our jumping-off point.” All three sing this one together: Wareham’s tenor, then Sonic Boom’s thrumming baritone, and finally Phillips’ soothing contralto making the plea for peace.
If collaboration is the fuel, peace and mutual understanding is surely the fire, and A Peace of Us has us gathered around it. “Christmas is mostly for children anyway,” says Dean. Sonic adds, “Or the inner child in all of us. Goodwill to all men. Hopes and fears for the year to come. And light in the darkness. Where this festival began.”
I must say, this record sounds incredibly promising. I already know that it features both “Old Toy Trains” and “He’s Coming Home,” both stellar tracks, the first single – a cover of Willie Nelson’s “Pretty Paper,” is an electropop gem. One might say they found some wonderful new wrapping on this track… you could call it pretty for sure. And a cover of David Berman’s “Snow is Falling on Manhattan!” Not the first time Dean & Britta have tackled it, as it was featured on a Section26 compilation a few years back… curious if they’ve reworked this in a similar fashion…
The anticipation is killing me, and boy was this an expensive holiday music day.
Sometimes I dig up wonderful songs, but they only fit within one specific year. Maybe they namecheck a year, a certain former (lord help us, keep him former please) guy, or a global pandemic. These songs are often quite visceral, filled with vibrating emotions… written with a sense of immediacy, and propelled by a world beyond our control. “Santa’s Coming to Free Them” feels a lot like those kinds of songs… but because the song dwells on the experience of children living through war, it avoids the confines of one year and one conflict. One might bestow on this song an evergreen status that also condemns humanity. I normally try to be a bit fun on this site… whoops!
Amason is a Swedish indiepop/rock supergroup of sorts, whose lineage I will defer to Wikipedia‘s expertise: Amanda Bergman (also known as Hajen, Jaw Lesson, and Idiot Wind); guitarist, keyboardist, and vocalist Gustav Ejstes (from Dungen); keyboardist Pontus Winnberg (from Miike Snow and Bloodshy & Avant); drummer Nils Törnqvist (from Little Majorette); and bassist Petter Winnberg (from Little Majorette). They’ve been releasing music since 2015, and in 2020 dropped this punch-in-the-stomach Christmas single. I feel quite uncomfortable talking about how impressed I am with the vocal delivery on a song you wish never needed to be written, but I will take a brief stab at it. I was terribly impressed with Amanda Bergman’s control and her ability to convey emotion. Her delivery is incredibly intimate–more like a desperate prayer than a pop song. That’s about all I can do – the song is very well done, and it breaks my heart that it exists.
How about we just stop bombing the shit out of each other so we don’t get any more songs like this.
I must assume that everyone who visits this blog listens to my mix every year, notebook in hand, downloading their thoughts and feelings about every single track so you can forever remember that moment of listening to such a wonderful Christmas mix. That is my basic expectation of you all… I trust you haven’t let me down. That being said, I’m sure this song is old news to you all, as Pascal Babare’s “Santa’s Seasonal Showdowns” was a highlight from last year’s Christmas mix, I’m an Igloo (track 11, probably on page 2 of your notes). One of the many Aussie’s whose amazing Christmas songs I’ve been digging up, this one most certainly stands out. “Santa’s Seasonal Showdowns” tells the tale of a sadistic Santa orchestrating a Running Man-style life-or-death competition – kidnapping, assault, weaponry, the works. Color this story with delicate vocals and beautiful guitar melodies, and you’ve got a delightful, unexpected macabre holiday treat.
Bottom Line: Bloody fantastic holiday fare from down under.
I have to remind myself every so often that I have this blog so that my imaginary self will discover it, make an incredible Christmas mix for my imaginary friends, and spread the love (in the form of hot tips to the gracious blog proprietor) so that he too can find crafting this labor of love (and pain) just that little bit easier. It is something I have to continually tell myself when every instinct is to hide away these little songs so that I might spring them on you all with my mix. But… you know… I need to get over that shit. So pull up a chair…
San Antonio’s Socialites have this fantastic jangly Christmas-ish song with a seesaw rhythm that is a likely lock for my upcoming mix (Side note – I did the photoshoot for it today.) “Winter” is found on their May 2024 release, Where To, and damn I like this vibe. Rather chill, yet upbeat music with melancholy lyrics… that’s pretty much the formula this blog was founded on. So go, add this to your playlist and just do me one favor… pretend you’re surprised and amazed my Christmas mix despite having heard everything already.
Bottom Line: I suspect “Winter” was scientifically engineered for me to love it. Damn you Socialites… I will subscribe to your newsletter.
Grapefruit Records and C/Site Records Buy:Bandcamp
I have a recipe for you that you might like… let’s create a musical smoothie of a Christmas(?) song where you take the Velvet Underground, throw it in a blender with 90’s slacker stream-of-consciousness indie rock, and add a dash of…. melodica? Sounds like a high-dollar treat you could find in the trendier New York neighborhoods… or it could be “Christmas in East Haven” by the East Haven, Connecticut rock band Shirese. While I’m struggling to find the Christmas connection in this song (beyond the title), I’m totally grooving on this stepchild of “I’m Waiting for the Man,” as each listen has me bobbing my head a bit more. The chorus is an unexpected surge of energy, which really hooked me. I especially enjoyed the chorus when followed by the bridge… and all those weird little bleeps and bloops… just kinda refreshing, I suppose.
Bottom Line: It’s both 70s cool and 90s weird. Dig it.
Christmas Underground 
