Author: xmasunderground

Such and such.
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Linedance Fever “Last Christmas” (2011)

The Linedance Fever - Last Christmas

Self-Released
Buy: Bandcamp

Like my fellow friend-in-Christmas Stubby, I too believe that the Swedish country-punk band, The Linedance Fever, have recorded one of the most wonderful and original versions of the oft-covered Wham! classic, “Last Christmas.” I have included a few covers of this song on my mixes in the past, each one quite distinct from the other… and this version joins the Erlend Oye version as the best that you can find. (They also have another Christmas tune, 365 Days of Christmas, and I may review that at some point… and I do hope they make some more.)

Bottom Line: A gem. If you have any taste, you’ll think so too. 🙂 5/5

LISTEN

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Red Sleeping Beauty “Christmas” (1992)

Red Sleeping Beauty

Marsh-Marigold (EP) / Siesta (Compilation)
Buy: Discogs (CD/LP) | Amazon UK

Associated with the wonderful Acid House Kings (in that they share one member), Red Sleeping Beauty were active from 1992-1997 are recently back in the swing of things with a new track (a cover) on the bonus disc of Alpaca Sports’ debut release. For those, like me, who have followed that Swedish indie-pop rabbit hole down a good ways, this is good news.

Red Sleeping Beauty, like the Acid House Kings, dabbled in a seasonal tune on their first release. Amazingly enough, both songs were titled “Christmas,” and were released in the same year (1992) on the same record label (Marsh-Marigold). However, one song is significantly better than the other – and my (unfortunate) distaste for the AHK song left me with quite low expectations for the RSB tune. I was, however, quite pleasantly surprised. Red Sleeping Beauty recorded a perfectly fine indie-pop Christmas tune, very much in the style of the genre, but with a nice bed of fuzz to build the male/female vocal interplay upon. Originally released on their 1992 debut EP, Pop Sounds, it is much easier located on 2000’s Siesta singles compilation appropriately titled, Singles.

Bottom Line: Solid indie-pop from Sweden gets my vote. As I live with this tune some more, it might get a few more points… we’ll see. 3.9/5

LISTEN

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Memoryhouse “Christmas Island” (2013)

Memoryhouse - Christmas Island

Self-Released
Buy: Bandcamp

Memoryhouse released their second Christmas tune this past season, a cover of the Andrews Sisters’ minor classic, “Christmas Island.” As to be expected, it is quite pretty. The synths and drum machine give it an atmosphere that I haven’t heard on this song before – so it certainly checks off that “make it your own” requirement of a good cover. Not quite sure how I feel about the guitar solos, but I’ve never been a guitar solo guy to begin with. The track also benefits the New Moon Rabbit Rescue, so with every seasonal dollar you send, they help care for some adorable rabbits.

Bottom Line: Memoryhouse highlight a less-often-covered tune, and do it well. They might not have knocked my socks off (yet), but I’ll give it some more time to sink in. Generally well chosen, executed, and intentioned. 3.9/5

LISTEN

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Chk Chk Chk (!!!) – And Anyway It’s Christmas (2013)

Chk Chk Chk - And Anyway Its Christmas 7"

Warp Records

Buy: Bleep (7″, FLAC, WAV) | 7Digital MP3 | iTunes

!!! can’t put out music that doesn’t make you smile. They always seem to have groove spilling out of their clothes, and their first Christmas effort is no different. While it may have taken a listen or two for me to really get into, they eventually got me to the place where I love this song. With lyrics like, “It was nothing but a crush, / I was long resigned. / Thats all it was, / just something that stayed on my mind. / But I’ve been round the world / seen all kinds of girls but I’ve seen nothing better / than you in that sweater.” It may not seem like much… but the way they say sweater is just fantastic. That funky guitar really tops it off, and my foot can’t stop tapping, and my butt can’t stop moving in my office chair. Brother’s gotta work.

Bottom Line: This is a steal as a digital download (WAV! FLAC!)… and while a bit more pricey as a 7″, it is limited to a jaw-dropping 100 copies. Yes, you read that right. 100. 4.8/5

LISTEN

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Kill Rock Stars Winter Holiday Album (2006)

Kill Rock Stars Winter Holiday Album

Kill Rock Stars
Buy: Bandcamp | iTunes

Back in 2006, Kill Rock Stars was sending out CD-R copies of their brand-new Winter Holiday Album with a purchase of $50 or more through their webshop. This was the only physical release of the compilation, which is easily found now through most digital retailers. Its certainly not the most obscure independent release to review, but I do find it necessary to throw a bone out there to those who are just getting into this unfortunate obsession, and might not have heard of everything yet.

Kill Rock Stars Winter Holiday Album is the kind of idea that makes you super excited, which inevitably (in most Christmas music cases) leads to disappointment. I certainly don’t want to scare off KRS from another comp, but this record is all over the place. The pace, however, never picks up – it maintains a slow-to-mid tempo nearly the entire time. There are moments of gloom (Gold Chains & Jillian Iva: “Winter Kills”), drone (The Mary Timony Band: “Hapi Holidaze”) and silliness (Phranc: “Hannukah Snowman”) that activate my “skip track finger.” There is really only one track that I truly enjoy. The Everyothers cover of the Pretenders’ “2000 Miles” is done wonderfully – their voices certainly do it justice. They don’t reinvent the wheel, but if you are someone who 1) likes the song and 2) doesn’t want to include the original or the ubiquitous Coldplay version on your mix, this may be the one for you.

Bottom Line: The potential of a great label releasing a Christmas comp is tough to live up to, but I can’t bring myself to give it too much slack. I also haven’t got much sleep this week, sorry KRS, that might play into this too. 2/5

LISTEN

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Fletcher C. Johnson “Merry Christmas” (2010)

Fletcher C. Johnson "Merry Christmas"

Burger Records
Buy: Bandcamp

Fletcher C. Johnson has a great pop sensibility, in a garage-rock sense of the word. “Merry Christmas” is the B-Side to his Happy Birthday 7″. It has a truly excellent groove – certainly a groove good enough to be in the running for a mix. Fun, happy lyrics that I genuinely enjoy (believe it!) with the kind of pretty (yet still dirty around the edges) production quality that I am a sucker for. I just have to get over the children’s choir that is low in the mix of the chorus. Certainly worth a listen… I’d imagine you could edit it down to not have such a long intro too…

Bottom Line: Certainly better than most, this tune is solid, though I’d be a much bigger fan if there was a childless version. Oh, and I’d love a download… anybody know if you get an MP3 or FLAC download from the actual 7″? It doesn’t appear to be so on Bandcamp… 3.9/5

LISTEN

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkXoPwt2bMY]
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Serenades (aka We Are Serenades) “Come Home” (2011)

Serenades-Come-Home

Cherrytree/Interscope Records
Buy: Amazon (Try to find it elsewhere – eBay is often cheaper)

A side project of both singer-songwriter Marcus Srunegard and Adam Olenius (of the Shout Out Louds), Serenades (now known as “We Are Serenades“) put out a fantastic little EP, Come Home, to indie record stores in late 2011. A friend at our local college radio station proceeded to hip me to the fact that the title track is actually a Christmas song! And what a Christmas song! Melancholy Swedish Christmas songs are pretty much my favorite thing, and add a big chorus and I’m pretty much putty in your hands.

Bottom Line: These swedish songsmiths have created a song worthy of all-year-round listening – not bad for a Christmas tune. And hey, you can get this CD for CHEAP. 5/5

LISTEN

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHZ2ev-C4WY]
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Dr. Dog – Oh My Christmas Tree EP (2013)

Dr. Dog Oh My Christmas Tree - EP

ANTI
Buy: 7Digital MP3 | iTunes | Amazon.uk MP3

This release is nearly flawless. I loved every single song on this 4-song EP, and find myself justifying that any track could be on 2014’s Christmas mix. Dr. Dog has created a wonderful collection of original Christmas tunes that is unrivaled in both scope (4 great songs!) and originality. If I were to make ANY criticism, it would be to take out the verse sung by a child in “Rejoice,” otherwise a spectacular song. Even with that blemish, “Rejoice” still makes me swoon.

Bottom Line: One of indie rock’s modern Christmas classics. Why not release it somewhere where I can purchase a FLAC?? 5/5

[youtube http://youtu.be/dDC8PXIV9Kw]
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Christmas Off the Coast (2009)

Christmas Off the Coast

Decoder Magazine
Buy: Free!

After listening to the STELLAR winter/Christmas mix “The Way Snowflakes Fall” by cherrystarscollide on 8tracks, I found myself scrambling to hunt down some new Christmas tunes I had never heard. The main target of my affection was the stellar “Winter (Christmas Song)” by Memoryhouse. Known to many via their recent Sub Pop release, The Slideshow Effect, I was amazed to find a song from 2009 floating out there that nobody seemed to be talking about! After some digging, I found that Decoder Magazine had put out a small, free compilation back in 2009 titled Christmas Off the Coast, but to my dismay, all the links were broken and the original files had been lost on a stolen computer’s hard drive! So, I threw out a few shots in the dark and landed the entire release (thanks cherrystarscollide!!!). You may kindly download it from the link above, or right here. As for the songs themselves, this is a pretty strong release. The Memoryhouse track, of course, is wonderful. I wish they would release it as a FLAC on their Bandcamp!! Woodsman’s cover of “Little Drummer Boy” is actually palatable too… because its an instrumental! I never realized… I really just HATE THE WORDS! Weed Diamond‘s “Christmas, Baby Please Come Home” is perfectly fine too. Fuzzed out with a more lo-fi feel, it doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but there are parts (this one guitar part inparticular) that separate it from the pack. Wasters’ “Holiday” is another great instrumental piece that, with its brevity, just might sneak onto a mix. I Am the Dot‘s “Blue Christmas” is electro-on-the-edges enough to be interesting as well, for a song I generally don’t gravitate to.

Bottom Line: This is a great release – and I’m happy to bring it back to the masses! I could never give something a perfect score when it has “Little Drummer Boy” or “Blue Christmas,” but forget my personal prejudices and add another .5 to a release that you can enjoy all the way through. 4.5/5

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Benoît Pioulard “Rays in the Tallow” (2005)

Benoit Pioulard

Ghostly International
Buy: Free!

One of Benoît Pioulard‘s labels, Ghostly International, offered up three free tracks for Christmas way back in 2005, one of which was the wonderful track “Rays in the Tallow,” by Michigan’s Benoît Pioulard. If you are unfamiliar with his work (its a stage name, do your research if you are so inclined), then there is a lot out there for you to get into. This particular track is well within his style: beautiful, melodic, haunting and effecting. So take particular pleasure in glory that is this, the long-lost Benoît Pioulard Christmas track, “Rays in the Tallow.”

Merry Christmas, Everyone.

Bottom Line: Pure beauty. 5/5