Category: Downloads

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Grandaddy “It was a Silent Night at least until Jeff Lynne arrived” (2021)

Self-Released
Buy: Bandcamp

I think this song gave me way more joy than is recommended at my age. I mean… I just got over this tendonitis – my body can only take so much action. The smiling… the swaying… I might just pull something. Grandaddy’s reworking of “Silent Night” is actually a more fully-produced version of a track from earlier this year, “It was a Silent Night at least until Jeff Lynne arrived… In a Trance,” which was on the film soundtrack In a Trance and Wandering Around. Frankly, I’m ashamed that I didn’t catch it earlier. This song is truly a TON of fun… and will pair perfectly with their classic “Alan Parsons in a Winter Wonderland.” Jason sure does wear his influences on his sleeves 🙂

Bottom Line: Follow their journey freaking out about Jeff Lynne and you will not be disappointed.

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AWALK “O Holy Night” (2021)

Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp

I bet your Christmas music bingo didn’t have a classical guitar over a hip-hop beat on a traditional Christmas carol. Los Angeles’ AWALK has taken a song that, as a purposefully secular blog, I would not normally be looking to feature, and made it both interesting and extremely enjoyable. You would think that those qualities would always go together… but they don’t! “O Holy Night” kicks in and immediately you know you are in for something different… and 15 seconds in you’ve got a beat and a whole mess of stuff going on. Give me all the mess.

Bottom Line: Unexpected and appreciated, AWALK’s approach is just damn refreshing.

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David Newton & Thee Mighty Angels “Winter Tragedy” (2021)

Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp

David Newton, of C86 indie popsters The Mightly Lemon Drops, has just dropped this toe-tapper of a holiday song. Plenty of hooks and handclaps infuse this joyous romp with enough energy to get you through a whole afternoon. But then you listen to the lyrics – and that is where they get ya! Indiepop has this way of having such happy music, with terribly dark or sad lyrics. “Winter Melody, winter tragedy’s here / Picturesque landscape surrounded by holiday tears / Cold and bleak December / Frozen to the bone / Stranded at the airport / December all alone.” Ahhh well, just keep dancing!

However, I must say… the video is deceiving! David Newton plays every note on this song! Thee Mighty Angels is pretty much David doing overdubs… those his friends hanging out to be video stars and drink cold beer. Which would actually work really well for me… as I don’t play anything well enough to be in a band. Starting a band but need some fake musicians to back you up? DM me!

Bottom Line: Just a bit of tragic fun – a classic indiepop bait & switch!

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Zach Malm “What Does Christmas Mean To You?” (2021)

Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp

A few years after his much-lauded (by me!) full-length Christmas LP, The Darkest Time of the Year, Zach Malm is back in the Christmas music game with the lovely “What Does Christmas Mean to You?” I absolutely adore the instrumentation on this track, as the rhythms overlap and build throughout. The lyrics are nuanced and complex; A favorite line I’ve been turning over in my head is, “We’re on the other side of certain truth.” So f*ing dead on. This is a song that demands more than just listening – it is most certainly a thinker. You shouldn’t be surprised though, as it asks you a question in the title (and in the last line)! A question which a lot of us have VERY complicated answers for if we have an answer at all. So sit back, enjoy, and think deeply about our new world… while enjoying some wonderful music.

Bottom Line: Zach Malm returns with a wonderfully rhythmic and contemplative addition to our holiday playlists.

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Billy Nomates “Christmas is for Lovers, Ghosts & Children” (2021)

Invada Records
Buy: Bandcamp (NYOP)

Did that title grab you? Are you breathing? Well, the payoff is there, don’t worry. Brit Billy Nomates (the stage name for Tor Maries) has a new Christmas song and it is this oddly fun, while emotional experience. Nomates’ has put together this weird upbeat, emotional song with some heavy lyrics – highlighted best in this beautiful chorus:

What I’m seeing
What I’m hearing
Doesn’t add up to the season
that I’m feeling
When the people that you love
go slowly disappearing
and when you gave your heart
yeah they gave it back.

Christmas is a complicated time, best and perhaps only ideally experienced by lovers, ghosts, and children… as it isn’t complicated for them; They are either fully engaged with the love and wonder of Christmas, or living in an alternate existence. The folks living in the middle that have to deal with all the real shit. Those are some deep feelings, and I can dig it…

The song is only name-your-price during this December, and all proceeds go to Feed the Homeless Bristol. So give generously.

Also, HT to Ned for the heads up! I actually get notifications from Invada sent to my home screen from way back when I was trying to get a Jonsi soundtrack… but you even beat that!

Bottom Line: Billy Nomates grabs us with a title, and wows us with the execution. This one will make a mix or two (thousand).

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The Fisherman and His Soul (featuring The Radio Field) “Santa’s Bat” (2021)

Platiruma!!!
Buy: Bandcamp (NYOP)

Münster, Germany’s The Fisherman and His Soul is back with his yearly Christmas single, and this one is a Lemonheads-esque jam! Teaming with Düsseldorf’s The Radio Field to provide that booster of jangly 90’s-era college rock, this track has placed me in my freshman dorm room with my buddy Phil. The layered instrumentation, the tiny touches of brass (either real or sampled), and that driving beat… sign me up. And since they have offered, I will use the fridge, but I might be hiding some beer.

Bottom Line: The Fisherman and His Soul NEVER write a boring Christmas song. Last year’s was about a wasp (and a plague, but that USED to be weird…)!

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Gabrielle Aplin “Just Like Christmas” (2021)

Never Fade Records
Buy: 7Digital MP3 | Apple Music | Amazon MP3 | Amazon.uk MP3 | Amazon.de MP3 | Amazon.fr MP3

People like to talk about how there hasn’t been a new, modern Christmas standard since “All I Want for Christmas is You.” Stereogum is trying to shoehorn a whole bunch of forgettable songs into the standards category, but you have to scroll to the comments to get the true answer… Low’s majestic “Just Like Christmas” is indeed a new standard. How so? Well… because it has been and will be consistently covered from now until eternity by artists of taste and stature (and of no particular stature as well!). Will Ariana’s “Santa Tell Me” get covered by anybody but some big pop act? Probably not – and frankly my guess is her song will likely live on as largely a trendy clothing store playlist experience. “Just Like Christmas,” however, is beautiful, simple, and downright incredible. Its simplicity lends itself to reinterpretation (as the true classics often do), and year-upon-year an artist or two adds a new stellar version to the mix. This year I present English singer-songwriter Gabrielle Aplin‘s version to be considered as one of the best out there. Gabrielle strips it down, chooses some interesting lyrical phrasing, and leaves me shaking my head with how brilliantly she controls her voice. Color me impressed and put yet another brick on the pedestal lifting Low’s new holiday standard.

Bottom Line: Gabrielle Aplin wields her vocal weapon with perfection on this most excellent cover.

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Memorial “In the Arms of December” (2021)

Memorial - In the Arms of December

Real Kind Records
Buy: Apple Music (so far)

Soundcloud has been paying off rather well lately, with the latest discovering coming in the form of this beautiful, Christmas-adjacent song from the UK’s Memorial. The folk duo premiered their new song on the blog Wonderland about a week ago, and it is one of those writeups that really makes you wonder whether you should even try to say anything else about it–but here it goes. It makes me think of those distant relationships, those relationships that you deeply value, but are slowly fading. We all have those, they warm us with memories and meaning, while making us cry. Their voices, in tandem with the simple, airy production fits the lyrics so perfectly, to surgically attack that part of your brain where you hold both your love and regret. So… you are forewarned.

Bottom Line: One of those perfect, emotional songs bound for the kind of Christmas mixer that reads this blog.

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24 (2021)

Where It’s At Is Where You Are
Buy: Bandcamp

One of the great indiepop labels has spring a wonderful collection of 24 holiday-themed songs on us this year – and for those early preorder folks, the opportunity to a hand-knit wool sleeve. Where It’s At is Where You Are (WIAIWYA) has a wonderful track record of indiepop holiday releases, most notably (for me) Christmastime, Approximately, which features a couple tracks that have featured on my yearly mixes. Let me just say… when more than one track off a comp ends up on a mix… that is a BFD. Compilations are always a roll of the dice, because you’ve got a whole mess of different styles, tastes, etc all coming together – and art is subjective! To have more than one song hit YOU specifically makes that entire record feel even more important by association.

24 features… you guessed it, 24 tracks, which I cannot bring myself to cover fully. I have NEVER come close to a comprehensive review of a record of this size… so please take the time to explore those other tracks that I am not singling out here. Once more, art is subjective, and the Christmas mix I would make does not come close to sounding like the one my friend Ned would… so let’s go exploring! I’ll open the door for you, now it is your job to walk on in and poke around a bit more.

The record starts out setting that beautiful, upbeat indiepop tone, with a wonderful track by Seattle’s Dolour, “Christmas with My Baby.” I love that first verse, which sets the stage well for 2021, but doesn’t get TOO specific as to pigeonhole it to not be listenable year-after-year: “Last year was such a dreaded affair / the year before that I didn’t even care / basically every year before I had no one to share / the holiday cheer with until you were here / but now this year I can hardly wait / so much joy, there’s no room for hate / let it snow, I don’t mind / as long as I’m here with this true love of mine.” This song has that attitude that I think a lot of us (vaxxed) share this year – the optimism that comes with time and understanding. Grab that person you love and don’t let the shit that surrounds you interfere.

Classic Sarah Records’ Scottish indiepop stalwarts The Orchids slow it down with “I Wish I Was,” a beautiful, nostalgic track that may very well be my favorite (at this moment) on the comp. The vignettes they create of a childhood Christmas, accented by their perfect use of brass color, hit you in the head and heart with equal force. Just beautiful.

With my next selection, I invite you to ruin Christmas with Laura and Mike from firestations, aka L&M Kingsize. “We Ruined Christmas” begins by dressing down a Christmas meal, beginning an emotionally complex and fascinating journey. Everything is the same, but you like it that way. You’re miserable, but you’d rather not be at home. We ruined Christmas, can’t wait to see you, same time next year. This song is just kinda fascinating and unexpected.

The BV’s “Krautmas” is more of a groove than a song – those playful guitars over a steady digital beat are as soothing as the first snow flurry. Coming in at track 13, it serves as the perfect intermission between the two halves of the record. Simple and wonderful.

“December Boy” by The Rhynes is the sweetest song on the record. Full of warmth, love, and vocal harmonies, it has some of the best lines on the record as well. I particularly like the first bit here: “You can keep whichever god you’re dreaming of, / but I’ll take all the peace and all the love. / Cause it feels so good to be alive, / We’ve made another December twenty-five. / You make my heart laugh / This December boy’s still got it bad.” If could eat that sentiment for breakfast every day I would.

There are plenty of other great songs on here, the vast majority exclusive to this release. In fact – should you feel so inclined, I’d LOVE to know what YOUR favorite tracks off this record are. Tweet at me (@xmasunderground) or comment here! I may just update this review with your input as well!

Botton Line: As expected from this truly excellent indiepop label, WIAIWYA has delivered yet another underground Christmas classic. Truly enjoyable from front to back, this is one of those rare comps that you can just put on and press play.

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Sharks’ Teeth – The Christmas on Christmas (2019)

Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp

By far, the most ambitious Christmas record I have come across in recent years is The Christmas on Christmas, by New Orleans’ Sharks’ Teeth. This record is massive – 25 original songs written from a perspective that no other band (that I’m familiar with) has come within yards of. To give you some more context, this is how the band introduced the record when it was released in 2019: “We call it our ‘Occult/Polytheistic/at times aggressively astrological Christmas album’ and it’s 25 tracks of brand new, original, slightly subversive yuletide pop… This record is meant to celebrate and create through the array of frameworks of traditions from this world that eventually became our Christmas. Hopefully we’ve done that without promoting monotheism or intrinsically saying that anyone else’s spiritual worldview is wrong or invalid.” Honestly, reading that makes my eyes cross and my attention pique in tandem. Sonically, the record sounds fantastic, with some particularly wonderful guitar lines. I love how the songs often have multiple movements, perhaps best experienced between the prayerful first half, and the upbeat second half of “And You Know it isn’t Christ,” which contains some of my favorite guitar work. The Christmas on Christmas sounds like a War on Drugs-meets-Flaming Lips opera, bubbling with steady-beat indie rock, vaguely 80s guitars, experimental detours, and filtered vocals. It is one of the most fascinating Christmas records I’ve ever heard – I honestly feel like the best advice I can give is to throw them a few bucks (it is name-your-own price) and go for a nice walk.

Bottom Line: Massive in scope, this record is like nothing else you’ll hear this season… or next season… or next… or…

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