Wow. Just wow. Oxfordshire’s Willie J. Healey has just released an incredible new Christmas song, and proper fanfare is in order. This song has a heavy John Lennon vibe, but not necessarily tied down to a 60s sound – it feels timeless. Willie’s voice that steals the show here; There are these subtle moments where you get a good feel for how truly good his voice is without the showy fanfare that often accompanies that kind of talent. With some fantastic lyrics, a killer chorus, and that beautiful production, this should make this a surefire hit on your 2020 Christmas mix.
Bottom Line: Willie’s song made my morning Soundcloud journey one of absolute bliss. (Perhaps a Bandcamp listing soon? Fingers crossed!)
I think this may be the only time I’ve ever written, or will ever write, about “O Holy Night” on this blog. I don’t normally warm up to the classics, as the classics are classics for a reason… they are done, and done, and done… so to me, they are done. Ben Caplan, this Canadian, Jewish, folk musician has managed the near-impossible… because here we are. On his Bandcamp page, Ben writes about why he decided to record this song, and it is enlightening:
I didn’t grow up listening to much Christmas music. Being Jewish, Christmas wasn’t a big thing in my home [read: non-existent]. That said, we all know it’s pretty hard to ignore the Christmas season; just like everyone else, I am constantly bombarded with Christmas cheer outside of the home. I have to admit that I find a lot of that music a bit corny. Where is that minor fall? Where is the major lift? Where is the bafflement?
I’ve always loved the idea of recording my own take on this music. There are a lot of great Christmas songs out there, but I don’t love all the aesthetic choices. Where are all the violins and clarinets!? I have a deep felt belief that if you don’t like something, you should do something about it. It’s not enough to complain from the sidelines!
I had my first opportunity to dip my toe into the icy Christmas music waters in 2012 when I recorded Fairytale of New York with Norwegian artists Katzenjammer and Trondheimsolistene. On that project, I got to work with a huge string ensemble and a terrific arrangement. On my recording of O Holy Night, I wanted to use a similarly lush and over-the-top arrangement, but take it in my own darker direction. That said, I can’t take much credit. I owe a lot to my collaborators.
Ben then goes on to break down the full journey of this recording – from the intital concept, to the particulars of the recording. All said, he worked with sixteen other artists over four years from concept to final song. There is a dedication there that you can truly hear in the music – there is not a note off, and those notes are fascinating. Ben has imbued “O Holy Night” with power, perhaps unsettling at times, that you did not expect, and cannot deny. The song is stirring and emotional, and it leaves me amazed. I tip my cap to Ben Caplan, as well as the sixteen other musicians and artists involved in this triumph.
Bottom Line: Ben Caplan and Co. have taken white bread and created a bloody feast.
You think there is a method to my searching? Well, there is SOME method, but a hell of a lot of it is just random searches. I hadn’t heard of JW Francis until a few weeks ago, when I was scouring DIY and caught a whiff of a possible Christmas song. JW Francis looked right up my alley, as lo-fi indie rock from New York is just about enough description to get my head spinning with possibilities. So I checked out We Share Similar Joy, his non-Christmas record (because people feel compelled to do write non-seasonal songs – go figure!), and it was awesome. Flash forward a few weeks, and JW has released a 4-song EP, JW Christmas. The record contains three covers, with “Wonderful Christmastime” being the strongest of the bunch. But I live for new, original Christmas tunes, and “Christmas Heartache” delivers. The jangly groove, the odd vocal drops (WHO DOES THAT REMIND ME OF?! IT IS DRIVING ME NUTS!), the simplicity, brevity and interesting choices make it a fantastic bite-sized snack of a song. Kick those covers to the curb, I’d love to hear some more originals from JW.
Bottom Line: Short, sweet and interesting lo-fi indie rock from JW Christmas Francis.
I feel like most things I’m finding this year can be filed under pretty excellent folk music. This isn’t quite the reaction to four years of post-Brexit and Trump rule that I was expecting. Then again, perhaps it makes total sense – we are all trying to calm our nerves after years of uncertainty…
The latest beautiful folk find is Stephen Elliott‘s “Cary Baru,” a song truly untethered to time nor place. This is one of those songs that sound like it could have easily been recorded last week or 40 years ago. Those first few moments of guitar picking and your mind will ping Nick Drake. Then you quickly get hints of Beatles, and back around to some more Nick Drake percussive bits amongst the metallic finger sliding residue of an early Elliott Smith record. The rhythm and pace of the song is a brisk walk, perfectly complimenting the lyrical basis of the song, which Stephen was kind enough to further describe to me earlier today.
Cary Baru is a short meditation on perseverance, on persisting in anticipation of a moment’s clarity, and on moving between these states. I wanted to compose something that embodied that sense of movement.
While the scene is set during the Christmas season, I initially found the lyrics to be ambiguous in the way that so much poetry is, allowing me to walk down multiple avenues, imagining different main characters, and leaving me wondering where the true story lied. After Stephen’s explanation, the song feels far-less personal than I had imagined, and it blossoms into a more universal story that everyone can take a piece from. This is one of those songs that benefits from multiple listens, so grab a jacket and add it to your playlist – we’re heading out (masked, of course).
Bottom Line: Stephen is learning some shiny new gear while under these COVID restrictions, and it sure seems he is getting the hang of it well.
After a whole night of searching, sometimes you need to just take a layup, rather than try to dunk it. Yeah, I know the fans want that new song from 2020, but you’re just going to have to settle for this ridiculously fantastic song from 2013. Philadelphia’s Eastern Conference Champions may not be with us anymore, but their legacy lives on with a host of fantastic Christmas songs and I may have to throw those up on the blog as well. You can’t ask for much more than “Saving Christmas” when searching for an indie rock Christmas song – this song kicks in, and you are off and running. I can’t believe it snuck by me for so long…
Bottom Line: Eastern Conference Champions were one of the indie rock xmas greats, and this may be their seasonal Mona Lisa. You may even recognize that this song led off my own 2019 Christmas mix, as I do NOT discriminate against older Christmas songs. It it is fucking fantastic, it is in there.
There is nothing complicated about this song, with the exception of who the fuck is singing it. King Gizzard and the Shitpost Wizard is an anonymousYoutuber who specializes in making weird ass videos around King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard songs, like the featured video which is “Rattlesnakes” with the every instance of the word rattlesnakes replaced by a member of the band repeating “mean brown rice stir fry.” On their Bandcamp, there is and entire record using a sample of someone saying “eggs.” Somehow mixed amongst this insanity is a simple, yet oddly satisfying, parody Christmas song. “Christmas Lights” is a parody of KGatLW’s “Vegemite,” and frankly, I prefer the parody! I think this song passes as a legit Christmas song all on its own, with the reworked lyrics not being too silly, yet silly enough to not take itself too seriously. It rides that perfect groove of near-silliness, one might say… perhaps you’ll agree.
when everyone says september is too early i string lights up with my girlfriend and then we’ll toast, to scrooge’s ghosts, and what i love most, is christmas lights
i love i love my christmas lights theyre bright as hell on dark ass nights i keep my bulbs all screwed in tight and plug them in whenever i like
Bottom Line: This parody song didn’t go far enough if they think I’m not gonna like it as a Christmas song. GAUNTLET THROWN King Gizzard and the Shitpost Wizard. Make a sillier tune for us, and I won’t fuck with all your parody plans the next time around…
French folk band Beausire have managed to convince me (with their music, not their e-mails) to write about an almost two minute long instrumental track. Astounding! “Christmas” is off of their latest LP released in September, and it is just… damn nice. Were the song any longer than it is, and I might not be writing about it, but under two minutes and this enjoyable – that makes an argument for a place on a Christmas mix. So, check it out, and you might as well feel the same.
Bottom Line: I’m here for your mix-making inspiration, and Beausire inadvertently are as well. This may very well find a home with you all.
I stalk some of my readers whose tastes often match mine (hi @tuttijackson), and this totally-hip reference archivist recently bought a Christmas single on Bandcamp… so I was obviously intrigued had to check it out. The song was fantastic. The midwest has been vying to unseat Sweden as my focal point of excellent underground Christmas tunes, and Lincoln, Nebraska’s Andrea von Kampen has helped to further build this case with “A Midwest Christmas.” The song is written from a refreshingly honest point-of-view, which Andrea breaks down on her Bandcamp page:
When I sat down to write my first ever original Christmas tune, I felt at a loss for what to even write about. This year has been tough and disappointing in so many ways for everyone. I wanted to lift the spirits of people but I didn’t feel like sleigh bells, ice skating, or any of the other quintessential Christmas topics were relatable right now. And then I started to think about what really makes me happy and feel at peace during the holidays. It hasn’t ever been shopping or the big light displays, but the simple moments that show human kindness. That’s what “A Midwest Christmas” is really all about.
Andrea’s description got me thinking about the moments that I appreciate, and none of them revolve around Christmas parties or presents. Popping in to see friends, those shrimp that I never eat, and you all who read this blog and are in the same search for something that moves you at Christmas. Writing this song moved Andrea, and it most certainly comes through in the performance. Certainly a mix-worthy tune, especially with its brief 2:35 run time… brevity is always an asset.
Bottom Line: I feel like my blog is largely hyping up fantastic female singer-songwriters lately… and as long as great songs like this keep coming my way, so be it!
I love, love, love Sharon Van Etten. Some records I would put up in my top 20 of all time… but I did not always feel that way. SVE had to grow on me… and these two songs, perhaps they need more time too. I’ve heard them before on other comps (these are nothing “new”), but this is the first time they’ve been neatly packaged together. Sharon is fighting an uphill battle with these song choices, as they are songs we’ve heard a million times. She does make some nice choices though, especially with organ and trans-inducing, metronomic baseline on “Silent Night.” The “Blue Christmas” B-side has some interesting vocal phrasing, which I can also appreciate. Overall, these two tracks are stronger than the usual suspects I run across, but I desperately want to know what SVE could create on her own.
Bottom Line: Solid versions of those songs you know, which only make you want a genuine, Sharon Van Etten original. That said… had they released this on vinyl, I would have bought it. They are good enough to own, but borderline mixworthy depending on your mix.
Edit: This has been released as a 7″ vinyl single. So… I bought it.
Madrid’s Marcos y Molduras decided to revisit “La de Navidad,” which featured on their first single in 2018, and give it a full makeover… which as you know, can go either way…
facebook has reminded us that ‘a day like today …’ a year ago we published for the first time “worse would be to kill”, which included this anti-Christmas carol that, at these dates, we cannot continue to ignore.
so we have re-done it, this time with a little more affection and with less uncertainty about what our friends will think about it. We already know they like it, we hope you do too 🙂
Marcos y Molduras, Bandcamp
Well, as you might assume, the procedure was a smashing success. Sometimes I am all about lyrics, sometimes I’m all about FEELING. This song just FEELS SO GOOD. I do not speak Spanish (I took German in high school), but that has certianly never stopped me from jamming to some incredible spanish-language Christmas songs. I did some Google translate, and I’m even down for the anti-Christmas message. The food is too expensive, the families are loud and the businessmen are obnoxious. Christmas in the big city can be pretty shitty, especially without you.
So with that, Merry Christmas and try not to smile… even though you know the gist of the lyrics. I dare ya… Just feels too good eh? This is a stone-cold Christmas-mix hit.
Bottom Line: “La de Navidad” is bound to lead to involuntary movement of your feet, legs, head and mouth. Buy it, listen to it four times, and tweet at me in the morning.
Christmas Underground 