Singles/Tracks – Page 25 – Christmas Underground

November 16, 2020

King Gizzard and the Shitpost Wizard “Christmas Lights” (2018)

Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp

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 anonymous Youtuber 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…

LISTEN

November 13, 2020November 13, 2020

Beausire “Christmas” (2020)

Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp (NYOP)

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.

LISTEN

November 12, 2020

Andrea von Kampen “A Midwest Christmas” (2020)

Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp

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!

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November 12, 2020November 30, 2021

Sharon Van Etten – Silent Night / Blue Christmas (2020)

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.

LISTEN

November 9, 2020November 9, 2020

Marcos y Molduras “La de Navidad” (2018/2019)

Discos de Kirlian
Buy: Bandcamp

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.

LISTEN

November 8, 2020November 10, 2020

They Is They Is They Is ” Your Kind of White Christmas Sucks” (2016)

Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp

I really, really wish I had found this little gem, “Your Kind of White Christmas Sucks,” by They Is They Is They Is (gonna call them TITITI to make things easier) back in 2016. I love a Christmas song that has a message beyond the usual “Boy I can’t wait to come home for Christmas and/or I wish you were with me for Christmas” that so many Christmas songs sink into, and these lyrics are a perfect time capsule of the anxiety swirling through a world flying out of control:

“Grubby little opportunists are stirring a rage
They come bearing hate in the post-factual age
But Jesus was a dark-skinned, socialist Jew
Who died in the name of peace, love and truth
So if ever there’s a Christmas to think of the meek
It’s 2016 with the havoc we’ve wreaked.”

Just thinking about that time, immediately post-Brexit vote and post-Trump election… I recall driving to work in a detached haze, not knowing what the future was going to look like in a way that I had never experienced before. To be faced with that, and to still find hope, as TITITI does in the chorus, is both surprising and encouraging:

“I’ll be hopeful this Christmas
Won’t give into fear
I’ll be wishing this Christmas
For a kinder new year

We’ve got to cohere
I’m really sincere
Now pass me a beer”

This song highlights those seeds of resistance, those seeds of kindness that were planted back in 2016. I would like to believe these sentiments have been slowly growing over the past four years, and may have begun to block out some of those weeds. Not that everything is fixed, and it is unlikely to ever truly be perfect, but we still have kindness and hope. They haven’t taken that away.

Had I begun writing this review a week ago… I think it would have had a significantly different tone. Still… a great song, with a beautiful sentiment.

EDIT: A lovely reader of Christmas Underground actually recommended this to me – but not quite understanding the new “Business Suite” (like this is a business) app, I hadn’t seen it! Thank you Konstadina – you have my taste pegged. I only wish I had seen it back in October!

Bottom Line: They Is They Is They Is crafted a thoughtful (yet oddly funny), beautiful (but not in the traditional sense) song that signaled the beginning of the Christmas music resistance.

LISTEN

November 1, 2020

The Marías “We’re the Lucky Ones” (2020)

Want to know a dirty secret about Christmas Underground? This site was meant to not only share music with you all, but also so that you all would give ME tips for new Christmas songs. Thank you @demhahavgc!

Readers of this blog may also remember that earlier in the year, I was wrestling with whether this silly blog was a welcome distraction or a frivolous endeavor. Our society was fraying at the seams (still is), and writing about Christmas music felt insensitive and frankly, a bit daft at the time. Somehow, I found a way out, and here we are. I still haven’t truly answered my question about the worth of this pursuit, but some beautiful notes from a number of you have certainly helped my journey back.

After that brief (not) intro, lets get back to the reason we all are here -> LA-based jazz/psych-influenced indie pop band The Marías have just released a beautiful one-off Christmas single, with a sentiment that I really identify with (see above – there had to be a reason I was blabbering on so much!).

we’re releasing a new song tonight, the last release of the year. this one holds the most special place in our hearts. ⁣
Someone on our team asked if we’d ever write a christmas song, and although we were never opposed to it, the thought of writing a christmas song this year honestly made me really sad. ⁣⁣
hundreds of thousands of lives were lost this year in the u.s. alone that won’t make it to christmas, and their families will have an empty seat at the table. i truly feel lucky to be alive. ⁣⁣
as we begin to plan for and celebrate this holiday season, let’s light a candle and reflect on the many, many lives that were lost. and let’s all be grateful for something as simple as a beating heart. we’re the lucky ones. ⁣
this is our christmas song for this year.
The Marías (Facebook, October 28, 2020)

The Marías are in the same headspace as a lot of us this year, dragging a mixture of sadness, love and survivor’s guilt into the holiday season. They do so with this stripped-back beauty that showcases the emotion of lead singer María Zardoya’s voice. I had to live with this a few days before writing about it… the emotion of the lyrics and the sentiment behind the creation had me reflecting on all those complicated feelings I had earlier in the year, as well as the anxieties of this week… and how that might further color the upcoming holiday season. It did bring me some peace… I hope it brings you some too.

Bottom Line: A truly beautiful song for a fraught time.

LISTEN

The Marías · We’re The Lucky Ones

October 15, 2020

Ratigan “The Rights to Christmas” (2020)

Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp (NYOP)

“Santa Claus is sponsored by / Applebees and Light Rock 105. / Coca-Cola bought the rights to Christmas. / Coca-Cola bought the rights to Christmas.”

That… fuckin… chorus. Hook… line… sinker. Boy, I do love some snark in my Christmas pudding.

Providence, Rhode Island’s Ratigan has written this scruffy, barely Christmas-adjacent song that just made me smile. The production and delivery had me thinking of a close neighbor of his, Boston’s wonderful Soltero (who also has at least one xmas gem too), as his clever lyrics and nearly talk-singing style would most certainly hang out in the same circle of friends. This is bedroom pop as I imagine bedroom pop should sound – intimate, clever, and just a little rough around the edges. Hopefully you’ll feel so too.

Bottom Line: Sup. Wanna hang out and listen to some tunes? Want to smile and not think about out impending doom? Niiiiiicccce.

LISTEN

October 11, 2020October 11, 2020

Swampmeat Family Band “A Present For Me” (2019)

PNKSLM Recordings
Buy: Bandcamp

Ah yes… one of those songs that I just couldn’t get off my ass to write about. One of the best songs of the year, perhaps? Don’t know what my deal was! “A Present for Me” by Swampmeat Family Band brings beautiful slide guitar with perfect brass accents, which make me want to listen to this song over and over again. The song is short, sweet and lovely… just like this review.

Bottom Line: A wonderful nugget of a song. FYI, I often call my son a nugget. I fucking love nuggets.

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October 2, 2020

Richard Edwards and the Velvet Ocean “Happy Christmas (the whole world has changed)” (2020)

Richard Edwards, known in a previous life as the lead singer and songwriter for Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s, has been releasing some pretty beautiful records for the past few years (largely on Joyful Noise), and his latest, The Soft Ache and the Moon” is no exception. He has teased us with a Christmas-ish song in the past with a cover of Big Star’s “Jesus Christ” on the Joyful Noise Snowflathe series, but never quite so explicit as “Happy Christmas (the whole world has changed.” This song is raw emotion. The lyrics are vivid, brutal, and deeply personal. You can take it from me, or from Richard himself:

“Maybe my favorite song on the album and the most difficult to write in certain ways. It was a little too raw and painful for me, but Dave Palmer, the brilliant piano player got me to do it. And I’m glad he did, even if it hurts a little.”
Richard Edwards

This song is full of dream imagery, scenes filled with fog on the edges – suffering, atonement and just squeaking by. It is not your normal Christmas song, but this is not your normal Christmas site. Settle in.

Bottom Line: Some songs make you both wish the writer never had to write this song, while appreciating the beauty of what they created; This is one of those songs.