Category: Singles/Tracks

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Daniel Woolhouse “Fairytale of New York” (2016)

Daniel Woolhouse "Fairytale of New York" (2016)

37 Adventures
Buy: Stream (for now)

The Line of Best Fit hipped me to this fantastic new cover of the holiday classic (well, in the UK), “Fairytale of New York.” Daniel Woolhouse, AKA Deptford Goth, begins this classic Pogues’ track with an ethereal a cappella intro, and eases it into a beautiful, electro-pop room. Daniel also makes some refreshing choices in where he adds weight to the lyrics; he accents words where you would not expect it. I truly appreciate that, by every metric, this is far from a straightforward cover. This includes Daniel’s choice to exclude that one, problematic part of the song. He doesn’t change the lyrics, as some do, he just doesn’t even walk down that street. I’m cool with that, and I’m loving this song.

Bottom Line: Finally, a fresh version of “Fairytale of New York” that I feel 100% fine adding to a mix, minus that particular shitty word.

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Shy Nature “What’s in Your Stocking” (2016)

Shy Nature - My Christmas Tree is Looking at Me

Self Released
Buy: Streaming (for now) | Bandcamp (soon)

Shy Nature has become one of those can-do-no-wrong Christmas bands for me, along with Charlie’s Hand Movements, The Crookes, Christmas Aguilera, Parenthetical Girls, etc. Their latest, “What’s in Your Stocking,” is a stomping great time. The images of “coffee with a whiskey twist” make me want Christmas to come this very instant. They have a wonderful approach to Christmas tunes… it’s as if they are meaning to write a good song, not just a Christmas song. I know… sounds crazy. But there are some crap Christmas songs out there by very good bands. Shy Nature continue to prove that you can be a great band, both inside and outside of the Christmas season.

Bottom Line: Shy Nature continue to impress. It also looks like their 2 most recent seasonal tracks will be available on Bandcamp very shortly… just in time for those last-minute mixers.

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The Nashville Country Cowboys “Blue Christmas” (2016)

Nashville Country Cowboys "Blue Christmas"

Self Released
Buy: Apple Music | Amazon MP3 | Amazon.uk MP3 | Amazon.de MP3 | Amazon.fr MP3

Well how about that? Two posts on one day for the same exact song. Technically, three versions of the song if you really want to get into the nitty gritty. This version is a hell of a lot more fun though. Perennial Christmas Underground favorites The Kansas Bible Company are back with yet another collaboration, this time with fellow Nashville band Okey Dokey to do a psych-brushed take on “Blue Christmas.” These old standards really benefit from fresh sounds, and this super-combo, renamed The Nashville Country Cowboys has hit on something very cool. Still not my favorite song to begin with, but their psych + mariachi horn combo is damn entertaining. Check it out for yourselves!

Bottom Line: The Nashville Country Cowboys find their own entrance into “Blue Christmas” and make it their own.

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The Golden Dregs “Blue Christmas” (2016/2011)

Golden Dregs "Blue Christmas"

Art is Hard Records
Buy: Free on Soundcloud!

The Golden Dregs are working on a theme here… they began with “White Christmas,” and have now moved on to “Blue Christmas,” I am waiting for “Green Christmas,” or as the title would suggest “Gold Christmas.” Well, as we wait to see if this project is bigger than two songs in the Art Is Hard Advent Calendar, lets take a listen to “Blue Christmas.” So… I’m not as enamored of this version as I was of their take on “White Christmas.” The Golden Dregs excel when they tackle material that is outside their normal aesthetic, and “Blue Christmas'” country roots are just a bit too close. This is actually their second take on “Blue Christmas,” as you can find a version on their Soundcloud from 5 years ago… (EDIT, they took it down) with oddly less listens than this year’s! That one is even more lo-fi, but has essentially the same approach to the material. All this said, “Blue Christmas” is not even close to being a personal favorite in my house… I have never included it on a mix, as I often find it terribly boring. So, The Golden Dregs may have been fighting a losing battle with this song.

Bottom Line: “Blue Christmas” may leave me feeling blue, but I very much enjoy The Golden Dregs holiday efforts and would LOVE to hear their take on some more adventuresome/against-type material.

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Junkie Thrown “Natten går tunga fjät (The Night Sleeps Heavily)” (2016)

Junkie Thrown "Natten går tunga fjät"

Self Released
Buy: Streaming on FB

Göteborg, Sweden’s Junkie Thrown is in the midst of a Facebook Advent calendar right now, and while the entries are not necessarily meant to be seasonal, she found herself compelled to create a new take on a old, Swedish language, Saint Lucia Day song. Saint Lucia Day is generally celebrated throughout the Scandinavian world, as well as in Italy, and signals the arrival of the “Christmastide.” While many different cultures recognize Saint Lucia Day, but Sweden has a particular way of celebration. Traditionally, towns, schools, and eventually (via a televised event) the nation chooses a girl to represent Lucia, and there are great processions, celebrations and caroling. However, this year there has been much debate, and public (one might say, racist) furor over a big company using a young black boy as Lucia in an advert. He subsequently became the target of cyber-bullies, culminating in his parents asking the company to pull the ad. This sounds like something that could happen… well pretty much anywhere; This is the world we are living in. Junkie Thrown has created a haunting version of a traditional, Saint Lucia Day song, with the words “Alla kan vara Lucia,” which means “everyone can be Lucia,” displayed throughout. A nice sentiment… and fuck racism.

Bottom Line: I love the meaning behind this song, and just as with 2014’s “Fairy Christmas Day,” it is beautifully performed.

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Shy Nature “My Christmas Tree (Is Looking At Me)” (2016)

Shy Nature - My Christmas Tree is Looking at Me

Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp

YES! Shy Nature is back, and thus, a tradition is set in stone, and they will have to do some serious negotiating to get out of this gentlemen’s agreement to put out a Christmas song every year. “My Christmas Tree (Is Looking at Me)” shares some emotional complexity with last year’s “Christmas Lullaby.” It starts out sweet, with excited children wanting to go down to the tree. The food, the fun, the battleground of presents. However, as the song progresses, it gets darker. No one wants to sing, you’re losing your hair, and it’s getting colder. “Those magic times / Won’t be magic forever.” The emotional arc is quick, poignant and most certainly relatable. The magic we have as children never lasts, no matter how much we still love Christmas. It will never be the same.

Hold on to it for as long as you can.

Bottom Line: Shy Nature excel at writing emotional, thoughtful Christmas songs, and “My Christmas Tree (Is Looking at Me)” is a wonderful addition to their Christmas collection.

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Charles Cave “This Fucking Time of Year” (2015)

Charles Cave "This Fucking Time of Year"

Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp | iTunes

Charles Cave, the bassist and lyricist for the British post-punk band White Lies, released a great, 80’s synth Christmas jam last December that is making the rounds again thanks to a new video. This song is dramatic in all the ways you want an 80’s synth Christmas song to be.

If you’re gonna leave,
Go on and leave;
Leave my heart in the cold snow
When you go.
But if I wanna drink,
Well then I’ll drink.
I’ll drink to forget I drink alone.
So alone.

‘Cos I don’t want to lose you
I don’t want to lose you, not again,
At this fucking time of year.
I don’t want to lose you
I don’t want to lose you, not again,
At this fucking time of year.

This is a hot track. It’s just what I needed when I woke up this morning… the montage was epic. There was singing into a hairbrush. There may have even been dramatic turns to a mirror. I put on a great, ill-fitting suit slicked back my hair and got into my Ferrari. My best friend Alf and I took off and headed for our Club Med vacation. We’ll see you all in the new year, 1987.

Bottom Line: Yeah yeah yeah, technically from last year, but I actually HEARD about it THIS year. And I love it. So there.

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The Heathen and The Holy “Best Christmas Yet” (2016)

The Heathen and the Holy - Best Christmas Yet

Self Released
Buy: iTunes | Amazon.uk MP3 | Amazon.de MP3 | Amazon.fr MP3

The Heathen and The Holy are a seasonal project from Noah and the Whale’s Fred Abbott and Tom Hobden. So far, this is their third year, and with their pedigree you might expect a bit of new folk-infusion into the music. Surprisingly enough, Fred and Tom embrace the classical large production values of Christmas tracks of yore. Choirs, pianos, backup singers and big, swinging melodies. This year’s soulful jam isn’t normally what I’d get into musically, but damn if I’m not feeling these lyrics and their overall attitude.. “We’ve lost our way / (break down the walls) / Gave into hate / (open the doors) / It’s been a year / a year to forget / so let’s have ourselves / the best Christmas yet.” This song kind of sums up the year, the folks we’ve lost, the faith in our brothers and sisters that has been shaken, the year that awaits you on the other side… it’s all so heavy this year. Perhaps this song can do a bit to release the tension.

It’s been too hellish a year.

Bottom line: The Heathen and The Holy have provided the first real political song that rises above gimmicks or snapchat. Certainly worth your time, and perhaps worth a spot on your mix…

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Night Flowers – Christmas (2016)

Night Flowers - Christmas

Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp (NYOP)

London’s Night Flowers have just released a fantastic 2-track indiepop Christmas digital single (of originals!) that continues this year’s trend of beautifully written indiepop Christmas songs. I’m going to jump straight into the lyrics of track 2, “Christmas Eve,” the uptempo stomper that I just adore:

I broke the silence with a beating heart
hoping I wouldn’t break the spell
you whispered softy in my ear
a song I’ve never heard again and disappeared
the seasons pass
slowly my dear
I wonder where you’re gonna be on Christmas eve?

That is some seriously beautiful writing. It leaves enough space for you to put yourself into the song, and thus you feel it more. Just beautiful.

The leadoff track “To Rest” is much more in the classic, slow, chiming sound of treble-heavy indiepop. Certainly beautiful as well, but perhaps without the crossover (from indiepop) appeal that “Christmas Eve” may have. That said, this could be a highlight for your indiepop Christmas mix – which is a mix I’d like you to send me. Because I dig that shit, obviously 🙂

I really have to stop qualifying with “only for those who love indiepop” when dealing with fantastic indiepop singles. I mean… duh. If you like it you’ll like it. Indiepop is the flipside to punk, and punk means to reject mass appeal. Indiepop sort of is too… it’s almost recorded as if it’s meant to be a secret between you and the band. And here I am… spillin’ secrets.

Bottom Line: 2 great indiepop tracks, a name-your-own price on Bandcamp, and all proceeds going to Mind and the Teenage Cancer Trust. Take my money, please.

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The Golden Dregs “White Christmas” (2016)

The Golden Dregs "White Christmas"

Art is Hard Records
Buy: Free on Soundcloud!

“White Christmas” is one of those songs that is always just so… cute. It tends to lend itself to ukuleles and pretty voices… you know the type. Every so often, someone can perform a song in a way that will refresh you, make you less cynical about this whole Christmas-music game. The Golden Dregs have performed “White Christmas” admirably, but more importantly, they have delivered a ramshackle version that takes the sheen off, making for a much more interesting listening experience. There is going to be more too… Art is Hard suggests that this is just the tip of an E.P., which the artwork suggests is called “A Very Golden Christmas.” This E.P. can’t come quickly enough, because I’m close to the end of my mix, and I need some gold(en) hits.

Bottom Line: “White Christmas” is the tip of a shabby iceburg that I would like to hear more from.

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