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Ronnie Martin “The Sound of Snowflakes” (2025)

Velvet Blue Music
Buy: Bandcamp

Ronnie Martin has been releasing electropop Christmas music since 2021, all of it featuring truly excellent graphic design. I appreciate that greatly! I’ve been sampling his latest offering, Evergreen Melodie, and find myself compelled to take note of this fantastic song, “The Sound of Snowflakes,” and these New Order/Depeche Mode vibes it is giving me. This pulsating feeling of Christmas nostalgia is truly overwhelming. Turn it up and dance like an idiot.

Bottom Line: Wonderful electropopness!

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UPCOMING: Polish Club – Christmas Stinks! (2025)

Self Released
Buy: Vinyl | Apple Music? | 7Digital (FLAC/MP3)?

Sydney, Australia’s Polish Club put out one of the best — and hardest to get — Christmas 7-inch singles I’ve ever had the pleasure of writing about when they dropped the excellent Xmas Single back in 2017. That thing is amazing! I still don’t have one… Hell, they’ve even got a New Year’s release worth checking out — “Countdown” (which I should really write about) — which was so fantastic that it closed out my 2020 Christmas mix, Christmas Storytelling.

So… when they teased the cover art on their Facebook page the other day, I pretty much freaked out. I found the site, saw the vinyl, tried to buy one, got rejected by geolocation — and here I stand. Not quite sure what to do. But they did respond to my comments… in due time, I’m assured.

Christmas Stinks! is being debuted on Facebook, with a new cover posted each day for 20 days (they’re on day two as of this post), leading up to two shows on December 20 and 21. There was even a write-up in Rolling Stone Australia yesterday — not sure why they didn’t debut it here! This site is massive!

I did love one quote from Novak that really sums up what they’re doing:

“I used to be somewhat of an edge-lord holiday hater, but I’ve grown to really appreciate how the holiday period affords us a sleep-in, a big belly, and some genuine quality time with people you perhaps should spend more time with,” Novak admits. “I’ve also learned that if you’re sick of Christmas carols and holiday tunes, the best way to get over that is to record your own rock’n’roll versions and embrace the Christmas chaos.”

I’m game, folks. I’ll be listening — hoping that one of these covers makes it onto my next mix — and that I can figure out a way for myself (and everyone else outside of Australia) to exchange money for goods and services.

Bottom Line: I’m listening…

LISTEN

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Teen Mortgage “Below the Christmas Tree” (2025)

Roadrunner Records
Buy: Bandcamp (not there yet?) | 7Digital (MP3/FLAC) | Apple Music

Christmas Underground, as badass as I obviously am — I eat glass for breakfast — is not exactly overflowing with punk rock Christmas songs. I’m probably more likely to write about some twee band from Antwerp than a punk outfit from Washington, D.C.

Often, punk rock Christmas songs fall into the Blink-182 lane — and while I know that’s many folks’ jam, it just isn’t mine. I like punk rock that leans toward its cousin, garage rock — the kind with lo-fi production and fuzzy guitars, like Idaho Green or Stephan and Johnny.

Well, add a new name to that list, because this new song by Washington, D.C.’s Teen Mortgage is fucking fantastic. “Below the Christmas Tree” piles angular guitar riffs over a driving, fuzzy bassline — straight to the heart of this lowly Christmas blogger.

The music will hook you, but the lyrics will reel you in. A satirical anti-war song, it leaves you sitting in the simple decadence of a Christmas at the end of the world. World War III is upon us, and we’re moments away from destruction — so I got you a pair of turtle doves.

Well, open up your gifts now
Before they get turned into dust
Just forget all of those mushroom clouds
Becoming proper humongous.

Fucking hell. This song better remain satirical and not literal. I like the groove either way I guess…

Bottom Line: Absolutely stellar punk rock Christmas. If all punk rock songs were like this, I would run a punk rock Christmas music blog.

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UPCOMING: Slow Xmas 5 (2025)

Bone Sound Inc Worldwide/Blank Check Podcast/Mutant
Buy: Vinyl | Bandcamp

Coming soon to a Bandcamp feed near you… Slow Xmas 5. The lead single by Death Valley Girls, “Season of Dreaming,” has dropped and is making the rounds on the bigger (normal) blogs, such as Stereogum and Under the Radar. But what do you know… it is getting pressed on vinyl this year, 500 copies on ice blue wax. So, if very slow Christmas music is your jam, here you go!

From the website:

Available on vinyl for the first time as a Mutant exclusive featuring holiday standards and originals from Meridian Brothers, Shannon Lay, Zach Cooper of Grammy award winning King Garbage, Eric Slick of Dr. Dog, and Dave Hartley of The War on Drugs (Nightlands) among others.

Pressed on 140gm and iced out in a translucent ice blue variant (Limited to 500 copies). Offered in 45 RPM so you have the option to play regular slow or EXTRA SLOW at 33 1/3 RPM!!

And for the analog hogs, the majority of the album artwork is practical with an original sculpture by Matthew Rosenquist and studio photography by Robin Takami.

Bottom Line: Got me – only heard one track so far! Frankly, I’m usually grasping for songs to speed up my mix…

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Sharon Van Etten and The Attachment Theory “2000 Miles” (2025)

Sony Masterworks/Mutant
Buy: 7Digital (MP3/FLAC) | Apple Music | Amazon MP3 | CD/Vinyl | Amazon (CD/Vinyl/Exclusive Vinyl)

I love Sharon Van Etten. I saw her with her new band, Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory about a month ago, and it was absolutely incredible. I was a huge fan, and am now a massive fan. I’ll be excited to hear from her with anything she does. Thus, she dropped a cover of The Pretenders’ “2000 Miles” for the Oh. What. Fun. soundtrack, and I was pumped. I’m going to float down from my initial heights though. This is a good cover, though it does not reinvent the song. Would I have preferred something a bit more interesting than adding the shimmering synths to the arrangement? Yes. But I do love her voice, and I’m sure some of you are going to be all over this.

There are some heavy hitters on this soundtrack. Interestingly, Sharon appears to be the first single off it (Gwen Stefani was first – exclusive to Amazon), surprising when you’ve got this lineup:

1. Shake the Snow Globe – Gwen Stefani (2:53)
2. The Things We Do for Love – The Bird and the Bee (3:20)
3. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – St. Vincent (2:33)
4. 2000 Miles – Sharon Van Etten & The Attachement Theory (3:09)
5. Angel in the Snow – Fleet Foxes (2:44)
6. Step Into Christmas – Uwade (3:35)
7. Silent Night – The Wang Family (1:00)
8. Hot Cocoa – Gwen Stefani (3:38)
9. Snowqueen of Texas – Weyes Blood (3:21)
10. Christmas Eve Can Kill You – Andy Shauf & Madi Diaz (3:18)
11. It’s My Life – The Bird and the Bee (3:43)
12. Christmas Must Be Tonight – Jeff Tweedy (3:27)
13. Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy – Lorely Rodriguez (Empress Of) (1:39)
14. I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day – The Wang Family (1:01)
15. The 12 Days of Christmas – Dominic Sessa (1:36)

Of note – Michael Showalter, whom I have loved since The State, is the director! I’m genuinely excited for this movie…

Bottom Line: Sharon Van Etten is pretty flawless. Also – she could pretty much play Chrissie Hynde in a biopic. Just sayin’…

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Magdalena Bay “Last Christmas/Instant Crush” (2016)

girl singing into a microphone while a guy stands in the background playing guitar while wearing a santa hat

Self Released
Buy: Stream on Facebook

I am going to have to take a break from writing about Exnovios (those rascals apparently have ANOTHER Christmas song). This post is really for my friends over at Under the Radar (subscribe!), who I know are in love with LA’s Magdalena Bay. I happened to sniff out this cover of “Last Christmas” that they dropped on their Facebook page back in 2016, the year that the band first got together! It has been scientifically proven that nobody needs another cover of “Last Christmas,” thus, when you put this on your mix, you may get an initial sideeye from your snobby friends. But when Magdalena Bay works Daft Punk and Julian Casablancas’ “Instant Crush” seamlessly into the song, your friend’s face will scrunch up, and they’ll ask, “Who is singing this?” Followed by a, “Fuck, that was fun.” Enjoy!

Bottom Line: A fun nugget from the past with a band of the future!

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Exnovios “Ya casi es Navidad” (2015)

pink cartoon superhero-esque figure raising his arms and surrounded by smoke.

Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp (NYOP)

HEY!

It turns out my friends Exnovios — whose absolutely stellar new track “Ya Es Navidad” I reviewed yesterday — do indeed have another Christmas song in their back catalogue. In fact, you have to go back ten years, to 2015 and their first release, Demo.

The “sister song” to their new one, “Ya casi es Navidad,” follows a very different musical path. With its fuzzy tones, thumping drums, and spacey vocals — while the new track rocks you in your head, this one rocks you in your chest. The lyrics are once again something to embrace, carrying all the mystical hopefulness that only a perfect psych-rock Christmas song can provide.

Here’s a translation for us English-speaking folks:

If you want to fly, you can think
of something enchanting — it’s almost Christmas.

AND FLY…

If you want to fly, you can think
of something enchanting — crystal toys.

AND FLY OVER THE SEA AND REACH
ALMOST, ALMOST, THE END.

(EDIT: It turns out that the lyrics are built with phrases from the following scene in Peter Pan! Amazing!)

I think the Exnovios crew has carved out a wholly unique place in the alternative Christmas canon. They’ve found this beautiful backdoor into Christmas that I didn’t know existed — one of pure hope and beauty, while still sounding like one of the coolest bands on the planet.

Bottom Line: I could have been listening to this song for ten years! As could you have. Well, our lives begin anew today, and all your dreams will come true. This is a pretty great song 🙂

LISTEN

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Exnovios “Ya Es Navidad” (2025)

Munster Records
Buy: Bandcamp | Vinyl (in the US)

We live in incredible times, as I continue to find Artificial Intelligence more amazing and terrifying as each day passes. I’m desperately trying to avoid ever featuring an AI Christmas song here – but I fear it is just a matter of time. Why the hell am I talking about AI?? Well, because I find myself cherishing folks whom I’ve come to know and love. You see… I know they are human… and I love their music. A wonderful example is Pamplona’s Exnovios, and while they may not have released a Christmas song before (to my knowledge! – THERE IS ANOTHER!), one of their members, Tamu, has released several songs which I have had the pleasure of writing about here on Christmas Underground. So, when Exnovios drops a new record, and I get that Bandcamp email, I’m checking that shit out. They dropped their latest album, Fin, a little over a week ago, and I immediately clocked that tenth track, “Ya Es Navidad” (It’s Christmas!). I know this wasn’t a present specifically for me, but it certainly felt like one. Two chords gently rock back and forth through a song that is so fucking hopeful that you’re going to think you’re in an alternate reality. Who saw that one coming? Everything is so fucked, I was expecting a deluge of grim Christmas tunes.

I needed this song.

Remember me talking about AI? Well, I stripped the vocals, got a transcription, then a translation… all with AI… in about 5 minutes. Wild. I’ve pasted it below, and please excuse the formatting. In addition, if you are either 1) in Exnovios, or 2) fluent in Spanish, please excuse any translation mistakes. I took German in high school… and I can’t vouch for these robots. (EDIT – the robot made some mistakes, and my friend over at Popcasting fixed it!)

Year after year, it happens again, lights and the cold fill my city. I make promises, I ask for peace, and all my dreams will come true. They will come true, they will come true. Another year is here, yet none of my dreams came true, But you’re heare, and nothing can go wrong. The good stuff is yet to come, so much to do, so much to achieve. It’s Christmas already, it’s Christmas already. One year is over and a new one begins. It’s Christmas already. Ha. It’s Christmas.

Bottom Line: One of my favorites of the season so far, from some of my favorite people to boot. Go buy their record, Fin, as I am currently listening to it.. and wow this thing is great.

LISTEN

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Le Mal “Red Maple Door” (2024)

A glowing red door on a dark background with "Le Mal" written above and "Red Maple Door" written below

Machine with Teeth
Buy: Bandcamp

Well shit. I’m really digging this Christmas-timed post-punk song by Phoenix’s Le Mal. (Thanks to Joe for sending it my way!) I want to write something interesting about this song, but the more I read the post over at post-punk.com, the less I feel I can add anything to the conversation. Their description has me fucking jealous. “The track’s pulse feels like a heartbeat trapped in glass — tense, insistent, and strangely devotional.” Dammit. Not only am I not going to try to top, or even converse with that… I am going to send you directly over there to read Alice Teeple’s piece. She did a wonderful job breaking this song and video down.

See you later!

Bottom Line: A bloody post-punk Christmas tableau.

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Kean Kavanagh “Christmas Mode” (2023)

Soft Boy Records
Buy: Bandcamp

Irish singer/songwriter Kean Kavanagh has captured something special with his 2023 holiday track “Christmas Mode.” Soulful and nostalgic, while keeping that edge and dropping some f-bombs, this song makes you think you’re going to bobbing to a smooth Steve Parks-esque jam, then he hits you with that emotional, fuzzed-out finish. Damn Kean. That one took me on a journey.

Bottom Line: This one is hard to classify if you’re trying to stick to a genre… and that is a good thing!

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