Tag: 2026

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UPCOMING: Snowflake Christmas Singles Club 2026 (12/11/2026)

Snowflakes Christmas Singles
Buy: Snowflakes | Bandcamp

There are a few of us Christmas music bloggers (check out my blogroll!) who enjoy hunting down interesting new (or old) Christmas tunes and sharing them with the billions of people on the planet who are hanging on every spelling error we make. Then, there are people like Robert over at the Snowflake Christmas Singles Club who actually release NEW Christmas music into the world. Robert loves Christmas music, specifically Christmas 7″ records (read his blog too!), and as they say, he puts his money where his mouth is, and we all benefit.

The premise of the Snowflake Christmas Singles Club (from here on, SCSC) is to have a brand-new Christmas/winter/holiday song on the A-side, with a cover chosen by the band on the flip. Pressed on snow-white vinyl and limited to 320 copies, these records are a special treat that has introduced me to many mix-worthy tunes in the past. How about we take a look at the 2026 crop of releases!

The first band that caught my eye is the jangle-pop band Josie from Denmark. With nods to C86 and twee pop, you know this badass motherfucker is going to be down to clown. Sorry… I get all aggro when I talk about my love of twee, jangly indiepop – as we all do, yes? My buddy Ned also loves and recommends their debut LP, A Life on Sweets Alone, and our Venn diagram of musical taste very much overlaps with indiepop wonderfulness. Their cover of the Orchids’ 1964 song “Mr. Scrooge” sounds incredibly intriguing: “Josie sticks fairly closely to the original arrangement and adds 1980s indie pop sensibilities to create the perfect fusion of 1960s girl pop and 1980s indie pop.” I want to listen to an entire record that sounds like that.

How about some MORE indiepop! Yes please! I’m only now being introduced to Amelia and The Housewifes, but hey – they’re pretty new! Their self-titled debut LP only came out in October, so I can’t beat myself up too much. What I have heard of that record has me terribly excited to hear their new song, “Snowgaze.” But now I have to wait until DECEMBER… but at least I can buy their S/T record for something to pass the time with!

Bristol’s Eva May sounds like a singer out of time. I just listened to her latest 7″, Where Does the Time Go (limited to 250 and still available on Full Time Hobby), and I’m feeling some serious Joni Mitchell vibes. Her holiday original, “Softly,” even promises to incorporate folk and avant-garde jazz elements… so that’s another data point for a Joni Mitchell comparison. Which, to be fair, is like comparing someone to Michael Jordan – flattering for sure, but what a weight of expectation. Let’s just take it as pure flattery, and wet your whistle on that other 7″ I was talking about while we wait.

Finally, we’ve got some reggae/ska/rocksteady in the final single, produced by UK-based producer, musician, music teacher, and studio and label owner Neil Anderson of Original Gravity Records, and featuring the vocals of Donnoya Drake on the original A-side, and Junior Dell on the Slade classic “Merry Christmas Everybody.” I do love a reggae reworking – one of my favorite 7″s I own is a bootleg reggae release called Caribbean Cooke Vol. 2, where they reworked Sam Cooke tunes into reggae bangers. Can’t wait to hear this one too!

Bottom Line: A fantastic lineup – perhaps my favorite one yet? The digital singles come out on Nov. 20, and preorders will ship before the end of November. The OFFICIAL release date for the vinyl is December 11th… so you mixers who are aiming for an early December release are in luck, cause you’ll have those digi singles early!

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Superchunk – Wintry Mix EP (2026)

A purple and white duotone photgraph of a dog in the snow.

Merge Records
Buy: Bandcamp | Merge Records

This makes so much sense. I don’t know why I haven’t been expecting something like this for years, as Mac McCaughan (solo) and Superchunk (his band) have been dropping holiday singles for years now. So, when I wake up to a note from my buddy Ned about a Superchunk 7″ dropping, it is this weird mix of excitement and “of course they did.”

So what do we have here?? The EP kicks off with a fantastic original, “Shortest Day of the Year,” that comes in 2 flavors – the digital “No Tinsel Mix” and the vinyl-only version, which Mac describes as “more rock / less explicitly ‘Christmas-y’ than the other version.” I’m looking forward to comparing the two.

Superchunk then Superchunks a wonderful selection of modern classics and more obscure selections. Beware – if you are participating in Whamageddon this year, skip the next track – as Superchunk becomes the first band to cover Wham’s classic “Last Christmas.” Don’t fact check me – hehe. The Superchunk paint job makes it a pretty fun version, and a welcome addition for sure.

There are a number of Magnetic Fields Christmasish songs to pick from, and Superchunk dug a bit deeper and picked “The Blizzard of ’78” and “Have You Seen It in the Snow,” both from 2017’s 50 Song Memoir. Curiously, this is one of the later Magnetic Fields records not released on Merge! “The Blizzard of ’78” is kicked into a fast gear, making it nearly unrecognizable from the original – which I always encourage! “Have You Seen It in the Snow” has been suggested as a 9/11 song, where the snow is actually ash – but if you don’t think about it that way, the song is a beautiful ode to New York when it snows. I can attest that beauty is real, and Mac’s voice only adds to the sweetness of this kinder interpretation.

The final song is a cover of Galaxie 500’s “Snowstorm,” which is a song I encourage to be covered more often. Let’s throw “Santa Baby” in the bin, give me more of this. An added bonus? Superchunk’s version shaves 2 minutes off the original run time, making it a lovely bite-sized option for your mix. Or… you could always luxuriate in the five-minute-long original.

Bottom Line: This wonderful record might not last the day – I’d pick it up if you are curious.

LISTEN

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Cut Worms “The Bells of Christmas Eve” (2026)

Jajaguwar
Buy: Bandcamp

Brooklyn’s Cut Worms (Max Clarke) has just dropped a lovely little Christmas song, “The Bells of Christmas Eve.” The song has a warm, timeless feel, and some seriously dark lyrical content. I mean… it starts off quite beautifully, with swaying pianos and guitars under Max’s delicate voice.

Fields full of snow, miles still to go
Moon shining blue in all the white
Winds are picking up, ice cold and rough
Lost in the year’s longest night

However, the song quickly takes a turn…

Silence in the pines whisper down the line
The sky all ripped starless and black
Here we shall remain, still waiting on a train
That ain’t ever coming back

Smoke is on the wind where the rockets once had been
Cries through the ages in grief
Peace will surely come, you’ll say it can’t be done
Just don’t say it to me
Just don’t say it to me

“The sky all ripped starless and black” – that is pretty damn ominous. But the last bit, “Peace will surely come, you’ll say it can’t be done / Just don’t say it to me,” seems rather hopeful. Though we return to the haunting chorus…

Still is the night
Bells of Christmas Eve
Voices come back to life
Are they all talking to me?

I could see this on a somewhat politically charged mix – you know, one that might throw in a jab or two at the bloodthirsty leaders who reside around the world (and at home). Cuz it’s Christmas, you know…

Bottom Line: A beautiful, complicated song for anxious, complicated times.

LISTEN

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UPCOMING: Sufjan Stevens – Worst Christmas Ever! (11/6/2026)

Asthmatic Kitty
Buy: Asthmatic Kitty | Bandcamp | Rough Trade Exclusive Variant | Dinked

Well… Hi there.

I’m back, ready to write about some Christmas tunes, fret about the world we live in, and make an attempt not to take each day for granted… as we wait for the AI-apocalypse.

Sufjan Stevens is back too… with a bunch old songs, and a small sprinkling of new. Announced today, the new compilation LP, Worst Christmas Ever!, pulls together some of (what they consider to be) Sufjan’s best Christmas songs onto one album. I imagine this is a better physical-media listening experience than most of the EPs, which require lots of flipping, swapping and listening to some of those throw-away tracks.

Now for the main reason to consider this record… the new song. Technically… there are 2 new songs, one original and one cover. The original, “On This Christmas (It Only Gets Better)” is included on the LP, as well as on a limited 7″ only available from the label (as a bundle) and some select stores to be named later. The 7″ is really where it is at… as it has an additional unreleased song, a cover of “Christmas Time is Here.”

I sure would love to just buy that 7″… I will wager that I’m going to pass on this bundle (which would set me back nearly $50) in the hopes of grabbing that 7″ elsewhere… and it is going to slip by me. I waited on the vinyl box sets as well, and regretted that too.

Will I learn from my past mistakes? I’m human, and American… so probably not.

EDIT: There are a few additional versions out there – variants via Rough Trade and a Dinked Edition (which has exclusive stickers and a different vinyl colorway) so far. I’m sure there will be more.

Bottom Line: I’m equal parts intrigued and conflicted (Do I need to buy these songs again?) and waiting for my $5000 check from Daddy Trump. Oh orange god-man, please give me money to buy records. I will let you destroy everything for record money…

(If you don’t sense the sarcasm… I assure you it is there.)

LISTEN

Here’s a teaser.

EDIT: The new song is indeed very, very good.