Tag: art pop

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Have Yourself a Merry Indie Christmas (Volume III) (2023)

A Benefit for Crisis
Buy: Bandcamp

You know what is better than a few cookies? How about an entire bag! Hot on the heels of last year’s epic, two volume, 108 track opus of alternative Christmas music… it comes for us once more. Fellow weirdo Christmas-music fan Kevin McGrath didn’t plan to put this record together, it really just, kind of happened. He meant to add a few tracks to each record, slap a deluxe sticker on there, and raise some more funds for Crisis, a UK-based charity that services the homeless. Soon, Kevin realized that it would be easier and likely more successful to market the record if those additional songs he had received clearance after the cutoff last year, were put together in their own, new collection – which sounds like a fine idea; let’s maximize the potential to do good. So back into the fray, back to the hunt for more bands’ contact information for Kevin… and after one more, final herculean effort, Have Yourself a Merry Indie Christmas (Volume III) is now under our tree. This release, just like the stellar duo who preceded it, is lined with hit after hit after hit. There are many bands here that the 15-20 folks who read my blog will likely already know and love (Virgin of the Birds, Wake Up and Smell the Sun, Charlie’s Hand Movements, The Ornaments, etc, etc, etc.), but I’m sure you’ve missed a few here and there, and the chances you’re going to love it are pppprrrreeeettty high. Oh, didn’t you forget to pick up that Jacklen Ro song you loved, since it wasn’t on Bandcamp? I can also see you picking this record up, and listening to a song you’ve heard before, but connecting with it on a deeper level – yeah, you just needed some time to grow with that song. I’m thinking you should probably pick this one up, even if you’ve already got a couple of the tracks… just to be safe.

Volumes 1-3 are a guidebook to an alternate universe of Christmas music that few know exists. If you already live here, celebrate it. If you are just dipping your toes in the water, jump in because these 143 songs will provide you with plenty of depth. Swim with us, won’t you?

Bottom Line: You’re getting 35 stellar songs, conveniently packaged by a man high on his own supply of Christmas cheer, and all your money goes to help the homeless. That’s a win for everyone.

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UPCOMING: Jangle Bells – A Rough Trade Shops Christmas Selection (12/08/2023)

Rough Trade Shops
Buy: Rough Trade (UK only so far)

Rough Trade Shops has a little Christmas gift lined up for their (so far) UK devotees… as they are releasing one of the strongest Christmas complications of the past few years. Compiling a number of top tracks from the recent past with a few exclusives, Rough Trade are flexing their taste muscles with this lineup. I’m most intrigued by the exclusives, obviously, and am paying particular attention to that Marika Hackman song, “Driving Under Stars,” as it sounds like a stripped-back version of one of my favorite holiday songs of the past ten years. The Peaness track, “Kiss Me Sweet Pea,” (edit – added below) could also be pretty amazing, as I really love this incredibly catchy band. There also appears to be a new Ellie Bleach track (edit – posted below!), which is encouraging… as I still may write about her previous song from a few years back (edit – she deleted it!) … Most certainly a worthy addition to your Christmas music collection, should you be the collector-type.

Tracklist (* denotes that I believe them to be exclusive to this release)

  1. Marika Hackman – Driving Under Stars (Piano)*
  2. Pale Waves – Last Christmas
  3. Allo Darlin’ – Will You Please Spend New Years With Me?
  4. Julia Jacklin – Baby Jesus Is Nobody’s Baby Now
  5. The School – Shouldn’t Be Alone For Christmas
  6. The Big Moon – It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
  7. Los Bitchos – Los Chrismos
  8. Linda Lindas – Groovy Xmas
  9. Black Midi – Jingle Bell Rock
  10. Chubby and the Gang – Violent Night (A Christmas Tale)
  11. Peaness – Kiss Me Sweet Pea*
  12. Bubble and Squeak – The Christmas Stick
  13. Ellie Bleach – Merry Christmas, Do You Ever Think Of Me?*
  14. Sinkane – Christmas Wrapping
    CD Only
  15. Dream Nails – Lonely Star (Christmas Song)
  16. Willie J Healey – Merry Christmas
  17. Girl Ray – I Wish I Were Giving You a Gift
  18. Stars – Christmas Anyway
  19. Alex Lahey – Merry Christmas (I Don’t Wanna Fight Tonight)

Bottom Line: A good number of these tracks have been celebrated here before, so yeah, this looks good. Check it out, maybe buy the limited vinyl or the expanded CD… or cherrypick some songs below (where applicable) and give your money directly to the bands!

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Maxwell Farrington – Yuletide And I’ll Tide With Yann (2022)

Upton Park
Buy: Upton Records CD/Vinyl | 7Digital FLAC/MP3 | Apple Music | Amazon | Amazon.uk | Amazon.de | Amazon.fr

Let’s get weird. This record is going to be one of the more interesting Christmas records you’re going to listen to this year, or any other year. There are moments here that will leave you scratching your head, and others that will leave you in wonder. Aussie ex-pat Maxwell Farrington teamed up with Yann Oliver on 2020’s Maxou & Yannou Sing X-Mas, which I regretfully did not sample back then (but Christmas A Gogo highlighted earlier this year, which I also missed!). That collaboration has continued into 2022, with a properly-released full-length that adds a few songs and a new title, Yuletide and I’ll Tide with Yann. I say proper full-length LP, as it is released in LP form on both CD and vinyl, but keep in mind, it clocks in at a brief 26 minutes and change. Short and sweet indeed. I’m going to highlight a few of my favorite tracks below, and let you bask in the Scott Walker-esque weirdness and beauty. (Eagle-eyed readers might notice that one of these tracks is the closer on my latest mix, Jolly Chubby Elf.)

Bottom Line: God I need this on vinyl. This is one of the most unexpected, unique, gorgeous Christmas records I’ve stumbled upon.

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Have Yourself a Merry Indie Christmas Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 (2022)

A Benefit for Crisis
Buy: Bandcamp

I often think about what it would be like to be just now getting into this hobby of underground Christmas music mix-making. When I got in the game (18 years ago!), there wasn’t quite the wealth of indie rock/pop/alt.country/etc Christmas releases to hunt down. Bandcamp, the venue which I primarily exploit to find cool new songs, wasn’t founded until 2007, and it wasn’t until 2010 that I could have even embedded a track on a site like Christmas Underground. It is both exhilarating and terrifying to think about dipping my toes in for the first time in 2022… there is just so much to listen to – years and years of great songs to get through, let alone all the new releases that come out every year. Well, lucky for my imaginary self, as well as that very real person taking their first stab at making a cool Christmas mix, fellow weirdo Christmas music fan Kevin McGrath has created the perfect introduction to this niche of holiday music with the massive, expansive collection of 108 songs, Have Yourself a Merry Indie Christmas Vol. 1 & Vol. 2. This is like one of those The Greatest ________ Album in the World collections I used to bump into in the import sections of the 2000s – packing an absolute ton of the tracks you need to hear to fully get what has been going on. The sheer effort that it took to clear 108 songs is astounding, let alone the challenges of contacting bands that are no longer together, and there are some wonderful ones represented here, to which I’m delighted their musical legacy will persist. Readers of this site will find some familiar faces and names, such as Sweet Tempest, St. Lenox, Charlie’s Hand Movements, The Ornaments, Les Bicyclettes de Belsize, and many, many more.

Just know you are bound to discover a new classic or two that you’ve never bumped into before. Christmas Underground is a one-person shop, and I can’t and won’t be able to know every single cool indie Christmas song out there… as I’m currently sitting here listening to Volume 1, bobbing my head to a song I’ve never heard – and I love it. All this great music also benefits a great cause, Crisis, a UK charity that helps the homeless. So, while the suggested price for each massive collection is a mere £7/$8.50, just know that you don’t necessarily have to give only $8.50. Maybe make yourself a sandwich each day this week for lunch and give a bit more? This is the season of giving, and in a world where billionaires aren’t going to save us, we need to look out for each other.

Bottom Line: These two releases could fashion 3-4 years of indie Christmas mixes for your friends and family. It is an absolutely essential purchase for new and old collectors alike.

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Self Esteem “All I Want for Christmas is a Work Email” (2019)

A Fiction Records Recording / Universal Music
Buy: 7Digital FLAC/MP3 | Apple Music | Amazon MP3 | Amazon.uk MP3 | Amazon.de MP3 | Amazon.fr MP3

Self Esteem is Rebecca Lucy Taylor, previously known as half of indie-Christmas royalty Slow Club (RIP Slow Club). Her solo work is certainly more pop-forward than Slow Club ever was. While I don’t normally gravitate to pop, please be rest-assured, Self Esteem is not your normal pop project – the term experimental pop has been thrown around and I might be on board for that description. “All I Want for Christmas is a Work Email” doesn’t sound like anything else on my Christmas playlist, with a sparsely adorned mix of bitterness, self-loathing, and big pop vocals. Somehow I didn’t write about this last year, and since there is no expiration on good music or Twinkies, eat up.

Bottom Line: Here’s a pop Christmas tune for folks who don’t like pop Christmas.

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UPCOMING: Lost Christmas: A Festive Memphis Industries Selection Box (2020)

Memphis Industries
Buy: Bandcamp | Banquet Records | Norman Records | Piccadilly Records | Jumbo Records | Rough Trade UK

Last year I found myself stressing out, trying to get a shot at one of those Field Music Christmas 7-inches that were at the Independent Label Fair in London. Tweeting back and forth, seeing what connections I could muster… but alas… it was not to be. They hinted that it would have a proper release this year, so…. I waited, and Lost Christmas: A Festive Memphis Industries Selection Box will be waiting under the tree for me (once I buy it). I haven’t heard much off this record, with exception of the Francis Lung track which I reviewed last year. A track or two has been previously out there in some fashion (Field Music and Cornshed Sisters) from off the top of my head), but there do appear to be some new tracks here for sure. If you are really, really curious, you can go digging on each band’s twitter feed, and you are bound to bump in to some 15 second samples of these songs. That Rachael Dadd track sounds bbbeeeeauuuuttttiiiifffuuullll.

Lost Christmas: A Memphis Industries Festive Selection Box (Release Date: December 4)
1. Field Music – Home For Christmas
2. Haley – Like Ice and Cold
3. Warm Digits – Good Enough For You This Christmas
4. Rachael Dadd (with Rozi Plain and Kate Stables) – We Build Our Houses Well
5. Stats – Christmas Without You
6. The Phoenix Foundation – Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
7. Francis Lung – To Make Angels In Snow
8. Jesca Hoop – White Winter Hymnal
9. The Go! Team – Look Outside (A New Year’s Coming)
10. The Cornshed Sisters – Have a Good Christmas Time

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Husbands – XMAS 2 (2017)

Husbands - Xmas 2

Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp (NYOP)

In 2013, Oklahoma City’s Husbands released an absolutely incredible, full-length indie rock Christmas album (XMAS), and they are back once again with yet another! XMAS 2 is made in the same spirit as the original, with originals and wholly-reimagined covers living side-by-side in a completely cohesive collage of chillwave/indie rock/Boards of Canada/Animal Collective goodness. Honestly, I am a bit more than halfway through listening to the record (I just got back from a family function) and have been gnawing at the bit to do so… so this is a half-review as I wait to conclude what promises to be another incredible record by Husbands.

Bottom Line: It is early, but I am loving this.

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Diane Coffee “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas” (2015)

Diane Coffee - It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Western Vinyl
Buy: Soundcloud (FREE!)

Take a song that feels rather formulaic, one where 1 + 1 obviously equals two… and to throw a wrench (and maybe a tab of acid) in the works. Diane Coffee‘s rendition of “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” is just this… it nudges the classic formula gently off the cliff and all of a sudden you are in the middle of this amazing fuzzed-out guitar, and you’ve forgotten how to count. For those unfamiliar with Diane Coffee, he has released two fascinating art-pop records on Western Vinyl (most notably the original home of Dirty Projectors), as well as being the initial drummer for friends (and sonic brothers) Foxygen. This one-off track was released in 2015, and is still available for free on Soundcloud, which is extremely generous. This track is good enough to be released on its own… perhaps Diane Coffee should record another xmas tune this year and release a 7″? I’d buy it, no doubt. For now, we’ll have to settle for a non-holiday 7″, as his new release Peel will be out on Polyvinyl on October 20th.

Bottom Line: It’s beginning to look a lot like art-pop Christmas, Diane Coffee, and I’m totally cool with it. Let’s get freaky.

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