Tag: Aux Caroling

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Aux Caroling – December/Headphones (2025)

An impressionist painting of the sky with a moon in it.

Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp

Aux Caroling, the recording project of North Carolina’s Scott Deaver, is always singing about something he’s not singing about. From the amazing “Bulls vs. Lakers, Christmas 2011,” which framed complex familial relationships and the uncertainty of fate within the guise of talking about a basketball game on TV, to his most recent, and equally gorgeous, December/Headphones.

The first track, the A-side for those who wish to imagine this is a beautiful 7-inch record you are about to drop a needle to, was initially titled “A Long December to Remember Sales Event.” Just seeing that title made me kinda snort and smile. Now off he goes, singing about striking a luxury automotive deal. Then he slips into the chorus, which will subtly change through the song.

“Everything happens at once / that’s how you know it happened / nothing really feels that long / till your memories…”

Just gorgeous. But he dips back into those lines that are about “buying a car:”

“And it’s been a rough year / I think it’s safe to say / have not had one minute / to choose between nebula and cloudburst gray.”

There I go again with a snort, of sorts.

Scott excels in a kind of cheeky depth. He makes jokes that make it feel safe to contemplate your inner feelings of helplessness or inadequacy, or explore your family dynamic, or deal with the unknown.

The B-side is “Headphones,” a track that Scott initially intended to premiere on Jon Solomon’s 2024 25-Hour Holiday Marathon, and to never be played again. He meant for it to be heard in that one moment in time, and that was all. Thankfully, he’s reconsidered. This is simply a beautiful, touching love song. I don’t sense any subtext here; there is just a profound grateful love that the luckiest of us can relate to, in one way or another. “Found out I love you a lot / don’t think it will ever stop / don’t think it will ever stop / don’t think it will ever stop…………”

There are some bands that I like to celebrate here whose unique voice is unmistakable, and I count Aux Caroling among these. He has my ear, from now until he starts inevitably doing those stream-of-consciousness Mark Kozelek-type records. Then, I’m out.

(I couldn’t get too mushy there… Scott would have thrown in a line to take the edge off, and that was my feeble attempt to do the same.)

Bottom Line: Aux Caroling is essential Christmas listening.

LISTEN

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Aux Caroling – Most Likely You Ho Ho Ho Your Way (And I’ll Ho Ho Ho Mine)(2024)

A painting of some fur trees in the snow.

Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp

You all are catching me in the final stage of my Christmas mixin… doing my best folks!

Aux Caroling (aka Scott Deaver) returns for the third year in a row with a handful of new, original Christmas tunes… and once again, I’m smitten. These songs have a warmth and humor that I enjoyed so much that I then went and bought them, despite being sent the MP3s earlier. I loved every song, but clever readers will know that I set the bar a long time ago to never talk about every single song on a record, either out of laziness or arrogance – you decide! (They are all great btw.)

You will never hear another Christmas song quite like “Bob Dylan and the Band Box Set,” which runs through the Bob Dylan box set the protagonist hopes to get for Christmas. How does one do this? Well, disc by disc of a 27-disc box set of course. I listened to this on the way to drop my son off this morning, and he found it amusing enough to comment on even while reading comics. High praise.

“Michael Clayton Blu-ray” continues the saga that began with “Is Michael Clayton a Christmas Movie?” on Aux Caroling’s 2022 record, Holly, Jolly, Melancholy. The song is quick and clever, and according to Scott, the song is “the running joke that will not die. Though the original was less a joke and just a song. But definitely in joke territory now.” I do enjoy the joke 🙂

My favorite moment of this record is actually the ending. The final song, “Keep it Together,” is a slow meditation, what I imagine to be an affirmation to get through the season with those complicated people and relationships in your life. “Keep it together / Say Merry Christmas and go away.” I connect with that… but I was most moved by the orchestration itself – how the outro builds in with these gentle, abrasive, beautiful tones. La da da dadada…

Bottom Line: Yet again, short, funny, beautiful, poignant and sad all mashed up in a way that only Aux Caroling can.

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Have Yourself a Merry Indie Christmas (Volume IV) (2024)

A Benefit for Crisis
Buy: Bandcamp

Today is the day. The fourth and final (…you never know for suuuuurrre) volume of this magnum opus of alternative Christmas music has dropped with a whopping 65 songs. Amongst these 65 songs, you’ll find many names that I’ve championed on an occasion or two (Whyte Horses, Dark Horses – ha! – The Photocopies, Skiing, Aux Caroling, and many more) – but unless you’ve been reading this silly blog since 2012, you likely haven’t come across many of these songs. If you have been close-reading this blog, you might even take special notice that Applennium’s “Is this Christmas” is on the tracklist. Not only is this a great track for that imaginary shoegaze/dreampop Christmas mix someone out there is making, but this is the first time one could get an actual FLAC of this song. I honestly had forgotten how great that song was.

This record is a fantastic afternoon listen, one that may very well get you in the spirit enough to finally put up your tree, finish your mix, or dig a bit deeper into that band whose song has just made you hit the back button to listen again. For a quick £7/$8.50, you’re that much closer to indie-Christmas nirvana. That, and ALL proceeds go to  Crisis at Christmas, a UK charity supporting people experiencing homelessness. Sounds like an easy call folks.

Bottom Line: If this is the first you’ve heard of this series – there are 4 of them, totaling 208 songs. They are required listening if you are at all interested in this alternative Christmas music. Now go! Listen!

LISTEN

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Aux Caroling – New Carols for the New Canon (2023)

Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp

How is it that folks put out these weird, fun little Christmas projects… and don’t find my fun, weird little Christmas website? Who knows… maybe Aux Caroling (aka Scott Deaver) has been caught in the spam filter, both literally and the malfunctioning one that is my attention span. Harking (the seasonal form of hailing, obvs) from North Carolina, Aux Caroling has released a whole mess of Christmas tunes in the past two years, a full album last year (Holly, Jolly, Melancholy), and an odd, wonderful EP this year. The EP starts off with “Bulls vs. Lakers, Christmas 2011,” a song largely about a basketball game. It puts you in his living room… talking about Derrick Rose, eating leftover pizza, calling his brother. But there are lines that hint at something deeper than just watching a game, “The future it holds, what nobody knows, then a floater from Rose.” That is some kind of beautiful in a way I wasn’t expecting.

The second track, the hilariously-titled, “Michael Clayton is a Christmas Movie, 2021-Present,” appears to be a response track to his 2022 song, “Is Michael Clayton a Christmas Move?” – which I’m just smiling about as a whole concept for a song. Perhaps Christmas a Go Go will need a Michael Clayton theme post sometime soon!

The final song, “Playstation 2, Christmas Early 2000s,” is using the gift of a Playstation 2 as a way to talk about a relationship with these incredibly clever lines like, “Memories on our memory card ranged not great to barely good.” Once more, I find myself feeling like I’m listening to an Elliott Smith alternate-timeline Christmas record… and I pop on to Aux Caroling’s Instagram and see a post of a hand clutching 3 copies of Elliott’s self titled record. So, while I may have suggested in an earlier post about being crazy… It appears I might have some sense left.

Bottom Line: These short, clever songs are deceptively impressive.

LISTEN