Tag: Bandcamp

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Alex Maas “X MAAS (Take Me Away)” (2023)

Innovative Leisure
Buy: Bandcamp

Just as he was finishing up some work with his band The Black Angels, lead vocalist Alex Maas released a very interesting, downtempo holiday song, “X MAAS (Take Me Away).” I’ve been listening to it for a little while now, and I’m quite intrigued by the vibe of the song – his voice, the chiming melody, the lyrics that seesaw between fleeing and love. These elements mix and create a complex, disorienting, yet somehow soothing vibe. It sounds like Alex achieved his goal: “I’ve never written a Christmas song. Christmas has a very dark side that not many people take into account. The holidays are as painful as they are beautiful for most people. This song is for people who fall in love during Christmas and for those who want to escape completely from the holiday.”

Bottom Line: There’s something here. Not quite sure yet… but I’m listening…

LISTEN

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Devon “Staying Home…” (2021)

Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp

It’s quickly coming up on November — that time when we all start to expect new songs to drop. There have been a few here and there, sneaking onto records (like the excellent Sister Ray track), but these October days are often full of old songs newly discovered. So, let’s flash back to 2021 — which feels like both yesterday and forever ago.

Devon hails from Gloucestershire, England, and back in 2021 he dropped a very COVID-era Christmas single, “Staying Home…” While you can certainly feel those days coming through in this song, the roots haven’t quite anchored it in time, never to leave. This is a song about mental health, compassion, and all those feelings of love and loss that get mixed up and spun around at Christmas.

This isn’t just a COVID Christmas song. Multiple listens, folks — it’s a grower.

Bottom Line: It’s sad, happy, thoughtful, loving, quiet, loud… and worth your time.

LISTEN

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J. “Christmas” Phillips – Spring Into J. “Christmas” Phillips (2024)

Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp

I may have tipped my hand in the last post… something about cocaine (Edit: The more I think about it… it must be heroin, not cocaine being referenced in the song I’m about to talk about) and New Zealand if you recall. This blog is, of course, a serial that requires you to read every other post to get the context of what is going on. So get to work, new readers… you’ve got a few years to catch up on before we really get going in December.

A member of the Christchurch, New Zealand electropop band Mount Pleasant, J. “Christmas” Phillips dropped this solo record last November, Spring into J. “Christmas” Phillips, which continues a massive back catalogue of Christmas-related releases under both the Mount Pleasant moniker, as well as via the duo of J. “Christmas” Phillips and Tobias “Santa” Brockie. There is a LOT to sample here… I’m counting over 10 obviously-Christmas releases. How the heck did these guys fly under my radar for so long??

Readers of this blog will know that I’m going to pick out a few tracks to talk about, rather than the entire record, as I am terrified of setting such a precedent. So let’s begin with the track I’ve been teasing, “Snorting a Line.” I love discovering songs so unexpected that you inadvertently pull a face- WTF is this thing going to be? Well, obviously, an alt-country via indiepop Christmas song about getting high with your love on Christmas! Can’t say I partake, but lines like “I can’t believe I have your love. / Hold me close, hold me tight! / Like it’s our last Christmas tonight!” are both incredibly sweet and low-key dark… making it a truly intriguing song. “Snorting a Line” proved to be the hook that pulled me into the rest of the record, so grab my hand and let’s jump in further.

“Christmas with Chloe” is crooning electro-pop that feels equally genuine and glossy, two unexpected flavors bound to tease your tastebuds. J. “Christmas” Phillips has a swagger in his delivery that pairs perfectly with his imperfections – he sounds both incredibly personal, yet affected at the same time. I can’t pin this song down… but it sure does explode with love, and I’m happy to wrap myself in the shrapnel.

Finally, let’s talk about the WONDERFULLY-titled final track, “Christmas Artist of His Generation.” This is an indiepop/electro-pop instrumental that blends these (post-punk?) guitar lines with electro-pop synths. What a fucking combination. I’ll have a second helping.

I am only one album into J. “Christmas” Phillips’ holiday back catalogue. Let’s GOOOOOO.

Bottom Line: This artist/band is totally something I’ll bet a reader sent me years ago. To this person who no doubt exists, I apologize. How the hell did J. “Christmas” Phillips elude me for so long?? WELL. That ends today!

LISTEN

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Sister Ray “Christmas” (2025)

cover of Sister Ray's believer album, which is a blurry image of the singer on a green background.

Royal Mountain Records
Buy: Bandcamp | Apple Music

Canada man. I feel each year, one country runs up the score, and this year has me looking north. I keep tabs on Sister Ray, as I own her 2022 album, Communion, a beautiful and vivid breakup record with a fleeting mention of a Christmas tree on “Visions” (for you Christmas mixers with VERY lax rules).” Earlier this year, the musical project of Toronto’s Ella Coyes released a great new record, Believer. I absolutely add it to the listen pile, but when I see a track called “Christmas” on her new album, my ears are hers. I love her voice, and the orchestration with the droning bassoon baseline (that has to be a bassoon, either real or synthesized, right?). However, these lyrics are the star. Some lines made me smile, though the kind of smile I wasn’t quite sure of – a sort of feeling that the line might just be more cutting than you realize. There is a moment in every verse that both feels so loving and sorrowful at the same time, that I find myself spinning. I’ve been trying to sit with this song, figure it out on a deeper level before I write about it… but I got antsy. Maybe you all can help.

Snow’s light
For a cynic you sure love Christmas time.
I think I might believe in Jesus Christ
At least til things cool down
Carrying a New Testament around
Like a knife
Like a fence in the foreground
Protecting my house

I played that song just to hear you sing along
I love your voice
The way it sounds with mine
I keep your ribbons hanging from my ceiling
I would celebrate anything
Come into my house

In another life
I’m dressed in white
I’ve been your wife
What a beautiful child, what a beautiful sound
Your eyes, my mouth
Coming in from our house
Coming in from our house

Bottom Line: This is the kind of song that keeps you coming back.

LISTEN

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Oliver Wilde & Herbal Tea “Without You, Die Hard’s Not The Same” (2018)

Gold Day
Buy: Bandcamp (NYOP)

There are few topics that alternative Christmas bloggers enjoy digging into more than songs about Die Hard being a Christmas movie (or not a Christmas movie). The topic has become such a trope that I’m fully expecting someone to start a blog devoted to this subject, similar to this now-defunct blog I recall that collected and catalogued all the “Last Christmas” covers. Well, I kinda found a new one – well, technically from 2018. Bristol singer-songwriters Oliver Wilde and Herbal Tea teamed up for a dreamy tune of his and her vocals, trading lines over the phone at Christmas. Let’s look at the title, which is also part of the chours: “Without you, Die Hard’s not the Same.” Implicit in this statement is that Die Hard is a Christmas movie, as it gets name-checked along with the Muppets, Bublé, and Rudolph. The song is about nothing being the same without you at Christmas. Classic premise, clever approach IMHO. While you’re on Oliver’s page, check out the similarly styled dreampop Christmas of “Yuletide,” a collaboration with EBU from 2015. Certainly, some solid dream pop Christmas tunes to be had here.

Bottom Line: It’s early folks – I’ll get over the dreamy songs and into the more acerbic stuff as the season comes closer and new songs get released. My prediction: It’s gonna be a bumpy ride, so enjoy the smooth travels of Oliver Wilde and Herbal Tea while you can.

LISTEN

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Winterval – Sad Christmas Songs (2024)

Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp

We all have some bands where you can simply buy their releases, completely unheard. Those folks who have proven themselves, over and over, to have the talent and taste to earn your trust. For this bloviator of alternative Christmas music, Winterval, the home recording project of Duncan Baird, is most certainly in that category. This new album, his third-holiday release, Sad Christmas Songs, is a warm, beautifully produced collection of original Christmas songs. There is some incredibly clever songwriting here, most obviously expressed in the inspired title track, “Sad Christmas Songs,” which namechecks a host of classic Christmas songs throughout the “alone at Christmas” motif. The way he weaves them all in – it is just brilliant. I’m struggling to not post the whole song here – but here is a healthy chunk to see what I’m talking about:

Hey baby where did this go wrong?
Last Christmas we were something strong
Another silent night alone
Sat here singing sad Christmas songs

The cavalry have stopped,
Santa’s got the blues
I’m the boy that he forgot,
what do the lonely do?

It’s a Christmas all alone
In the bleak midwinter snow
Turn around and please come home

Hey baby where’s the magic gone
I walked 2000 miles along
A winter fairytale gone wrong
Sat here singing sad Christmas songs

There are about 10 songs worked in there and even more throughout! It was so damn fun to realize what was going on… which I am a bit sheepish to say didn’t happen until the second listen. Absolutely one of the most clever songs I’ve heard this season.

So, the album is called Sad Christmas Songs, and if you want to get into the dictionary meaning of each word… this does make some sense. The title track for sure, despite the fact that you might enjoy the lyrics too much to be caught up in the “Sat here singing sad Christmas songs” of it all. Take a peek at the following song, “Christmas Without You,” and you may very well get more comfortable stating these songs are specifically sad. But listen to the music, and that synthpop-meets-the-Clientele orchestration will get you tapping your feet far too much to feel down. It is rather like those Swedish indiepop songs I love – pretty little pop songs about sadness that make you smile.

Finally, I must mention the closing track, “Making Christmas.” These people are trying so hard to be together, complications at every turn, until they realize “Suddenly, we both know, where we are, we’re making Christmas / Finally, even though, we’re apart, we’re making Christmas.” Throw in this gorgeous, swelling orchestration, and you are playing with my emotions here.

I am only highlighting a few tracks here, but know that there is magic in every song. From the wonderful storytelling of “Krampus,” to “Times Square Elmo,” which is surprisingly funny, and sweet, but also full of longing, this record is a little bit of everything. Truly one of the best albums of the year.

Bottom Line: Sitting here listening to this record… all I can think about is how much I’d love to be sitting in a cozy venue, some Christmas lights hung about, listening to Duncan play these songs. I’ve got a glass of whiskey, and it is the good stuff because Winterval is top shelf in my house.

LISTEN

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World News “Xmas 101” (2021)

Austerity Records
Buy: Bandcamp | Crazy Limited Cassette

As I furiously try to listen to all that I can, grabbing large compilations for further listening, wishlisting all the singles that I need to come back to… every so often I hit play and gotta pop over here for a quick, dirty, and low-quality review of a great song. You know… feed those content gods.

Stereogum hipped me to this new track from London’s World News, “Xmas 101,” which if you reallllly want to get technical, was released in 2021. It is quite a fun, upbeat song that I’ve found benefits from multiple listens. World News has a flavor of jangle/college radio sound that I would RIYL if you’ve been a fan of Voxtrot, REM, or as The Line of Best Fit aptly tagged, Big Country. So if that is your jam, jam away! I’ll be jamming with you!

Bottom Line: Good times for all!

LISTEN

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Wake Up and Smell the Sun – The Pedestrian Chronicles, Part 6 (2024)

Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp (NYOP)

Philadelphia’s Wake Up and Smell the Sun (aka John Murray) was trying to empty the holiday tank last year. With his stellar 2-track single The Pedestrian Chronicles, Part 2 leading the way, quickly followed by his EPIC 25-track Advent Calendar, it sure seemed like John had reached his holiday destination. It does make me think of my old Honda Passport though… I could drive that baby on E for 50 miles – I never once ran out of gas, despite trying preetttty hard. Looks like John had a few more miles to drive this year, as he just dropped a 2-song single, The Pedestrian Chronicles, Part 6! This single begins with “Philadelphia Flurries,” a song with a classic WUaStS feel, having a driving beat propel John’s filtered vocals through some of the most interesting lyrics you’ll hear this season – you really have to check the Bandcamp page and hit that “lyrics” link and read along like you were a kid again. Case #1, the first stanza in the first verse hit me immediately and made me shake my head and smile as only John can:

Plain Jane’s Main Line luscious lips, they only sing the Christmas hits,
Lure you on the naughty list, and kiss you like a hypnotist.
The City Line swingers wine and dine her. Happiness is hit or miss
The lightweights end up tipsy, nibbling jingles from her fingertips

This whole song is like that, full of great lyrical twists and turns (and great Philadelphia references!), with a killer chorus to boot. The kind of song you might just take for granted when coming from WUaStS, but fight that urge and take it all in.

The second track, “Whence I Christmas” is the kind of song that makes you think… this Christmas song feels different. This Christmas song feels like a struggle, someone looking inwards and not quite knowing how to feel about themselves or the world around them. I think that this may be the track John was thinking of when he wrote me this passage about his approach to Christmas music: “I write in the thoughts of Christmas people thinking Christmas things or thinking thoughts that might be thought about in the season of Christmas.  You know, Ebenezer Scrooge ends up a pretty delightful chap, despite spending most of his adult life as a soul crushing, money grubbing, prick.  But, the story is boring without the whole story.” I kept more of that quote than I needed, because I just loved John calling Ebenezer a prick, but you see there how John mines the interior life of his characters for Christmas songs – and we all know that our insides aren’t always pretty. This song isn’t a story of someone who’s figured it all out… you’re in the middle of the journey here… and aren’t we all?

Finally, this isn’t all that John/Wake Up and Smell the Sun has planned for us this year… Friday, December 20th will bring us his first-ever Christmas special, live from Miner Street Recordings with Brian McTear and Amy Morrissey, who have recorded John for the past few seasons. This is the same studio that has hosted many folks we all know and love, like Sharon Van Etten, Kurt Vile, the War on Drugs, Rachel Angel, Big Thief, Dead Milkmen, Strand of Oaks, and Waxahatchee to name a few. John wanted to capture the space at Miner Street, which he says has a “certain magic that cannot be duplicated.” I’m ready for the magic. Here’s a teaser with a live version of “Holly Jolly Tearjerker” from the upcoming Christmas at Miner Street, available Friday on Wake Up and Smell the Sun’s Youtube channel.

Bottom Line: Wake Up and Smell the Sun can’t shake the spirit, and we benefit once more.

LISTEN

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En Attendant Ana – En Attendant Ana Sings Christmas (2024)

Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp (Digital/CD/Cassette)

Today is shaping up to be quite a day for excellent Christmas releases. Couldn’t have been last week eh???? Some of us have Christmas mixes, and we have the absurd idea that we might send some to folks in the mail (if I can get off my butt to do so). Well, first up is this excellent 2-track single from French indiepop band En Attendant Ana, En Attendant Ana Sings Christmas. These two tracks are covers done right. First up is “Close Your Mouth Because Christmas is the Day”, which takes both of the Free Design’s classic underground Christmas singles “Close Your Mouth (It’s Christmas) / Christmas Is The Day” and sews them together beautifully. They are mixed up with bits of “Carol of the Bells” as well… and it is… rather amazing. An unexpected song(s) choice, beautifully done.

The second single is a cover of the Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York.” I’ve mentioned before that this year is turning out to be a good year for “Last Christmas” covers… well… perhaps we’ve got to start talking about 2024 and these excellent “Fairytale” covers as well. The orchestration and the phrasing of this cover are like no other version I’ve heard before – they really have made this song feel new. (Of note, they do use the word in this song – so depending on where you stand on it’s use, take note). The ending is absolutely SPECTACULAR… so interesting and delightful, that I don’t want to ruin it for anyone here. So get going and listen to these songs.

Bottom Line: En Attendant Ana does exactly what one should with a cover… made them feel new. A top release of the season.

LISTEN

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Hit the North Pole: A Festive Charity Compilation for the Palestine Children’s Relief Fun (2024)

Hit the North Records
Buy: Bandcamp

Who is ready for some more “Last Christmas?” My son would say no. Oddly… I would give a hesitant “sure,” as this year has been especially good. That said – I put this out into the world – BANDS! Pick a new song! Speaking of new songs to cover… The new Christmas comp from Los Angeles’ Hit the North Records has everything you want. Songs not often covered? We got em! More “Last Christmas?” YES! It has three versions! That said, I’d say three solid, distinctly different versions starting off with a fuzzed-out stroll by Steel Wool, followed by the warm pop approach of Jacob and the Moon, and finally the amped up chiptune-meets-punk of Kurupi. These versions live in separate worlds… but having 3 versions of the same song does make this a record to be mined for singles, rather than to be listened to as a Christmas record IMHO.

Another often covered standout for me is Tiberius’ loose and lovely “Christmastime is Here.” The song has a feeling of ramshackle comfort. I really enjoy the back half of the song when the orchestration expands and you get harmonica, melodica, and maybe French horn? Quite nice.

So now let’s talk about two songs not often covered, which I thoroughly enjoy by both reminding me that these great originals exist (sometimes you forget!), as well as enjoying what these bands bring to the song. Little Bit kicks into “Snow Day” at the end of the record, and I immediately jumped in recognition – this was a Matt Pond PA cover! There have been years of my life devoted to loving Matt Pond PA, and that Winter Songs EP definitely sits on my shelf here at home. Little Bit serves the song well, giving it a light, airy feel. Super solid.

Finally, Small Shake & Fur Trader team up on the Harvey Danger indie classic, “Sometimes You Have to Work on Christmas,” which they execute perfectly. Dare I say… is this a dream-pop version?? Those effects pedals! The beautiful, floating vocals! Give me that shoegaze/dream-pop Christmas record!

I only scratched the surface on this record, as I only really have time these days to scratch, but there aren’t any duds on here, and you’ll have much here to add to your Christmas mix/playlist.

EDIT: Just an FYI, this compilation is ONLY available on Bandcamp, and will not be available on streaming.

Bottom Line: As of this moment, you are only able to sample one of the songs… but know that this record is quite solid – and for charity. Well worth the purchase price to support children and mine for fantastic singles.

LISTEN