Tag: indie rock

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French Cassettes “Be Bright (A Christmas Song)” (2022)

Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp

To say I’ve been busy is an understatement. I pulled my first 24-hour long day the other day… and I haven’t done that in… maybe 15 years? My mix is done, and I hope to post it in a day or two, but until then, I’ll try to share a few more songs depending on how much energy I have. I always burn out before Christmas, and this year has had a pretty quick fuse.

Now let’s continue posting some upbeat indiepop Christmas songs!

I know I’ve been writing a lot about French Canadian Christmas music lately, so please don’t be fooled by the name of this next band, the French Cassettes. This lovely indiepop fourpiece hails from San Francisco. “Be Bright (A Christmas Song)” is their first stab at a holiday tune, and I do hope not their last. The lyrics appear to be trying to coax someone out of the house to spend Christmas together, and they’ve piled on the jingle bells and the bpm as an enticement. In a year of slow burns, these simple upbeat jams are a welcome relief.

Bottom Line: The French Cassettes Christmas debut is a worthy, upbeat slice of holiday fun. You might also get a postcard from them if you buy the song 🙂

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U.S. Highball “Marge’s Second Christmas” (2022)

Lame-O Records/Bingo Records
Buy: Bandcamp

I’m not shy when it comes to hunting down Christmas tunes. I was scouring indiepop Facebook, spot-checking bands with keyword searches, and came across the Scottish indiepop band U.S. Highball. The two members of U.S. Highball had both been in the band The Pooches, who released a 4-song Christmas EP a number of years back and was no longer available. Thus, I reached out with the hope that it might still exist somewhere. The band, specifically the half of the band named Calvin Halliday, was extremely sweet and got back to me quickly – that EP was lost! Well, as luck would have it, I am friends with (and live in the same town as) No Love for Ned, a fellow indiepop and underground Christmas music fan. Ned also has a very generous physical and digital collection… and he had it! A couple covers, short and lovely, notably including “Jesus Christ” by Big Star. Wasn’t that a very long story to tell you that Calvin mentioned he and James Hindle were currently working on a Christmas song?! Here we have “Marge’s Second Christmas,” and it is a ton of fun. The song began as a demo Calvin had recorded over ten years ago, worked into a Christmas song, and recorded and released into the world as a beautiful tribute to Calvin’s dog Marge. I want to feel the way about my new puppy that Calvin did about Marge, but puppies will test that love. Think I’m crazy? Have you had a puppy? Or have you just enjoyed other folk’s puppies? Adult dogs, 2-year-old dogs like Marge… those dogs know what’s up and how to be a dog. A puppy is an adorable ball of fur and destruction. The tiny, tiny holes in my clothes…

Ah yes! All proceeds go to Give a Dog a Bone – a charity that tackles loneliness and isolation for folks over 60 through animal companionship. It is the season of giving, so give it a listen, then give generously.

Bottom Line: UPBEAT Christmas indiepop in a season of chill, introspective tunes… you are going to need to mix it up, and this pup will lead the way.

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Christmas Aguilera “Once Upon a Time” (2022)

Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp

I check in every year, hoping to get a “Yup, we’re working on it!” and thankfully, after a week or so of anticipation, the new Christmas Aguilera has dropped. One of the stalwart presences on Christmas Underground, I believe I have mentioned them on every podcast I have ever appeared on (3 now!) and will continue to do so as long as folks make the mistake of asking me to talk to them. “Once Upon a Time” fits beautifully into that gen-x/millenial Christmas pocket that my wife and I perfectly straddle. Remembering our youth, dreaming of those Adidas predator cleats (or boots) meant to help you curve the ball or that copy of Mortal Combat… you don’t have to necessarily have to relate to those specific items to remember that feeling of slightly-desperate Christmas hope. This is a very specific feeling of anticipation that I am happy to tap into and Christmas Aguilera captures that beautifully.

Bottom Line: I never know what I’m going to get from Christmas Aguilera, and each year they manage to bring something new and wonderful to the table.

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The Magnetic Fields “Have You Seen It in the Snow?” (2017)

Merge
Buy: Bandcamp | Apple Music | Amazon MP3 | Amazon.uk MP3 | Amazon.de MP3 | Amazon.fr MP3

As The Magnetic Fields are one of the bigger indie bands out there, and thus I am not going to be giving much background as to who they are… look them up if you are unfamiliar, and bask in their classic 69 Love Songs. I’m genuinely jealous of those who have no clue who they are and have the opportunity to listen to them for the first time. There are a number of excellent Magnetic Fields’ holiday-esque songs… “Everything is One Big Christmas Tree” may be the one I see most on playlists. Somewhat overlooked is the absolutely lovely “Have You Seen It in the Snow?” off of 2017’s 50 Song Memoir. Let’s change that.

Bottom Line: Have you read Christmas Underground in the snow? Bet it is as pretty as New York, which I can attest is quite lovely with a dash (not a TON) of snow, and Stephin Merritt paints a beautiful picture here.

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Neil Brogan “Christmas (with a small c)” (2022)

Brogan Records
Buy: Bandcamp (NYOP)

I have to tell you… I feel like my mix is the most boring mix for you all when it finally comes out, as I’ve been tipping my hand for a month, and now a whole bunch of you already have these songs on your own mixes. I just have to take comfort in the fact that 99% of those folks who I hand/send one to have not heard a single one… when I do release it, let’s just pretend you’re hearing them for the first time…

THAT SAID, here is another stone-cold mix-worthy song. Sea Pinks (on hiatus?) frontman Neil Brogan has been releasing holiday songs (sometimes hidden on full records) for a few years now and this year gathered them up onto one release, Christmas EP. Three previously-released tracks and one, brand-new-fucking-fantabulous song, “Christmas (with a small c).” Jangly and clever, this track has relaxed vocals and indie rock guitars that, in tandem, make my eyes widen and burst with excitement. This is the vibe I need right now…

Bottom Line: Indie rock Christmas to the rescue.

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Crying Day Care Choir “It’s Almost Time for a Christmas Tree” (2022)

Elz Productions
Buy: Apple Music | Amazon MP3 | Amazon.uk MP3 | Amazon.de MP3 | Amazon.fr MP3

Sweden’s Crying Day Care Choir are one of those bands that I’m always hoping will release more Christmas music. They have such an incredible back catalog of songs, which I have been happy to feature many, many times, and I encourage everyone to check out if you are unfamiliar with them. They have taken a few years off from writing seasonal songs, but thankfully return with the brand-spanking new “It’s Almost time for a Christmas Tree.” This song is quite unlike the others, as it is part of the same experimental songwriting project as their recent Give Me Something Vol. 1 EP. With both the EP and this song, Crying Day Care Choir used Damien Hirst’s “The Currency” project for writing inspiration. Hirst has created 10,000 paintings and offered them up for sale. Buyers have the choice of purchasing either the physical object or an NFT, and if they choose the NFT, the physical object is burned. CDCC has exclusively used the pieces slated for the pyre to draw inspiration from, and in a way, giving these objects destined for oblivion a new, eternal life. I’d love to know which panel of colorful dots inspired a Christmas song! The song’s verses are soft, sweet, and piano-driven, but that chorus is will get your blood flowing. “It’s almost time for a Christmas tree / If you’re bringing it home you’re all I need.” Those choruses sound like they were an absolute blast to record – there is a palpable joy to be heard here. How lucky we are to have ears!

Bottom Line: Crying Day Care Choir long ago secured their spot in my heart, and my heart continues to grow.

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Wicketkeeper “Ho Ho It’s Christmas Again” (2022)

Umpire Records
Buy: Bandcamp | Apple Music | Amazon MP3 | Amazon.uk MP3

Let me give you a quick peek behind the curtain here at Christmas Underground. There is often a healthy discussion in the Twitter DMs between myself and other Christmas music-obsessed folks, and there may have been a comment about my site that went something (exactly) like this: “I say it’s pretty darn easy to make a mix entitled ‘Christmas music to slash your wrists by.'” To which, I replied, “You gotta have your niche.” Well… I’m not all tearjerkers and Christmas humbug (I’m only 51% of those), the other 49% is searching for a song that will make my ass move. So I introduce London’s Wicketkeeper, who has written a song that is 34% wonderful, and 66% fucking amazing, “Ho Ho It’s Christmas Again.” But you really have to look behind the lyrics – they are saying something really profound here. Like in the last verse, where they mix it up and add the “WOOOO.”

Ho Ho It’s Christmas Again,
Ho Ho It’s Christmas Again,
WOOOOO,
lalalalalalalalalalala lalalalalalalalalalala,
lalalalalalalalalalala lalalalalalalalalalala

Kinda brings a tear to your eye.

Bottom Line: The most fun 1.5 minutes of Christmas music you will experience this holiday season.

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Toad Venom – The Ingen vidare jul (Christmas is cancelled) EP (2021)

Welfare Sounds & Records
Buy: Bandcamp

If I had a nickel for every time I said, “You name your band Toad Venom, and I’m going to check you out.” Well, a bunch of psych rock musicians from Vikingstad, Sweden finally took me up on this well-known offer, and have also made some absolutely excellent psych Christmas music! 2021’s The Ingen vidare jul (Christmas is cancelled) EP is two tracks of badass psych, as the leadoff track “God Jul” blasts off, a soaring Swedish Christmas anthem (to which I have no clue what is being said). The flip, “Merry (Christmas) and me,” is in English, and very much suits their style as described on Bandcamp: “A band, experimenting the void between spaghetti western and psychedelic rock.” Those twangy western guitars that introduce the track – so terribly cool. The song builds and builds, at times triggering me to think a bit about Spiritualized for some reason. There are so many cool movements to this song, yet it still comes in at an economical 4:00. Perhaps one of the most badass Christmas tunes I’ve come across in a good while.

Bottom Line: Two extremely good tracks from my new favorite band and best friends (pending).

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Alex Exists “Never Christmas Without You” (2022)

The Confidence Emperors
Buy: Bandcamp

Sometimes you just want some swagger. Toronto’s Alex Exists is overflowing with such swagger in his big, glam-infused Christmas single, “Never Christmas Without You.” The guitars bend, the vocals soar, and the attitude seeps out of every line. While the song’s first notes immediately place this song within the Christmas canon, the lyrics are far more interesting than you may anticipate. There are these couplets of contradiction that I thought are so perfect and relatable:

Love and hate
Are both the same
You can’t control where
Your heart is aimed
We hated the cold but
Still loved the snow

Delivered with Alex’s expressive vocals, this song is filled with huge brush strokes of emotion. I found his delivery to be captivating – he isn’t singing a song, he is completely engaged in performing it. While I might continue on to opine about what his motivation might be when writing this song, Alex explains it quite well on his Bandcamp page:

This is a song for anyone that feels crestfallen during the holiday season. Love it or hate it, the holidays bring out a lot of different and often complicated emotions in us all. This is a sentimental song that bites back and evokes a bit of sass towards all those hurtful moments in life. If you’re feeling lonely, like I used to during these times, you might resonate with this song. No matter how tragic life gets for you, there is always an extra seat at our table.

Bottom Line: A big, beautiful, emotional song for a complicated time of year.

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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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