Red Sleeping Beauty returned from a long hiatus earlier this year, which was wonderful news in my world. To top it all off, for their first new song in 17 years, they recorded a new Christmas song! “Merry Christmas, Marie” sounds like classic RSB. This is high-quality indie pop, and for those who love 1990s-2000s indie pop, a gift from above.
Bottom Line: Red Sleeping Beauty has returned, doing what they do best. 4.5/5
Last year the wonderful German blog Lie in the Sound pointed me toward this beautiful folk EP by Sweden’s Crying Day Care Choir. The two best tracks, “Christmas Day Care Choir (Falala)” and “First Christmas” bookend the release, and led to a very tough decision when considering which one to include on this year’s mix. I finally decided to add “First Christmas,” which surprised me. Sweet Christmas songs have never really been my forte, and this is most certainly the sweetest to make a mix. The song is grounded in a reality that I found beautiful, and try as I might, I was unable to talk myself out of adding it. It was just too good.
Bottom Line: Simple, beautiful folk music and harmonies from Sweden. 4.8/5
The Garlands‘ contribution to last year’s inaugural Snowflakes Christmas Singles Club is a perfect indie pop Christmas single. For the uninitiated, the SCSC format is 7″ records with an original A-side, and a cover B-side. The Garlands A-side, “Christmas Song,” is as beautiful as anything they’ve ever done. These Swedes can do English-indie pop better than most native speakers. I find myself liking it more with every listen – there is this part where the tone takes a somber dip, and damn I love it. The B-side cover of Claudine Longet classic is equally pretty, as they somehow found a way to pour more sugar on an already sweet song. Claudine would be proud.
You can still pick up this release, but there are only 500, so I’d get it sooner than later.
Bottom Line: Indiepop Christmas at its finest. 4.6/5
Friday Bridge is a (Can you guess the country? Do you read my blog?) Swedish pop duo comprised of Ylva Lindberg and Niklas Gustafsson (of the Higher Elevations). Back in 2012, they released a Christmas tune on Youtube, and a good one at that. I dig the atmosphere of the song – and while I can’t make out many of the lyrics, I don’t really care. Short, with a f*ing fantastic title… it might just sneak onto your mix.
Bottom Line: No way to download this song without getting creative… good tune, listenable, but may need to grow a tiny bit more to claw up into my favorites. 3.8/5
In 2004, El Perro Del Mar was pretty much only known to the outside world as that singer who shared a split 7″ with Jens Lekman. Thankfully, things have changed in the past decade, and Sarah Assbring (her real name) has released a handful of wonderful, critically acclaimed and challenging records. One of her very first releases (her second if I am not mistaken) was a Christmas CD-R on the Swedish Hybris label. Limited to 200 copies, this CD-R had a fantastic A-side in “Oh What a Christmas!” and an equally enjoyable B-side with “Shake it Off.” Only one of those tunes was Christmas-related, I’ll leave it to you to guess.
“Oh What a Christmas!” has since become somewhat of an indie-christmas classic, showing up on the wonderful It’s Not Like Christmas… and of course, countless 8tracks mixes. This attention is well deserved, as the song is pretty wonderful – the music harkens back to the drum beat of 60’s pop, while layering on her ever-so-distinctive vocals to create a great 3 minutes of Swedish retro-pop. Of note, in 2009, she dipped her toes back into season fare with Auld Lang Syne – and really puts the El Perro Del Mar stamp on that old chestnut as well.
Bottom Line: If you aren’t turned off by her voice to start with, then this song is likely for you. 4.5/5
Like my fellow friend-in-Christmas Stubby, I too believe that the Swedish country-punk band, The Linedance Fever, have recorded one of the most wonderful and original versions of the oft-covered Wham! classic, “Last Christmas.” I have included a few covers of this song on my mixes in the past, each one quite distinct from the other… and this version joins the Erlend Oye version as the best that you can find. (They also have another Christmas tune, 365 Days of Christmas, and I may review that at some point… and I do hope they make some more.)
Bottom Line: A gem. If you have any taste, you’ll think so too. 🙂 5/5
Marsh-Marigold (EP) / Siesta (Compilation) Buy:Discogs (CD/LP) | Amazon UK
Associated with the wonderful Acid House Kings (in that they share one member), Red Sleeping Beautywere active from 1992-1997 are recently back in the swing of things with a new track (a cover) on the bonus disc of Alpaca Sports’ debut release. For those, like me, who have followed that Swedish indie-pop rabbit hole down a good ways, this is good news.
Red Sleeping Beauty, like the Acid House Kings, dabbled in a seasonal tune on their first release. Amazingly enough, both songs were titled “Christmas,” and were released in the same year (1992) on the same record label (Marsh-Marigold). However, one song is significantly better than the other – and my (unfortunate) distaste for the AHK song left me with quite low expectations for the RSB tune. I was, however, quite pleasantly surprised. Red Sleeping Beauty recorded a perfectly fine indie-pop Christmas tune, very much in the style of the genre, but with a nice bed of fuzz to build the male/female vocal interplay upon. Originally released on their 1992 debut EP, Pop Sounds, it is much easier located on 2000’s Siesta singles compilation appropriately titled, Singles.
Bottom Line: Solid indie-pop from Sweden gets my vote. As I live with this tune some more, it might get a few more points… we’ll see. 3.9/5
Cherrytree/Interscope Records Buy:Amazon (Try to find it elsewhere – eBay is often cheaper)
A side project of both singer-songwriter Marcus Srunegard and Adam Olenius (of the Shout Out Louds), Serenades (now known as “We Are Serenades“) put out a fantastic little EP, Come Home, to indie record stores in late 2011. A friend at our local college radio station proceeded to hip me to the fact that the title track is actually a Christmas song! And what a Christmas song! Melancholy Swedish Christmas songs are pretty much my favorite thing, and add a big chorus and I’m pretty much putty in your hands.
Bottom Line: These swedish songsmiths have created a song worthy of all-year-round listening – not bad for a Christmas tune. And hey, you can get this CD for CHEAP. 5/5
How about some wonderful Americana from Sweden for your Saturday morning? Strayfolk came into my radar back in 2008, courtesy of Swedesplease, and their “Christmas Day” immediately became part of my regular rotation. Long existing as an mp3 floating out in the ether of the internet, it now has a home on Bandcamp. Why would you go to Bandcamp, rather than just popping over to their website? Well, because you can now get a FLAC version, as well as show your appreciation for such a great song with a buck. Christmas Underground is all about supporting the artists that make our season happen.
Bottom Line: You and your country band are going to want to cover this song, so go buy it and start practicing. 5/5
Be sure to head over to the Snowflakes Christmas Singles Club blog to check out the latest posts. There is a rundown of all the singles, A + B side tracklists, and I COULD NOT BE MORE EXCITED.
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– and really puts the El Perro Del Mar stamp on that old chestnut as well.
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Christmas Underground 