Tag: UK

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Home Counties “Better Last Year (Home Counties for Christmas)” (2025)

a group of people sitting at what appears to be a table at a pub, wearing santa hats and throwing their arms around each others' shoulders.

Submarine Cat Records
Buy: Juno Download (WAV/FLAC/AIFF/MP3) | Apple Music | Amazon.uk MP3

Well. Of course, I’m not the first to post about this, but at the very least I didn’t learn about this song from NME, and found it the old-fashioned way – I follow Home Counties on Soundcloud! But I’ll at the very least benefit from the background on the song provided. Turns out “Better Last Year (Home Counties for Christmas)” debuted at their gig at Scala last night, and is slowly becoming available on digital platforms today. Hopefully it’ll find its way to Bandcamp… we’ll see.

Enough about how and where to find the song – what is this song about?? Well, I again refer to that darn NME article, as they obviously got a ton of background, and I’m not going to be better about explaining this song than the band will. Quote below:

“Inspired by the dual voices and anti-Christmas sentiments of ‘Fairytale’, the song is split between two narratives voiced by Will [Harrison] and Lois [Kelly],” the band said. “Lois sings about bumping into people you went to school with who have since done terrible things (a common theme from our school). Will sings specifically about Christmas Eve itself, with a feeling that with every year it gets a bit shitter, and everyone a bit less joyous.”

“Together, they shape a story of growing older and how you feel it at this time of year,” they added. “It’s also a plea for everyone to try and regain some of their lost ‘Christmas spirit’, in a slightly problematic boozy call to arms.”

Well, I barely actually wrote anything about a song I actually quite like. I wonder what I would have said had I not found that NME article that kinda ruined my momentum…

Bottom Line: This is certainly going to make some mixes… maybe even mine!

LISTEN

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Roberta Fidora “Christmas Trees” (2025)

Ursinewave
Buy: Bandcamp

This is it. This is the week. This is the week I try to find everything I can, make a good stab at a playlist, and pray for Friday’s releases to screw the mix tracklist all up (and make it great)! Thankfully, we’ve gotten some great releases overnight, with Roberta Fidora‘s “Christmas Trees” most certainly among those notable songs. Synths and sounds jumping out at you at every turn, this anti-Christmas jam that is sure to add some pace to your mix, and perhaps mine too!

Of note, should you not be familiar, Roberta also has some additional Christmas covers on her Bandcamp page under the moniker Curxes. Of particular note is the excellent electronic cover of Greg Lake’s “I Believe in Father Christmas.”

Bottom Line: Roberta delivers an avant-pop delight, and right on time.

LISTEN

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Everyone Says Hi “Walking in the Air” (2024)

Chrysalis Records
Buy: 7Digital (MP3) | Apple Music | Amazon MP3 | Amazon.uk MP3

I like to think of the Christmas season as having one big side conversation with my friends over at Christmas A Gogo. Whether it is via e-mail, Bluesky, or most often directly via our websites, I know that I’m always curious what they are thinking, and I’d like to think they might be of me. I’ve been planning to post this song for a little while, but as Christmas A Gogo just posted a massive post all about “Walking in the Air,” it felt appropriate to raise my hand and go “Me tooooooooo.”

Everyone Says Hi is a British indie (in the general sense of the term, some of these bands are pretty big) supergroup created by frontman and ex-Kaiser Chiefs drummer Nick Hodgson, Pete Denton (The Kooks), Ben Gordon (The Dead 60s), Glenn Moule (Howling Bells) and Tom Dawson. Last year, they dropped an excellent, funky version that truly adds something to the conversation. I’m used to so many airy, ethereal versions of this song, having a version of “Walking in the Air” that makes you bob your head? That is pretty crazy, and it is equally crazy how well this works.

Bottom Line: This is a mixworthy change-of-pace to a modern classic.

LISTEN

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Skinny Living “Smoke (Christmas Version)” (2024)

A christmas scene with three young boys wearing santa hats in front of a tree.

Townsend Music Limited/Skinny Living
Buy: 7Digital (FLAC/MP3) | Apple Music | Amazon MP3 | Amazon.uk MP3

Wakefield, England’s Skinny Living are doing something here that many bands have done before: taking one of their own songs, “Smoke,” tweaking it, and turning it into a Christmas track — much like Wheatus did with “Christmas Dirtbag” back in 2023. However, Skinny Living has the benefit of not having absolutely everyone know the original song by heart before hearing the new version… so this one hits differently.

Everything shifts beautifully into feeling like “Smoke” is a Christmas song — the gratefulness, the love, the fighting, the dancing — all packed into “tonight,” which can easily be assumed to be Christmas Eve. And, if you want to get real technical, they haven’t even released the original “Smoke” as a studio single; it only exists as a live cut.

So I hereby plant the Christmas flag in this song. “Smoke” is now a Christmas song, Skinny Living. No backsies.

Bottom Line: Is this a reworked song? Or was it allllways a Christmas song? Always!

LISTEN

https://soundcloud.com/skinnylivinguk/smoke-christmas-version?si=6c88fe05575e48ccbb0eb1b2ecb7dd00&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
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Patience “Fire Baby” (2017)

Intro screen, black screen with Patience written across it in handwritten font.

The Glasgow School of Art
Buy: Video (free!) | Soundcloud (stream)

I do love some synth pop Christmas music. I also love the band Veronica Falls (I miss them!). Smash those two loves together, and you get Patience’s “Fire Baby,” the soundtrack to The Glasgow School of Art’s 2017 holiday video. Patience (aka Roxanne Clifford from Veronica Falls – duh!) does not appear to have released this song in any other fashion than as this music video (Edit – also on Soundcloud). Thankfully, the video is downloadable, and you could strip out the music rather easily should you be so inclined. Give it a listen!

Bottom Line: Some Christmas synths to warm your ears to.

LISTEN/WATCH

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Pentire “Good Luck It’s Christmas” (2024)

Self Released
Buy: Stream on Soundcloud

Pentire are a bunch of guys from a small town (Herefordshire, England) who “make pop songs for the post-jangle generation through the smiles and sweat of the mosh pit.” A fun turn of phrase indeed, which makes my next sentence sound bland as hell. Here’s a nice slice of indie pop/rock that, inexplicably, I can only find on Soundcloud. Enjoy my nearly flavorless introduction and press play. You’re likely to enjoy this one.

EDIT: Well I’ll be… it is a cover and I hadn’t realized it. This is a cover of Tellison, which can be found on their Bandcamp. And… I did have that song already and just plum forgot. Thanks Randy!

I swear I’ll get my Christmas music mojo flowing soon.

Bottom Line: Pentire are indeed Christmas music fans – keep an eye on them. They are who I discovered Devon from…

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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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