Spotify playlist

I'm making a playlist, I'm checking it twice (maybe more) for updates. It features remarkable Christmas releases of this year. Some songs were featured here, others (like Kate Nash's I Hate You This Christmas) not. GO HERE

XO

Because Stubby basically told us to link it, HERE's a link to the free downloadable, yearly round up of Free Christmas Tracks by pr company XO.

The Christmas Agency

Deep voiced alt.rock Christmas track by Brit band The Agency, who re-christened themselves The Christmas Agency for this occasion.

Cal Folger Day

We featured CFD last year (see?), and we're glad we can post about her again. For this year she recorded a sultry Sammy Cahn/Jimmy van Heusen song from the late 50s. Stream/download from HERE.

Brain Pool

'The Last Christmas is Brainpool’s comeback to the pure pop format. Complete with jingling bells, glockenspiel and epic lyrics.'

Soul & Funk Christmas

If there's only one Christmas album you're gonna buy this year, make it this one:


Thanks for the heads up, DJ Sole Mate

Christmas Originals

Ever heard one of the first recordings of White Christmas? The 1934 version of Santa Claus is Coming to Town? Go over HERE and download a great compilation.

Boss Jaguars

Christmas surf songs! Yay! Three songs EP HERE
EDIT: alas, the Bandcamp-page is gone. What's left is their clips on YT and the Soundcloud stream:

The Boss Jaguars! · Santa's Bangin' Surfari EP

Tangarine

They sound like Gilbert O'Sullivan, they look like the sons of Robin Gibb, but these twin brothers hail from Holland. This is a cool new Christmas tune:

Colourmusic

Silly Christmas music. We're all for it. Colourmusic has just the thing

Missile Toads

From the mailbox: 'I'm from the Missile Toads, a punk band from Philly. We bastardize punk and garage songs songs into Xmas Classicks, much like the Angry Snowmens. We have been doing this for 5 years now. Here is a link for our free download on Bandcamp'

The Rosebuds

The Rosebuds are an art-rock band originally from Raleigh, North Carolina. Its current members are Ivan Howard (vocals/guitar/drums/bass/keyboards/programming) and Kelly Crisp (vocals/keyboard/drums/guitar/accordion).

Paste Holiday Sampler 2013

Free download of the annual festive sampler, featuring tracks by Bright Eyes, Otis Redding, Sufjan Stevens and a whole lot more.

Mark Nevin

You might know Mark Nevin from Fairground Attraction. For this new Christmas track he lined up a whole bunch of people.

Old Saint Nick

Good old Nick Lowe made his first Christmas record: 'Quality Street- A seasonal selection for all the family'. With lots of unusual covers like 'Rise up Sheperd' and this one 'Children Go Where I Send Thee'.

Polyphonica!

Last year The Polyphonic Spree released a great Christmas album, but only in America. This year 'Holiddaydream' will be available in Europe too. As a special CD on Cherry Red with extra tracks and a DVD . The album has three versions of  'Silver Bells'. There are also various clips from the song. This one is the best: Santa has a real recordpressingplant!

Festivus 2

This week Highline Records releases Festivus 2, a sequel to last year's fun compilation of indie-fied holiday songs. Artists include Piney Gir, The Lilys, Teenage Fanclub's Francis Macdonald and Glam Chops (with Art Brut's Eddie Argos), which does a memorable ditty called Baby Jesus Was the First Glam Rocker. Stream two tracks, via Spin.com (HERE) and via USAToday.com (HERE)

Beat Mark

Ample Play is Cornershop's own label. On December 9, the label releases a great 7-inch single (and digital version) of two indie Christmas tracks. My fave is Christmas Blossom by Beat Mark.

Angry Snowmans

Oi to the World! Yes, they're back! Yule punks Angry Snowmans (no, not the Angry Samoans) re-arranged some safety-pin classics for the holidays. Listen to the whole thing here. You do know what song modeled for this version, right?

Jingle Bell Rocks documentary

You're a Christmas music obsessed person, just like us. So you heard about this documentary. Next week, I will see it in Amsterdam.

Christmas is over?

I beg to differ. Catchy, very dubby track, tho, by Dog Ears Montana:

Blogroll

Two (fairly) new Christmas music blogs you'd wanna start following: Elves Bells and Bells Will Be Ringing

Space Oddity

This is weird.That's why we post it here

Fish Christmas

What do you think?

Trucker's Christmas

I have a deep love for spoken word 'trucker's songs', and retro-hero Charles Arthur recorded a great one. His seasonal album's wonderful.

A Bad Religious Holiday

Who would've thought the melodic punk rockers of Bad Religion would ever record a Christmas album? Not me. Given the arguably poor rendition of classic carols like 'Hark The Herald Angels Sing', 'Little Drummer Boy' and this 'O Come All Ye Faithful' I assume some irony is at play here, but what else can you expect from a band that has anti-religion written all over it, literally in its band name? Their Californian colleagues of Lagwagon did a considerably better job singing 'O Come All Ye Faithful' in the outro of 'Razorburn' (starting at 2:05 in the video below) off their 1995 album Hoss. Nonetheless, the fact that Bad Religion actually recorded this Christmas album is amusing enough, no matter how bad their versions sound.

A Reggae Reggae Christmas with Boss Capone

The official Boss Capone Christmas Reggae Clip Directed by Justin Stoppelenburg.

The Disappointment Choir

The bandname's brilliant, this Tindersticks-y track is too:


(via SWO)

Pics et les Blancs de Mémoire

Pic is Sylvain Picard, who leads a Montreal-based band of 'jazz amateurs' who like to jazz up French-Canadian songs by bands like Karkwa and singers like Daniel Belanger. On their recently (Bandcamp-)released album, there's a cool version of Silent Night:

The Virgin Army

The Virgin Army (great band name) is Teije Venema's band, who adds Jonne, Bram and Henk to the line up when he's playing live. This dreamy seasonal song was produced by Holland's own Rick Rubin, mr Pim vd Werken

Analogue Christmas

You want the odd, you're getting the odd. The Tara Experiment's analogue bubblebath of synths, adding an alien feel to the season.

Licks, Brains and a funky jazzy christmas

Yep. Tis the season again. So here goes another round of odd and/or offbeat and/or otherwise noticeable Christmas tracks. Kicking of with Dutch 18-piece big band Licks & Brains, who will release a Christmas album featuring jazzy, soulful Christmas covers featuring a bunch of great vocal talent from the Lowlands. Living legend Rob de Nijs, for instance. Or the ultra-lovely Kris Berry. Or Brit soulsiren Laura Vane. Listen to ten pre-mastered tracks via this link.