And while we're at it, these are the other self-penned songs:
This one from 2022 was voted as one of the 52 best New Xmas songs
"This year has been one for the books for the indie rock/alt country artist Brad Byrd: appearing at SXSW, opening for longtime friend Pete Yorn and recently completing a West Coast tour with Grammy-nominated songwriter and visual artist Joseph Arthur."
Let us take the liberty of seeing his appearance on our blog as a highlight as well. After all, you have to tickle yourself a little. Challenged by a friend, Brad wrote this track a year ago on Christmas Day. It's a fresh and uplifting original, which contains the whole Christmas shebang of sleigh and church bells. And, for a change, it's a track with a positive and cheerful 'Let Love Win' vibe. Use it to your advantage.
Brad Byrd Insta here, X over there.
Amsterdam based Harmen Kuiper usually plays in his punkband GDVRDGDVR. But he has a more melodic pop oriented side project The Slow Clock. This summer he released his second album ‘Inpretative Dancing’. On it a wonderful Xmas track which Dutch daily De Volkskrant described as "The first Christmas hit from 2023". I specially like when the female singer, called Amarins does the 'Gloria in Excelsis Deo' part in the song.
On our Christmas A Go Go party in Paradiso (Amsterdam) on december 18, he will do a special concert with performance artist Marieke Coppens And oh yes... he promised us a remix of this song.
There is another 'Christmas In A Bottle' song, by American band Nashvilains, recorded in 2022. But it has a totally different feeling.
Just bumped upon this one (bad sound quality though) while cruising Soundcloud: xmaseves (merry christmas, now i'm leavin') by braden rapp. No capital letters allowed apparently. A little info digging later this turned out to be an original Christmas track we sadly overlooked last year. And that is just about all the information that can be found about braden rapp too.
But it's a very cool indie rock track that slowly starts with some kind of movie sample, sleigh bells, organ synths and a few little drummer boy rolls, then a very nicely sung song with a raw edge unfolds. This farewell song really deserves to be highlighted, even though we are a year late. CAGG at your service.
You said
Lately I've been thinkin'
Merry Christmas
Now I'm leavin'
I bring you the greatest gift of all
Our patience was tested a tiny bit this year, but now it's finally here: the long-awaited new Christmas duet from blog darlings Clean Pete. Tomorrow the official release, today already exclusive on Christmas A Go Go.
After duets with a number of fellow angels in recent years (Judy Blank, Maaike Ouboter and Robin Kester), a male duet singer has been chosen this time. And lo and behold: right away it's hullabaloo immediately and hearts are being broken. Thanks Tim!
So don't let the song title fool you, because 'De Mooiste Tijd Van Het Jaar' (Most Wonderful Time Of The Year), doesn't apply to either of the two ex-lovers in this compelling song. Their love turned as cold as the ice on the roof under which they once slept together. If only Christmas could be skipped this year... A beautiful Christmas duet dripping with melancholy and heartache for a love that is no longer there.
The choice of Tim Knol, a famous Dutch singer-songwriter, also works out very well. His second voice singing is pretty modest and blends surprisingly beautifully with Loes Wijnhoven, who is also responsible for the music and lyrics.
Traditions are here to stay, so this year again Clean Pete seduces us with sophisticated musical arrangements and moving lyrics. I think by now we can call them the Dutch high priestesses of Christmas. Catch'm live on stage this Xmas season!
Clean Pete Insta here, X over there.
Tim Knol Insta here, X over there.
Serious late night thoughts on a lazy sunday evening because of Cat Rose and Jon Fazal's end-of-year reflection song 'Other Side of Christmas'. Or, in their own words: "The Cat and Jon sad-xmas-banger has arrived to your ears!". It's a kinda indie folk track with a delicate Christmas bell here and there and beautiful vocals. Sometimes the song seems to want to swell for a moment, but then falls back into the lovely stillness that fits the theme of the song so well.
From the other side of Christmas
Will everything seem different?
All proceeds go to Jeremiah's Journey, supporting children and young people in Plymouth during bereavement or at other difficult times. Please give what you can.
Insta over there.
A very well known combination and tradition: surfing and Santa. Last year we welcomed The Surfrajettes and The Tremolo Beer Gut providing us some cool xmas surf instrumentals, this years first Santa surf instrumental comes from The Surfisticats. They are from Cambridge in the UK, specialized in twanging guitars and rockin' rhythms and are desperately seeking for a surfboard. Maybe Santa can help them out.
Insta here, their X over there.
Now this is a special one. We're having a world toilet premiere here at CAGG! Anyone who visited one of the Clean Pete Christmas Shows last year will undoubtedly remember Mark Lohmann performing this song and now he is officially releasing this remarkable track (tomorrow actually, but we had the honor of sharing it with you already today). Mark Lohmann, who also makes music under the moniker Moon Moon Moon, wrote this therapeutic self-help song about the panic attack he had right before he had to perform during a previous Clean Pete Christmas show in concert hall Doornroosje. As a result, he fled to the backstage toilet and actually didn't want to leave it anymore.
Uncertainty about whether he was good enough, well dressed enough, handsome enough, funny enough and so on, made him no longer dare to perform. Until - in this song - his own self, two hours older, bangs on the toilet door and tells him to stop comparing himself to others and just be 100% himself. Yes, a pretty lame and cliché advise from his future self, but it works.
Lohmann already has quite a few sublime Christmas songs to his name, including my personal all-time Dutch favorite in duet with Loes from Clean Pete (who is also presented as one of his fears in this song too). But there's also this 'Adult Christmas' from 2020, sung in English, about spending your Christmas Eve on a plane, chasing dreams, being confident, meeting someone and having sex in the toilet stall. (What's that with toilets and Christmas, Mark?)
But this years track probably is his most personal 'till now. It's on repeat at the CAGG headquarter all day, because we love his unique talking style of singing and his diction. His lyrics are completely honest, mostly uncomfortable, self reflective and always tragicomic in a way. Some might say he's a typical anti-hero, I'd say if you have the guts to write a song like this, you're the opposite.
Unfortunately this track goes in Dutch, but for all you non-Dutch speakers out there, believe me, his lyrics are more than worth a Dutch course. An instant Christmas classic is born, straight from the toilet. Now think about that.
Insta Mark Lohmann and his X.
Moon Moon Moon's Insta here and X over there.
We have a number of regulars here at CAGG, who we see return almost every year and the guys from Vista Blue are certainly among them. Their rocky recipe is well known, but damn it tastes delicious every single year! This time they have once again come up with four strong, original and speedy Christmas tracks for our socks. That's what we got. What Are You Gonna Get?
Check out all four songs at 'Christmas Every Day' at their Bandcamp.
Their X is over there.
More information on Vista Blue at our blog in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.
The big jazz singer Gregory Porter and CAGG is not an obvious combination. His first Christmas album 'Christmas Wish' contains a lot of smooth and slick songs, with only a few covers. Like Stevie Wonder's 'One Day At Christmas'. But there is one surprising song, the title track, on his album. It's about his dearest wish:
If I had one wish, one wish to gift that day
It would be to kiss my momma on Christmas day
It starts with an old fashioned swinging organ and slowly it turns into a crazy gospel song. His brown voice with a real gospel choir is a great combination.
Name one better reason to write a Christmas song while you're in a songwriting session together with Judy Blank halfway March and it suddenly starts snowing. There isn't one. And so Dutch singer-songwriter Melanie Ryan and Judy did, they wrote an original Christmas track for this year at that very moment.
Now regular visitors of this blog know very well that we hold Judy Blank in high regard here, so the omens were good and it did turn out well.
Melanie describes her music as 'braided style country', where pop meets folk, meets country, meets americana. Her beautiful, crystal clear voice brings all these styles together with great ease and naturalness, making it a style all her own.
Oh and we know and immediately admit it: true romance doesn't always dominate here on CAGG, but with this one from Melanie we more than make up for that. Her beautiful warm and sensitive song 'Everything I Need Is Here' subtly shows what life is really all about and so also during Christmas. Now light up that fireplace!
Insta over here. X over there.
The Swansea Sound from - you guessed right - Swansea in the UK, is specialized in singalong indiepoppunk and recorded three Christmas tracks this year. The one featured here is 'Santa Bail Me Out' and is about how you should, even with a bank account deeply in the red, still celebrate Christmas. Maybe even extra hard. The other two songs are in fact two of a kind. 'Nadolilg, Pwy A Wyr?' is sung in Welsh by Catrin Saran James, who is actually not a real band member, but does the artwork for the band, while 'The Life We Led' is sung in English by Hue Williams and Amelia Fletcher. Both songs will be released December 8th.
And don't forget to join in to their very short Christmas Listening Party on 9th December, because "The band will be up for a chat and will answer any questions, although they may be quite drunk." Don't say we didn't warn you.
Insta over here, X over there.
It has been far too long since we welcomed Marike Jager to our blog. Back in 2011 she recorded a cheerful and damn good cover of 'Frosty The Snowman' which was accompanied by a touchingly sweet home-made video, but after that there were no more Christmas releases. But it's been twelve years now and luckily, she's back on Christmas track! The Dutch singer-songwriter has written a wonderfully glowing and acoustic Christmas song full of love and with delicate choirs in the background, that beckons and longs for being together just one more time. She accompanies herself on guitar and with an occasional honky tonk piano tune, making it feel so intimate, it's almost as if you're right there on the couch with her. And yes, you heard right, there's nod to Mr. Presley there.
"Stay with me
Let us curl on the sofa
Oh baby, hold me tight
Love me one more night
It's Christmas"
We wouldn't even dare refuse.
Insta over here, X over there.
And yes, we keep a Spotify playlist with a lot (not all) of the new Christmas songs released this year. Some covers, mostly originals. See H...