Christmas A Go Go!

OOR is Holland's oldest, some might say bestest music magazine. Every year, CAGG's own DJ Oscar reviews (with an early deadline) for OOR the bestest Christmas albums. This year, he found it hard to find interesting albums (remember that early deadline); most tracks are released late, and/or only digitally. Anyhoo, for his column Oscar selected these fine sweets: By far the funniest Christmas album of the year is a reissue (on vinyl, and digital): Destination Christmas! by The Superions (from 2010). A side project of Fred Schneider (B-52s). The cover got a make-over, the original songs are upbeat and cheerful. Notable tracks are synthpop-song Teddy and Betty Yeti and the French touch in Santa Je t'aime . And this video: The opposite of this Fred is another Fred, Eaglesmith that is . With his partner Tif Glin he recorded eleven self-penned songs in the past decade, in their home studio, for an album called A Christmas Card. On the oldest recording, 'Hound Dog Chris...

Remember our giveaway contest ? Those who wanted on of three FREE vinyl slabs of that fantastic Christmas song by Double Cream , had to write a short blog on their all-time favourite big band and/or blue eyed soul Christmas track. And the winners are: ADAM KENNEDY representing BC, Canada My Favourite Big Band Christmas song is 'Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer Mambo' by Billy May and his Orchestra. From the opening shout of the reindeer names, to the Perez Prado-style grunts, this is a brassy, sassy, spectacle for the ears. It's Latin jazz with a bit of comedy sprinkled in. I first heard it on the Christmas Cocktails set and have loved it and introduced it to several people since then. This song doesn't request permission to enter a room; it kicks the door down, passes out tequila shots, then lights the dog on fire. Highly reccommended! Next up: JAKE HANSEN , representing Indiana, USA What is my favorite Blue-Eyed Soul Christmas song? Hand down that title belongs...

- Straight from CAGG's bad taste corner - It's already late at the blog and baby it's cold outside, but could you please open the window for a while, because there's a herd of farting reindeer around. They even farted in my eggnog and that's not all! Or, as Lucendar, creator of all this beauty, says: " The world needs a new stupid moronic Christmas novelty song. This is actually worse than Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer. Weirder and more offensive ." Mission accomplished, I'd say.

Pylon were an American band with students from the University of Georgia in Athens. Between 1978 and 1983 they made a sort of danceable guitar based new wave. Nowadays their music revives with the Pylon Reenactment Society, a project from former Pylon singer Vanessa Briscoe Hay. It's a Pylon tribute band. In february 2024 they will release their first album. But first of all they release a festive track with a steady danceable new wave tempo and Xmas bells. Christmas Daze by PYLON REENACTMENT SOCIETY

Since 2018 , 'Dutch desafinado hero' Rick Buur is on this blog with a (translated, reworked) Christmas song. Rick tends to personalize Americana classics, songs by Robert Earl Keen, Lyle Lovett and Nick Lowe. This year, Rick goes political with a version of Christmas in Washington. As you may know, the recent general elections in the Netherlands turned out to be a far right victory , a Trumpish result. We're still recovering, and the new government hasn't even started yet. Rick is referring to the election results, the 'Binnenhof' is the building where the Dutch parliament seats, but is also calling (to heaven) for guidance of Cornelis Vreeswijk . A legendary Dutch protest singer who's also a hero in Sweden. Rick will perform this, and other Rick Buur specials, on the Christmas A Go Go Spectacular in Paradiso Amsterdam. Rick Buur · Kerstmis Op Het Binnenhof

"Hey wynn, It's Santa here I just wanna say, I'm super proud of you And I'm looking forward to this years Christmas album" Well, whoomp there it is . Nine tracks, indie, disturbing, DIY, guitar, sweet, alternative and lo-fi: wynn from Wellington, New Zealand has it all. Strangely enough, he had not been on the blog before, even though he has been making Christmas records for a number of years now. Dig for yourself in 2022 , 2021 , 2019 and 2018 and you might find even more weird wynn xmas tracks like the ones selected below. Our Father Christmas, who art in Christmas by wynn christmas forever by wynn Christmas 3: Christmas with a Vengeance by wynn

Here's an idea to see how global the Xmas community is: send us a pic of your favorite local record shop, if they have a special display of Christmas records. Use our twitter account (@christmas_agogo), the comments below or email to dringendgeval@hotmail.com. CAGG's Oscar kicks off:  In the weeks before Christmas I always go crate diggin' in the many Amsterdam records shops. Not every shop has a special Christmas section, unfortunately. But those who have also make place for a nice  window full of  great and interesting Xmas records. Here's two fine examples. Waxwell Records has a lot of American import Christmas  records. City Records has some great covers in their window, but according to the shop guy, some of them are empty.

No one can be as alone at Christmas as Stippenlift, the alter-ego of singer and producer Hugo van de Poel and CAGG regular . It may, again, not be the most uplifting track of the season, on the other hand: self-pity can sometimes feel like a warm bath too. But whatever lies beneath, every Christmas he manages to deliver his great depressing Christmas single so convincingly that it makes the undercooled eighties synths glow warmly again. Wanna be together alone with Stippenlift? Go check a Christmas show at: Merleyn , Nijmegen - 21 dec. Paradiso , Amsterdam - 22 dec. Hall of Fame , Tilburg - 23 dec.  Insta here , X over there .

...according to Guuzbourg, but with help from the other elves of CAGG. Because the input for this playlist (made every year for playlist platform Perfects.nl ) was, as always, a team effort. Spotify link HERE So, what kind of Christmas music year this was? Well, the stream of new releases is still unbelievably wide. Enormous. A LOT of newly released songs. More and more (bland) mainstream, more countrypop it seemed. And the weepers! I already made a post with remarkable misty eyed Xmas songs, but there were more. And the covers, of course. The usual canon, because what's Christmas season without rehashing the ol' classics, but the 60th birthday of Roy Orbison's Pretty Paper was also a taken as a hint for a bunch of people to do their own version. Their was weird stuff (Doedens Garderobe new album, Second Hand Orchestra, both not in this playlist but featured on this blog). And I think I speak for a lot of Christmas music fans when I call Lights by Darling West ...

Guestpost by Joris ' Stereo ' Gillet: A Christmas album for people who don't like Christmas albums? With a little bit of imagination the instrumentation on So, this is Christmas​.​. by the Second Hand Orchestra - lots of brass and woodwinds - could be interpreted as take on the seasonal Salvation Army Band approach. But instead of a merry round of carols the result is more Moondog and (Japanese bands like) Tenniscoats and Maher Shalal Hash Baz. The tempo and melodies are slow and sombre. The sound pallet rich and warm and but it's no Wall of Sound. There are no bells. The selection of songs doesn't help with the Christmassy atmosphere. It is a mixture of what I assume to be Swedish standards, which I, a non-Swede, don't recognize, and some classics. But these classics are interpret so radically different that they feel like almost entirely new songs. Under normal circumstances, nobody doing Fairytale of New York will do something with it that won't m...

So, Bright Eyes recorded a version of that indestructible alt.Xmas classic, Christmas in Prison, with the voice of John Prine, who wrote and sang the original and who died in 2020. Proceeds go to chartiy: John Prine's original: Souvenirs by John Prine MANY versions of Christmas in Prison, most stay very close to the original. This version I found starts with that PhilSpectorian boom-boomboom-tack drumintro. Very different, very good: Christmas by Ben Cady One more? Japanese ukelele-duo Petty Booka did a great version in 1996: Christmas in Prison is a well-known theme in Christmas Music so (you guessed it, THEME POST TIME!) I dove into songs about the feast behind bars. Let's kick off with the classics. From 1928, and covered many times, this blues by Leroy Carr: Where Will You Be Christmas Day? by Leroy Carr Covered a-many times too, from 1956, this doo-wop hit about a drunk and disorderly Xmas: Probably up there at the same level als John Prine, this mon...

Sometimes we at Christmas A Go Go HQ feel like the seven dwarfs in that song: We dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig/In our mine the whole day through/To dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig/Is what we like to do. But even with all that diggin', we still don't find everything. So we're very grateful for all your tips. Here's some of the songs you guys recommended. Thank you Dennis for pointing us to the EP of UK punk(ish) band Comet Gain. Let's say they played out their love/hate relation with Christmas and Xmas music. We don't agree, we just like it: "(I hate)CHRISTMAS RECORDS! E.P" by COMET GAIN Thank you Alt-JayOne for this homely song by Egil Olsen aka Uncle's Instition: uncle's institution · wonderful feel (feat. Egil Olsen) Thank you Hannah Barberas for informing us about your new EP , that collects all the great recent seasonal tunes y'all made. There can't be a Christmas season without a HanBars song on the blog! The Hanna...

After a slow start, the REALLY good Christmas songs are pouring in this season. Here's a round-up of five beauties: Hats off to Christmas Underground for passing on this BANGER of a Christmas pop song, by Australia's Ashley Jefferies. Some Fleetwood Mac-influences there. Cool lyrics too (should I add this to the Shit Christmas theme posts ?) Keep My Shit Together by Asha Jefferies Tis not the first Xmas song Ashley did, this one is more introvert. LOUD, foul-mouthed and with a big hook, this emo xmas track: andresv · Andresv and okaybut - A Saturday Christmas More relaxed, this beachy, bossanova-tinged song (not a cover) by Texans Summer Salt. VERY good: Christmas Cactus by Summer Salt Take this waltz, for tis a very cool weeper (and a highlight on the Jange Bells compilation ) Merry Christmas, Do You Ever Think of Me? by Ellie Bleach Also thanks to Jim/CU , we found the Danish collective Dødens Garderobe , a trio that invites guests every year to make a Chris...

In the past we wrote a few times about the art of sampling. Read  here  for more details. One of the regular Xmas sample artists is Reid van Atta, aka Casta. He's a real champion in the use of electronics with sounds and voices from soul and hiphop. In 2022 he did not make an album but this year he's back with 'The 12 Beats Of Christmas (2023)'. Great to hear the old skool rap sounds, like in 'Biz & Kane's Explicit Interlude' and in bonus track 'Christmas Rappin' '. The other bonus track 'Bad All Year Round' contains a lot of scratchin'.  He's so good in sampling that Shazam does not recognise his tracks. The 12 Beats of Christmas (2023) by Casta

After the recent passing of Les Cowboys Fringants' Karl Tremblay , his better half and co-member Marie-Annick Lépine has released the song 'Noël Noël' with a children's choir to raise funds for cancer research. The children's choir of the Vieux Palais of L'Assomption, a city north of Montréal, has shows coming up for anybody in the area like my friends and family. When Tremblay passed, the entire town was full of morners and in the spotlight for two whole days. A friend said to me, 'We have our own Père Lachaise cemetary now', as people from around Québec will travel to Tremblay's grave. The funds raised with the song will go to cancer research. Again, R.I.P. Karl Tremblay. Noël Noël by Marie-Annick Lépine et la chorale du Vieux Palais de L'Assomption

Truus de Groot is quite a character. We at CAGG like her DIY attitude. The last few years she made a couple of very nice electronic Xmas tracks. See  here  what we wrote about her previous tracks. She's a real DIY post-punk artist. She likes to build her own, mostly analogue, synthesizers . This years Xmas song is a slow and sad story. ''It's a lonely lonely Christmas' she sings, while on the video, she is crying. The other side of Christmas!

Over to Ton ' @T55 ' Ensing, our correspondent in the field of Americana, alt. country and...oh well, jus' good songs: Angela Perley is best known for her lovely cosmic country album 4:30, released in 2019 - a record made for long car travels. This year she finally released the follow-up record: Turn Me Loose , which is quite nice as well. In between, in 2020, she released her first christmas tune: a sweet little altcountry rocker called All I Want for Christmas Is Your Kiss . This week she continues the journey with North Star Bound, a cosmic country ballad with some melancholy sleighbells, a howling steelguitar, a faraway organ and a choir. She’s pretty good at this sort of thing, so this’ll probably be a future car radio-classic. North Star Bound by Angela Perley More driving from Fenne Lily , who will be all alone this Christmas, according to her new single ‘Christmas Alone’. It’s a sweet, sparse song, sung in her delicate whispery voice, known from her terr...

Bony Macaroni once contributed to the Veluwsch Kerst Collektiev , but the collective sadly decided to stop celebrating Christmas back in 2021. And look: this year Bony Macaroni is releasing two Christmas singles by their own name. The first one is 'Christmas Mosquito Bites', see below. And although this cheerful track and corny video suggests otherwise, it lyrically has become a very sad, climate-critical song. Sounds much poppier than we are used to, but appearances can be deceiving.  Fortunately, things can still go faster, screamier and harder for The Bony Boys. And more hungover as well, as you can hear on their second Christmas track this year: 'December 25th (the morning after)'. After loads of cigarettes and booze, this raging punk track (ft. All Dogs go to Heaven) is what we get from them this Christmas. Awesome song guys, so cheers and let's have another one!  Insta here , their X over there .

French singer-songwriter Pomme from the Lyon region in France just dropped an EP called 'Saisons' ('Seasons') with songs about autumn and, of course, Christmas. In a recent interview , she mentions having been inspired during a spring visit to Montréal, Québec, where she put together her EP in three months. For the fans, she'll have a spring-summer EP dropping next year. '_dec carte de noel' (yup, this is the spelling) is about unrequited love that hits you right in the gut and always hurts a bit more around Christmas time. The video goes all 'Love Actually' on the cue cards, but then again they add words to folks who might find reading helpful. Pomme's clear voice adds quite the poignancy to the lyrics, making what sounds like a bright take on the holidays more of a dark, personal moment. Then, there's '_jan carte de noel', where Pomme's sadness has frozen in time. Go listen to both. Now.

Double Cream = a team-up of Dutch bands Dawn Brothers and DeWolff . Both mix soul, folk, blues and rock to a mouthwatering musical dish. Together, they recorded a wonderful album and some singles. They're touring Europe, but found the time to record two Christmas songs . We can premiere the soulful and brassy 'Christmas on the Moon'. A song that is a great addition to the Christmas In Space-theme , with Santa on a 'hypersonic sleigh', 'cosmic singers', 'neon coloured cupcakes', and dancing on the moon on a Tony Bennett Christmas song. If there eve was a defenition of 'In full swing!' it's this song. The Brian Setzer Orchestra was definitely an inspiration. On the flipside 'Steal Away' ; heartbreak in slow motion, an Al Green-ish track about loneliness on Christmas Eve. It's on vinyl! Do you want a copy? We can giveaway THREE VINYL SINGLES. Here's what you have to do: write a guestblog (50-100 words) on your favo...

One of the stars of our Christmas A Go Go Spectacular on December 18 in Paradiso, Marike Jager , made a video for her first original Christmas songs. So charming you'll purr like a content kitten:

Happy 74th birthday mr Tom Waits, writer of a gorgeous is-it-a-Christmas-song-or-not-who-cares song, 'Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis', arguably the greatest song ever to mention Little Anthony & the Imperials. We posted cover versions earlier , including the rilly cool ones by Neko Case, Magnapop and Kinky Friedman. I think Tom Waits covers are best when sung by women; the lyrics shine, nobody tries to imitate anyone. I've scanned the usual sources and came up with this VERY good cover ( video ), by Carrie Meyers and the Proper Way. Her voice is trained, but she adds that right little gritty edge, love that electric piano: Ain't No Good Thing Ever Dies by Carrie Myers + The Proper Way Also very good, but translated to 'Valentine's Day' in German: In Hebrew: In Italian: The oddest cover version is an instrumental, by our friend Kristian Noel Pedersen: A Kristian Kinda Christmas II - 2010 by Kristian Noel Pedersen Version in...

We already had quite some dogs barking around here at our blog. But let's add two more brand new songs to that: 'Poodle Christmas' and 'Husky Dawgs'. First: Tante Wilhelm is from Frankfurt, Germany and they sing an odd English with a strong German accent. They hate the weather this Christmas, but luckily play the ukulele very well. The band's name is a pretty curious one and so is the song with even more curious climate critical lyrics. Poodle Christmas by Tante Wilhelm Second: Kitty Fitz teamed up with Symbol Soup ánd her husky for a seasonal song this year. They are a bit more satisfied with the weather than Tante Wilhelm, because "Me and my husky pull a sled through the snow". A plain and simple Christmas song full of dog love.

Yesterday there was this post on pen pin, looking for love at a Christmas office party. It ended with the question why there are so few other good songs on this theme. But boy, was I wrong. Get ready for some screamingly out of hand or otherwise special parties.  Let's kick off with blog regulars Vista Blue, who went on this theme in 2015. They got an iPod at the party, but: "Things are worse than they were before, I took a quick trip to the liquor store". Nuff said. Why Does It Take Forever? by Vista Blue Next up is Office Christmas Party (an update of Merry Xmas Everybody) by Goddammit Jeremiah. Let's pretend we're having fun.   A Very Cherry Christmas - Volume 13 by Cherryade Records Weirdness galore at Neil Hamburger's Office Christmas Party from 2007. Sincerely Christmas by Canned Hamm This one's so sweet ... "Last week I asked to borrow your stapler, just to feel your hand in mine". But don't let yourself be misled, ...

Clearly with a Gaspesian flavour (think quaint fishing villages), Quimorucru, a French play on words that means 'who would have believed me?', plays some great Québec Christmas music, with the traditional feet tapping on a plate while playing. However, they are not in any mood to deal with Christmas, jokingly. Our hero's wife is happy that the family is coming over but hates the perfume cloud of the women with way too much make up on and the idiot brother-in-law that drinks hitting on some aunt. There's also the kids that think Père Noël (Santa) brought them gifts, but our guy got left with nothing but empty pockets. When everybody has f***ed off and the kids have gone to bed, our hero has some wine with his wife and Christmas starts up again. Aah. Be sure to check out their swinging older material like Le gin de la vieille usine ('The gin from the old factory') . Noel c'est supposé être beau by Quimorucru

Face it. Christmas isn't all falalalala and jingle-ing, ring-ting or tingle-ing. Heck, a lot of Christmas hits are about longing for better times, warmer homes, nicer persons and/or saving tears. This year, there are A LOT of songs that, if you look closer, it's easy to trace, the track of the tears. I'm not recommending anything, but the other day I was suggesting the title 'It's December First And Everyone I Know Is Dying' for a Christmas mix. A referral to the first line of 'It's Not Like the Christmas Films' by Sunflower Thieves. That's a duo, Lexie Carroll and Laurie Illingworth (plus some little helpers). About the season and the song, they say: "It’s dark and cold and can feel incredibly lonely, unlike the picture perfect Christmas scene all the old songs and films show it to be. The bad news on the TV doesn’t go away for Christmas, and neither does any sadness you may be carrying with you." Sunflower Thief Lexie Carroll has...

They are famous, or perhaps rather infamous: the Christmas drinks at work that got out of hand. But Jeni Magana and Emily Moore, who together form the indie pop duo pen pin from sun drenched L.A., California, are looking forward to it with a special reason: they're looking for love!   From the ' sadly overlooked last year, but shouldn't be unheard ' category comes this funny little Christmas song full of delicate sleigh bells. In 'Office Party' pen pin wants something really specific from Santa: a work crush. Maybe John, who always brings the coffee, or maybe someone else? But no, unfortunately all the men at work are already married. It results in a song that may have somewhat sad lyrics, but they turn it into a great kinda beachy track, fresh and fruity and with a touch of surf and melancholy.  And isn't it strange that there aren't many more Office Party Christmas songs? If you know some, drop 'em in the comments please and maybe our chief Themed ...

UK indie band Little Red Ambulance are the good guys. This song (below) is their 11th annual original Christmas offering, raising money for a specialist cancer diagnostic center in Cornwall, and an air ambulance service for Cornwall and Scilly. For this year, they let out their inner boyband personae. It's so catchy you might wanna seek out one of those old mouthmasks they lay around from the COVID days. LRA like their seasonal songs peppered with some laughs: The song can be dowloaded from, and streamed on all the major platforms. Talk about laughs, this song by Brit band Volk Soup was described by Martin/Stubby on The La as "it’s kind of like listening to a warped record at a speed that’s slightly off." Which fits the song, that IS about a Perfect Christmas. Here’s what singer and lyricist Harry Jones has to say about ‘A Perfect Christmas’: ‘The desire to write a Christmas song was admittedly a cynical one. But the song itself is far from cynical. The primary re...

What sounds like a warm and romantic duet by Simon Kearney featuring Gabrielle Shonk is in fact quite the opposite. 'Jusqu'à Noël' ('Until Christmas') is about a relationship that won't last the winter. It's really over, but thanks to the 'miracle of Christmas', they'll put up appearances for grandma's sake and pretend for a little while longer. Then they'll 'throw each other in the trash' and maybe stay friends. Ayoye! (Ouch, in Québec French). Multi-intrumentalist Simon Kearney loves rock, pop and having a good time. He's known for covers of great Québécois acts and collaborations, like this number. Gabrielle Shonk rarely sings in French having an English-language career and a Juno Award (Canada's Grammys), but she can and it's lovely. Jusqu'à Noël (feat. Gabrielle Shonk) by Simon Kearney

As I am writing this, it's early Sunday morning, my little boy is watching cartoons on tv and I'm enjoying myself with the Christmas album Mat Lombardi & friends made. While listening, I was thinking of how to describe this. As a quilt, maybe? A patched up carpet of various styles (blues, rock, a symphonic 8 minute suite, piano instrumentals, a rock opera), with serious intent and pure uncut fun? Guess that's it. Take the 'reworked classic' Baby It's Cold Outside, a song that got a bad rep in the #MeToo days because it was considered to be a promotion for (date-)rape. Mat & Kelly Campos (I guess) turn it into a song about two parents who, with the kids away, want to turn the night into something special. Well, he seems to be very anxious to shovel snow while she just wants to relax, man. Barely Christmas by mat lombardi and Friends This songs, almost 7 minutes long, brings back the prog rock opera days of ELO and Queen (with a smaller production ...