Christmas A Go Go!

Klô Pelgag , aka Chloé Pelletier-Gagnon, hailing from a very small village rather than the big city, has gifted us with a cover of Robert Charlebois and Claude Gauthier's 1967 song, 'Marie-Noël' . Her soft voice and piano are perfect for this beautifully nostalgic Christmas song, bringing up memories of being children at Christmas. I can't help but enjoy hearing 'when the snow snows' ('quand la neige neige') and 'when my dreams dream' ('quand mes rêves rêvent') with the delightful pause between the last two words of both these lyrics. Other artists have covered this classic, including heavyweights Isabelle Boulay , Emilie-Claire Barlow and the original lyricist of the song, Claude Gauthier . Newer artists, such as Elliot Maginot and Laurence Narbonne , have more playful versions to their credit, while Christianne Tassan et les Imposteures have their manouche jazz take on it. If you have a version that we need to know about, like...

The Lasses are a vocal duo from Amsterdam, Holland, who appeared earlier on this blog. See here . And one half of The Lasses was here . For A Celtic Winter they turned to Great British carols like Here We Come A Wassailing and Christ Child's Lullaby. But there is also room for Joni's River, and the ye olde Slade. Singer Leoni Jansen joins the ranks of The Lasses for this album. First single on Bandcamp (for there are more tracks already on Spotify) is Snow, a self-penned track Margot & Sophie released earlier in a different version. A Celtic Winter by The Lasses & Leoni It's a song about nòt healing, about snow covering cracks that will re-appear. 'You can try and catch a snowflake and I do/ But try and hold it close it disappears, just like you.' The 2017 version: Live at De Parel van Zuilen by The Lasses & Kathryn Claire And, good news, The Lasses will perform at Christmas A Go Go in Paradiso, December 22!

 The Dutch musician Erik Timmerman, from the city of Haarlem, tinkers in his home studio every year—sometimes with the help of AI—to create a Christmas song under the name Al Season . We only wrote about him once . This year, he was joined by a real drummer, Henk Koster, who recorded his parts in a real recording studio. The singer-songwriter-style track is about the person who is celebrating his birthday on Christmas, whose life came to a tragic end. “Little baby in your crib [...] You’ll be back here, but I cannot tell you when”. A nice atmospheric little song.

Of course, there are the post-war classics such as White Christmas, Jingle Bells, All I Want for Christmas Is You, Last Christmas, It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, and so on and so forth.  But beneath the surface of cheerfully twinkling lights lie the currents that really matter. Socially, economically, and geographically, it goes much deeper than romanticized, snow-soft jingling bells and red velvet-clad love songs by the fireside with eggnog in your hands, while red-nosed reindeer fly around delivering presents. And that certainly applies to the period 1916-1925.  At Magnificent Sounds Records (reissuing historical recordings from around the world) in Buffalo, New York, they understand this very well and have compiled a delightful collection of 17 strange and wonderful seasonal tunes about lonely holidays, cold weather, seasonal depression, and the agony of wet socks in winter.  "From early American blues queens to Sicilian bagpipers, from Peruvian folk music...

If you have some time on your hands in the upcoming weeks, and you're looking for a real project to take on, how'bout listening to the complete works of mr Brayden Baird from Brooklyn, NYC? He's been 'on both sides of the soundboard' ( click ) for about 25 years, and on Bandcamp you can listen to no less than 300 (yes, THREE HUNDRED) tracks of his main band (for 10 years) called Nodrums. Who, of course, use drums. 'Off-kilter' is a term that pops up really fast when listening to the output of mr Baird, and Violent Femmes seem to be Brayden's spirit animals. I'll leave it to you to discover tracks like How Long Will The Fishes Fight?, Jesus Christ Is Coming To Shoot Up the Westboro Baptist Church (a real tender ballad), and There's No Good Songs About My Friends And I, for now we'll concentrate on two Christmas songs. This is a very cool rockabilly track about prancing around in nothing but Christmas jeans, released last year: Nodrums t...

A heartfelt wish for health and happiness for all your coming seasons, that's what The Happy Somethings would like to share with us for the future. Because if the signs and lyrics aren't deceiving, this could very well be their last Christmas song (aaah). Last year, they delighted us with 24 (!) Christmas songs , which of one of them we wrote about in this post , but this year their score remains at one.  Sad but true? A fitting farewell?  Either way, take your chance now and listen to 'No More Christmas Songs' before it's too late, because ...  There'll be no more Christmas songs from us. We've done more than enough. We've sunk already one or two too many. Any more would be really tough on everyone. Their Insta over there .  No More Christmas Songs by The Happy Somethings

New week, new tunes, new posts! Starting off fresh with this great uptempo one by Guiville ft. Tracey Phillips . A poppy, catchy and very well sung cheerful Christmas tune, even though the lyrics don't give any reason to be cheerful at all. Family members who always act like nothing is wrong. Barking dogs in the street fill the silence. Rolling eyes, half a bottle of gin, toasting on what could have been, it's Christmas time and a new year is already coming up.  But hey, Snow Keeps Falling Anyway.    Guiville Insta over there . 

Ah yes, you didn't think we'd leave out the themed posts this season, now did you? If you're new to the blog; we do Theme Posts every now and then, examples are songs about Christmas and Hell ( here ), Christmas and Sex ( here ), Christmas and Animals ( here ) and Christmas and booze ( here ). The latter theme had four parts, let's see how many tracks with the combination of Christmas and Colombian marching powder we'll, erm, sniff. The theme was suggested by mr Jim of Christmas Underground , by the way. Also: I left out the very obvious AI-made tracks . I guess there's more, way more. So: get in touch in the comments if you know of more tracks in this theme. Money from Manchester kicks off with the golden combination of coke on Christmas and alcohol to finish, and wrote a gorgeous pianoballad about it: Suicide Songs by MONEY Let's get bluesy with this lot from Texas, where cocaine makes Santa stop by: Take Three for Fun by The Beaumonts The...

When it comes to Dutch additions to the grand Christmas repertoire, we're all ears when something new comes around. This is (as far as we know) the first original track by Holland's finest vocal country group, The Bluebirds . They've been around in various formations, these days it's Krystl, Leonie and Rachel Louise. Who, solo, released some seasonal songs too. We'll get to that. The gorgeously sung Christmas Heart , with it's intentionally naive lyrics about setting the turkeys free and hoping for world peace, is co-written with help from Bertolf, the countryman from Zwolle, who also released wintery songs earlier. Like this one . And this one . Currently, The Bluebirds are touring Dutch theatres with a Very Country Christmas show , playing the classics and no doubt their own track as well. That is out digital only, on Spotify and other platforms. More Bluebirds singing Xmas songs: Krystl, solo, doing her own seasonal song Wonderful Time: Leonie...

Québec's Fanny Bloom , together with electropop act Valaire (aka Mister Valaire), has dropped a big ol' Christmas album, entitled 'Noël en famille'. True to form, it features many melancholic songs and a few slightly more upbeat ones, as well as some classics. The title track 'Noël en famille' is happy yet reserved, painting the picture of presenting your significant other to your family at Christmas, a litmus test for so many relationships. Then, the lines between being happy it's Christmas and being in love get blurred and the rest of the songs get into that feeling. In the covers column, we have 'Noël Blanc', a cover of 'White Christmas' and 'Le sentier de neige', a quintessential Québec classic from Les Classels. Fanny Bloom gives those her own twist, and makes them shiny new again, like the balls in a tree. It doesn't matter whether you understand the lyrics or not, the mood has been set and the feels will hit you no mat...

Look, these are promises that'll warm you up on cold winter days: "I'm putting the X back in Xmas!". Signed: Hamell on Trial from  Austin, Texas . And there's no lie in that.  This track has it all, distorted indie rock guitars, Chrismassy bells, neurotic drumming, great hooks and lyrics, a surprising production and above all a brutal high earworm rating. And those are exactly the conditions before we call it a true xmas gem here at CAGG headquarters.  And the best is yet to come, because there are twelve more tracks on his vinyl Christmas album that will be released November 28 and that can already be ordered right now.  Happy Hamell Holidays!  Insta over there .  Dirty Xmas by HAMELL ON TRIAL

 Elvis Presley (1935–1977) was hot in the fifties. His career began in 1953, and a few years later he became the leading figure in the then-new rock ’n’ roll movement. In 1956 he had a major hit with 'Heartbreak Hotel' and made his film debut in 'Love Me Tender'. Elvis was so red-hot that the songwriting duo Bobby Darin/Don Kirshner wrote a Christmas song: 'I Wanna Spend Xmas With Elvis'. The 11-year-old Little Lambsie Penn was allowed to record it (it can be found on the compilation ' Santa Is Rockin’ and Rollin’ ). That same year, a more grown-up version appeared, featuring soulful rock ’n’ roll horns, recorded by Marlene Paul. All of this took place before Elvis released his first Christmas album in 1957.  The songwriting duo Darin/Kirshner couldn’t get enough and, also in 1956, wrote another Elvis tribute song: 'I Want Elvis For Christmas', recorded by the (studio) girl group The Holly Twins, with Eddie Cochran on guitar.

Almost every year   Bear Family Records releases fantastic Christmas compilations featuring mostly music from before 1970. For example, take a look here . Their 2025 compilation, 'Santa Is Rockin’ and Rollin’' (CD/LP), is packed with swinging rock ’n’ roll from the period 1955–1966. They put a lot of effort into their track listing; I could hardly find any track on the compilations back in my collection. The same can’t be said for the cover, though. The cover photo used here had already appeared on the compilation 'Rockin’ ’n Rollin’ With Santa Claus' , curated in 2011 by BBC-DJ Mark Lamarr. The titles of both albums are also quite similar, but those are the only similarities. Extensive information can be found about every track on the Bear Family compilation.  For example, we learn that Bobby Picket was obsessed with Boris Karloff in the role of Frankenstein (films from the 1930s). You can hear that influence in his 'Monster’s Holiday' (1962).  The only Frenc...

In AI times, try to be as human as possible. Forgot where I read this comment, referring to the new Rosalia-album (which is a human album too, and fantastic, but back to Xmas now). White Rose Motor Oil , the 'two-piece woman-fronted cowpunk/garage country band from Denver, featuring married couple Eryn DeSomer (guitars and vocals) and Keith Hoerig-DeSomer (drums)' sure took that advice to heart on their new Christmas EP. This is so highly charming, welcome and HUMAN! They re-recorded a song I'd never heard before, by a retro-band called the Jekylls, from 2014. That has a very cool organ, that I'm sort of missing in the re-recording, but in any case, it's still a great indie xmas track. See if you can spot Eryn and Keith in the Jekylls-picture: Merry Crisis by White Rose Motor Oil A Very Jekylls Christmas EP by The Jekylls By the way, the Spotify-version of this EP has more tracks, cover versions of Ramones, Eartha Kitt and Dolly Parton. On Bandcamp, WRMO sa...

Songwriter, recording artist, author, and 'Christmasist' Pastor Ronnie Martin from Ohio has just dropped his latest Christmas album entitled 'Evergreen Melodie' available since yesterday instead of today, as originally announced. 'Christmas has come early', Martin said to his followers on Bandcamp. The first release from his 2025 album is 'Merry Merry Christmastime (For My Baby)', another nice synth-driven tune that will fit seamlessly into all your Christmas events. We blogged about Ronnie Martin last year , and he keeps delivering the gifts. The artwork always reminds me of the kind of Christmas cards I like to buy, so kudos to Nathan Schroeder for the graphics. Merry Merry Christmastime (For My Baby) by Ronnie Martin

What applies to the previous post about garbagepink actually applies even more to this artist: pat . No information whatsoever on her SoundCloud, no traceable Insta account, no website, nothing. But she does have a curious little collection of quirky covers on her SoundCloud though, which leads on from Anita Bryant (gorgeous!), The Cure, and The Strokes to Blaze Foley. So something tells me her wonderfully Christmas track 'last xmas' might be a cover too, after all, it sounds pretty familiar. Let us know in the comments below if you know more about pat and/or this track. Until then, just enjoy her contrary DIY sound with jangly indie guitars and her sometimes dark, sometimes light and a bit unsteady vocals that makes this enchanting xmas track so beautiful.  UPDATE:  Pat emails: she wrote this track together with sebo, it's an original, not a cover. Great, that's solved then.

"I'm garbagepink. I'm super DIY. I run my own label and my own studio. Pov: your looking for a new indie obsession. Then Welcome!"  A little bit more self-promotion wouldn't hurt for garbagepink, because this info from her TikTok account is pretty much all the available online information about this self-proclaimed 'indie obsession,' while she does release some damn good bedroom-indie pop songs that really deserve to be heard. And this Christmas track 'Pink sparkling wine (Merry X-mas)' is no exception on that. We feel more than welcome, garbagepink and yes, we do have a new indie obsession right now!  Her Insta account over there . 

Oh yes, one of our favorite Nordic bands releases a new seasonal track! And from the first sound of the bells you know it's gonna be good. This is AOR, dare I say yacht-y white gold, with a slight country vibe. Well sung, great hook, upbeat, good for driving on snowy roads off to a nice Christmas dinner. Sure, we love the darker Darling West songs too, but hey, sometimes you DON'T want it to be darker. Holiday For Two by Darling West

So. We made a vinyl record. OK, not us CAGG-people, but we teamed up with our Zaanse Ruitenfriends of The Mieters , and THEY made a Christmas vinyl record. And it has our blogname on it! You know The Mieters, they played our CAGG Party in Paradiso , they made rowdy Dutch beatpoppunk Xmas songs earlier ( see? and here too ). How does that sound, you ask? Well, like this, a song about being Hoom Aloon (Home Alone) at Christmas: La-La-La-Kerst by The Mieters And this stomper, about Christmas celebration in the Dutch bible belt (hardcore protestant counties): La-La-La-Kerst by The Mieters Or this one for the lalala-lovers La-La-La-Kerst by The Mieters Go to the Mieters Bandcamp, where you can order the vinyl to be on time in your xmas stockings! And YESSSSS, the Mieters will play the Christmas A Go Go Party in Paradiso this year again! December 22, mark it blood red! For the win!

OH JOY! This duet by alt pop queens Sibille Attar and Victoria Bergsman (aka Taken By Trees) is already a champagne supernova in this Xmas season. It's a sad banger: dancing with tears in your eyes on the Christmas party because a former lover is back in town. 'Tis The Season is sexy, emotional (ooohhh that's a huge organ) and danceable. Video coming up, but for now here's just the audio: Falalalala, lalalala indeed. By the way, not the first time Victoria/TBT is involved in Christmas music. You might remember this John Lewis seasonal commercial from 2009, where Victoria's cover of Sweet Child O'Mine is used: And Taken By Trees wrote this Xmas song: Taken By Trees · HOLIDAY

CAGG is also at your service from time to time for lovers of (alt.)country and folk or singer-songwriter music. For example, scroll through these lists of country posts and folk posts that have appeared on the blog in recent years.  And this year too, there have already been a few brand new noteworthy releases from those genres.   Brothers Rob and Don Mathews and Erik Anderson are country-Americana band The Storm Windows from Greenwich, America and they were on a country space trip with Santa this year to spread the spirit of Christmas throughout the Universe.  More info at their Insta .  By the way: Christmas and space have already been discussed extensively in three major thematic posts a few years ago. Click here for space part 1 , part 2 , and part 3 . And here's another one by The Storm Windows, an atmospheric live recording of an earlier (2023) Christmas track. You might know Parisienne ALIE from her A-Ha cover Take On Me, but she's much mo...

If hardcore punk is your thing, then ‘Christmas Songs’ from the LA band Bad Religion might be familiar to you. The album dates from 2013. See also our  post   that year. I completely forgot about this post and I never saw the album. To my surprise it is filled with fast versions of the most traditional and eldest Christmas tunes. That’s not what I expected from a punk band. But maybe it’s a tradition. There are lots of punks who recorded festive songs, but a whole album is quite rare. The first punkband to make a Xmas album were The Boys from England. It was released in 1980 as 'The Yobs Christmas Album'. This (very foul-mouthed) record also features many traditional songs such as 'White Christmas' and 'Silent Night'.  Last year, punk American man-and-wife duo The Dollyrots released their 'A Very Dollyrots Christmas', filled mainly with well-known pop songs like 'All I Want for Christmas Is You', 'Fairytale of New York', and 'Last Chr...

Die Hard is a Christmas movie, no doubt. On this blog, we've posted a lot of convincing evidence . But Eyes Wide Shut? Are there people who re-watch Nicole & Tom every year in December to get in the right spirit? There might be. This is a compilation of all the Christmas scenes from the movie. As far as I know, Major Metals is the first artist to ever combine Die Hard 2 ànd Eyes Wide Shut in a Christmas song. Of course, it's really a gentle swinging song about heartbreak and depression: So I'll do the things I never could Watch Christmas films you never would The ones that lift me when I'm blue Eyes Wide Shut and Die Hard two Eyes Wide Shut and Die Hard 2 - Single by Major Metals

Christmas time = compilation time, and the season kicks off very kool with a 19-song treasure trove on Strange Daisy Records . All (as I understand it) artists from Louisiana, doing covers and playing originals. Not everything is available yet, but these two tracks are simply DELICIOUS: The Self-Help Tapes is a band spearheaded by multi-instrumentalist/visual artist Kevin Comarda, who turn Julian Casablancas' Christmas Treat into a loud, Philspectorian teenage opera: A Strange Daisy Christmas by The Self-Help Tapes An original (right?) track by the mellow Kelly Duplex , sunshine pop turned red 'n green: A Strange Daisy Christmas by Kelly Duplex Proceeds go to various organisations doing good work for the locals. Very excited about this, and what's coming later.

Two years ago, néomí surprised us with a beautiful little kinda Christmas song, and she's pulling that same trick again. This (title) track from her latest EP, 'Another Year Will Pass', isn't also necessarily a Christmas song, but it does have that vibe and sphere and it's certainly a beautiful one. Perhaps a little less folky than her earlier work and a bit more indie, but still impressively sung and subtly arranged with beautifully expansive guitars.  Putting out songs that have this Chrismassy feel isn't an annual néomí tradition yet, but we'd certainly welcome it!  Another year will pass, winter's gonna last So gracefully   She also played at our Christmas A Go Go Spectacular in 2023, that will take place december 22 this year in Paradiso, Amsterdam. 

American singer and songwriter Delacey is widely praised for her strong songwriting, soulful voice, lyrics, and stage presence. Never heard of her before? Her 2020 debut, 'Black Coffee', is still definitely worth discovering, as are the two subsequent albums, which exist somewhere in the no-man's-land of pop, indie, R&B, and alt-rock. But for now, we'd rather focus on her recently released Christmas album , 'Christmas Angel'.  Nine tracks, several covers and some excellent originals. Consider, for example, this kinda poppy shoegaze original 'Christmas in California' which has just the right vibe and bells for this time of the year.

Québec talent show singers Star Académie launched a nice radio-friendly 2025 Christmas album, featuring a mix of old and new tracks. Although Star Académie's 2025 winner Mia Tinayre went with the French classic 'Au royaume du bonhomme hiver', finalist Katrine Sansregret caught my ear with a newer song, 'Noël à l’année'.  Other contestants opted for Québec favourites such as '23 décembre' by Beau Dommage , 'Douce nuit, Sainte nuit', and 'J’ai vu maman embrasser le père Noël' . The album features 14 songs and is sure to keep the bickering at the Québec Christmas table to a minimum and the last-minute mall shopping to a maximum. 

We already wrote about the Manchester Orchestra back in 2021 when they released 'Christmas Songs Vol. 1'. And now, four years later it's time for Volume 2 with six reworks of well-known Christmas tracks.  Same atmospheric recipe but still as effective as, well, as Manchester Orchestra.  Try this classic 'Christmas Eve Can Kill You' for example.  Christmas Songs Vol. II by manchester orchestra

Blues harmonica player Will Wilde made his debut earlier this year with the album 'Blues Is Still Alive'. He comes from Brighton, England, and his playing style is impressive. He has now recorded a Christmas song. With his raw voice and bluesful harmonica playing, he performs 'Christmas Eve Blues'. The music strongly recalls the sound of 1970s British blues bands such as Chicken Shack and Fleetwood Mac. 

From San Antonio, Texas here's  The Krayolas, also called the Tex Mex Beatles. In the past they made a couple of holiday tunes, like this Ramones- like 'I Wanna Be Your Santa' ! This year they come up with this fine sixties sounding 'Maria Believes In Christmas Again', about a six year old girl who writes to Santa for peace on earth. Maria Believes in Christmas Again by The Krayolas