December 2020 Archives

A ridiculous photograph I found on Facebook regarding the end of the current year inspired me to throw together an all-singing, all-dancing, all-New Year's playlist. Click here to read the quickly thrown together liner notes and play the music via Spotify. And Happy New Year from the management here at Mistletunes.

Lana sang this for a 2020 benefit. This is a live (vertical, bleah) video.

Mea culpa that I let this 2020 single escape my notice until this week. The "Call Me Maybe" girl came up with a sprightly modern pop/rock tune that's also an original take on the holiday. It's all about making holiday preparations for a fractious family who manages to object to one or another preparation until, well, somebody cries. Clever and catchy, if you weren't hip to it this year, never fear, it'll work well in your post-pandemic holiday playlists.

This dropped on Christmas Eve 2020 and is available for download. The former member of Dirty Projectors takes a more upbeat approach to this Dolly Parton number from the musical "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas," though there's just a taste of country to it. This song is starting to become a more popular holiday tune to cover lately, since Tracey Thorn did it a few years back.

The popular musician has put up Christmas videos previously, in 2016, 2018, and 2019, and last year he took part in a benefit show/compilation for the holiday. This 2020 effort is a mellow, homemade take on the popular carol, no independent audio available.

Hello once more with my annual Christmas Eve message. Apparently, the difficulties I had running this site back in 2019 turned out to be a harbinger for everybody else's 2020. Sorry about that, folks. The COVID-19 pandemic pretty much wiped out the livelihoods of many in the hospitality and entertainment businesses, so I was surprised to see that musicians managed to keep the new music coming, especially the new holiday music, which is what we celebrate at Mistletunes. Once again, thanks for stopping by this music enthusiast's way station, which will be here for the foreseeable future, and hopefully without any further reflections of the site's relative hipness quotient. I'll continue to point out new and unique Christmas music on this site as I've been doing for 23 years now, and when I have time I'll go back and post some info on any past holiday milestones I've missed, as I've always wanted this site to be a historical reference of significant rock 'n roll/pop Christmas tunes. Keep coming back, and please start your Amazon shopping trips here, as the ever-shrinking returns they provide still help defray this site's hosting costs. Again, thank you, and Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and happy all the holidays. Before leaving here's a double dose of things that make you go hmmm....

Just out today on Bandcamp is this mellow little original by this Netherlands band we've featured before under their own name and their previous efforts as That Band From Holland. It's a topical poke at commercialism and greed connected to the holidays. They claim to have imagined and put down the song over the course of a single day, so kudos to spontaneity.

This long-running musical duo, consisting of singer Inara George and superstar producer Greg Kurstin, put up this short album/long EP for 2020 of modern, radio-friendly songs. Late-night TV fans will recall their recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel's show performing "Little Drummer Boy" with Dave Grohl on drums, and he's on the studio version as well. "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts)" is done in a modern synth-pop arrangment that is musically inventive as well as up-to-the-minute instrumentally, and they take a similar tack on "Sleigh Ride," "Deck the Halls," "Christmas Time is Here," and "Hallelujah Chorus." Two original songs appear here, the upbeat and sprightly "Merry Merry" and disc opener "You and I At Christmas Time," more of a soul ballad, although George's breathy vocals give many of this group's performances a sophisticated Astrud Gilberto feel. Put this whole album in your playlists, you won't regret it.

Mandy's been an on-again, off-again hitmaker, and in the meantime she's been best known for starring in NBC's "This Is Us." For 2020, she joins with her hubby Taylor Goldsmith from Dawes and power-pop demigod Mike Viola for this fine ballad about missing a lover at Christmas that would fit snugly into a holiday episode of her show. Flip this single for "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year."

Billie Eilish's brother/producer is also on the Christmas tip in 2020 with a warm piano ballad about how hard it is to get in the Christmas mood in Los Angeles, especially without that significant other. A definite add to your holiday playlists.

This 2020 release is one of those rare items, in the modern day anyway: a major-label holiday compilation not tied to a soundtrack of a movie or TV show. It's all solid modern soul music with hip-hop rhythm touches. I glommed onto this via Tayla Parx's contribution, a short but sweet "Ain't a Lonely Christmas Song," and other tunes on here include Ty Dolla $ign's "Alone For Christmas," the previously mentioned "This Christmas" by Pink Sweat$, Trey Songz' "Christmas Morning," Shelley's "Litmas," Sebastian Mikael's "Chimney," PJ's "Single on Christmas," "Santa Baby" by Ayanis, Raiche's two contributions, "Anticipating" and "I Hate Christmas," IV Jay's "On My Way," Ghoss's "All I Want for Christmas," and "Meet Me" by Jeven Reliford. It's mainly mid-tempo performances of original new Christmas songs, so you might want to mine this for favorites; Tayla Parx's song is mine.

You'll probably remember Richie Blackmore as the lead guitarist of Deep Purple during their most popular period in the 1970s, and that he has been with Blackmore's Night, featuring vocalist Candice Night, for many years now, and they did a 2004 Christmas EP that turned into a 2006 holiday album that's since been reissued a few times. As with the previous releases, this four-song EP features four antique carols rendered in a modernized version of English folk music, making this good Renaissance Faire material but not so much fun for rock fans. Nevertheless, if you're hankering for this sort of thing, you get the title song, "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear," "O Little Town of Bethlehem," and "Silent Night." Per Amazon's listing, CD and vinyl copies are pretty pricey, so you may want to just download or stream this.

For your moment of zen, here's Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene with this 2020 novelty that is "sung" by a unicorn hand puppet. No independent audio for this so far that I can find, so enjoy.

The streaming services are well known by now for their exclusive-to-them recordings, and this year Apple Music has a collection, Carols Covered, that is not available for download or for streaming anywhere but their service. Among the exclusives here are "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" by Victoria Monet, beabadoobee's "Winter Wonderland," James Blake's "In the Bleak Midwinter," "Feliz Navidad" by Ozuna, and "Last Christmas" by Arlo Parks. If you're already on the service, you probably already know about this; if someone's offering you a free four months, you might want to take them up on the offer to hear these songs.

These folks are a "synth-rock band from MA," per their Facebook page. For 2020 they've dropped this five-song Christmas EP with their self-written title song, a sprightly pop-rock confection in which they work in a reference to "A Christmas Story" among other cultural touchstones. This original definitely outshines the remaining cover tunes, which are well done but are arranged pretty much the way we've heard them before: "Jingle Bell Rock," "Blue Christmas," and "Last Christmas," although they lean more into their synth-rock side on "O Come O Come Emmanuel." You'll enjoy this, especially the title song.

Julia's from Sydney, Australia, and she and her guitar strummed out this downtempo meditation on troubled family relations from inside the dual burdens of the Australia wildfires and the pandemic. It's quite the touching little number, although it definitely will bring your playlist down. Nevertheless, you must hear this at least once.

Pitchfork identifies these folks as from Brighton, so I'm assuming they mean England. This 2020 song is a bit of indie-rock shoegaze about having a miserable time at Christmas. It's quite delightful in its angsty way and you should add it to your playlists.

This English band is known for promoting their favorite venue, the Windmill in Brixton, and for 2020 they give us two solid covers of popular Christmas pop tunes. They're free of charge, although they request donations to support the Windmill. Check them out at Bandcamp.

The title is pretty much all you need to know about this song once you're aware that the band's name is part of an Urban Dictionary listing about inquiring whether a woman is LGBT. As for this 2020 single, it's a fine mid-tempo ballad with electronic and orchestral flourishes that ought to be in one of those same-sex Christmas holiday movies that's out this year. Check it out for yourself.

Anybody with a cable TV subscription has probably encountered this artist when scrolling past the program listings for Fuse TV, but she's (preferred pronoun) originally famous as a performer of the formerly underground hip-hop form called "bounce." For 2020 we get this EP of original tunes in the form, featuring assists from Flo Milli on "Better Be" and Maxine Jones on "Heatin Up the Holidays." "Nutcracker" is more of a slow jam rap, "Boy Toy Shop" is pretty much what you would expect regarding the output of one particular holiday workshop, and "Smoked Out Santa" mentions grinding up and smoking Christmas trees to the tune of the same-named carol; not sure if this is effective, but it appears to work for Santa, at least according to the song. I feel like this is more for Big Freedia completists, but if it makes you giggle, go for it. Note that three of five songs have the "explicit" label before you drop any of them into your holiday playlists. While working on this post, I unearthed 2020's "Funky Christmas" by Too Many Zooz that features Big Freedia, as well as another EP from 2016, A Very Big Freedia Christmas, more of the same with "So Frosty," "Santa Is a Gay Man," "Jingle Bell Rock," and "Twas the Night." Plus there's "Make It Jingle" from the soundtrack to 2016's movie "Office Christmas Party." So there's enough out there to have yourself a bounce Christmas if you like.

Must give credit where due when a former teen star matures into a serious artist. This song, from her 2020 album Evermore, is about hooking up in one's hometown with a once-and-future beau. Etherial in a good way and solidly emotional, you insufferable music snobs could amaze your friends with this one in your carefully curated holiday playlists.

Nicely punky pop-rocker about a lost love at Christmastime, and what would the holidays be without a seriously profane holiday take? It's sort of like if Pornhub did a Hallmark-style Christmas rom-com. If you're not offended, chances are you're loving this, as I am.

• Black Pumas covered Lou Rawls' "Christmas Will Really Be Christmas," but it appears to only be on Spotify for now.

• Foo Fighters took part in an Amazon holiday video, playing "Run Run Rudolph," and you can listen if you're a paying member of Amazon Music or Amazon Prime.

• Jose Feliciano has a 50th anniversary version of "Feliz Navidad" on Amazon Music only, a veritable supergroup of participants including Shaggy, Jason Mraz, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Michael Bolton, Gloria Gaynor, Rachael Ray, Jon Secada, Big & Rich, Julio Iglasias Jr., and literally dozens more.

• Paige Gold has a cool original on YouTube, "What Christmas Means," for 2020. Apparently she put a snippet up on Tik Tok and her fans demanded she finish it. No independent audio I know of, but YouTube has the goods.

If you're expecting the Pogues or Dropkick Murphys, look elsewhere; this 2020 single is solid power pop that just happens to be about Irish holiday customs, imagined with tongue firmly in cheek. The folks behind this song happen to be a Boston indie-rock "supergroup," featuring members of Dogmatics, Nervous Eaters, Kid Gulliver, and even Willy Alexander's Boom Boom Band. This is one solidly entertaining little number.

I keep forgetting that there is still a heavy metal scene out there in the world, until a new release in that genre lands on my desk for consideration. Majestica's 2020 release is essentially a rock oratorio based on the popular Charles Dickens story of the same name, mostly heavy metal musically but with a fair amount of orchestral flourishes. It could very easily be staged as it is, to give you an idea of its completeness, although I feel like this is something more fitting for the soundtrack of another "Bill and Ted" movie. Nevertheless, there's plenty for metal fans to enjoy here.

This is my first hearing of this fairly young singer from Philadelphia, and this 2020 holiday single is a catchy, winning song. Apparently this came to notice via an iPhone video shared on social media by Ellen DeGeneres and is an original song featuring The Schriver Sisters, who are her even younger sisters. Normally kid recordings put me off, but there's very little about this that isn't professional sounding enough to have been done by adults. Check it for yourself. UPDATE: Stubby just punched in to note that this song is on the Paste compilation, a link to which was posted lower on the page.

Sonic Boom is Pete Kember of Spacemen 3, and he teamed up with Dean & Britta of cult favorites Luna and Galaxie 500 for this 2020 elecro-pop winner that actually doesn't touch on Christmas much other than the title/chorus, though the sentiments are compatible. Get it from Bandcamp. Proceeds of the single benefits environmental group Earth Island.

Fresh off the Sonic Boom single, Dean & Britta covered the John & Yoko classic in an echo-y, lo-fi performance for 2020. Flip side is "Little Altar Boy," a similar performance resting on an electronic pulse beat, on which Pete Kember of Sonic Boom makes an appearance. That one has been out for a few years on Amazon. Like the Sonic Boom single, this is a charity single benefiting The Sled, which supports needy New York City public school students. Listen and reach out. It's at Bandcamp.

These folks are an Arlington, MA band with several tunes out on Bandcamp, but this 2020 Christmas number, being promoted by new label Red on Red Records, isn't available with independent audio anywhere. We do have this video of them doing this cool rocker live (remember live music?), so enjoy.

This is a local Pittsburgh band doing a cover of the Sia song, and it's a lovely performance. It struck me that if Sia comes across a little too produced, this nice rootsy version might just hit the spot for some of you. No independent audio I'm aware of, but enjoy it anyway.

• Pomplamoose, the husband/wife team that had a bunch of holiday tunes in limited release a decade ago, just went up on Spotify and YouTube with a cover of the "Charlie Brown Christmas" classic in more of a samba feel, and they snuck a little scat-singing of "Linus and Lucy" in between verses to jazz it up a little more.
• Sci-Fi Romance had a version of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" out in 2012, and member Vance Kotria has recorded it again all alone in 2020. Bandcamp offers both versions of the song plus "Silent Night" as a name-your-price purchase.
• Paste Magazine has a downloadable or streamable holiday compilation in 2020, and Rhino Records allows you to do a build-your-own Christmas playlist from your browser.
• Oh, and the Mistletunes 2020 compilation, The Naughty List Was Rigged!, is complete. Click to check the liner notes and play the Spotify playlist. Note there are similar Spotify playlists for every Mistletunes disc going back to 2011, just check the sidebar, or you can search the playlists directly in the Spotify app. Due to the vagaries of streaming rights, not every song in every playlist is available in Spotify. You can listen for free if you're willing to put up with ads.

Last year we had a surfeit of fresh holiday rock drop from this independent record label, including several singles and an album. For 2020, they've rolled up pretty much everything they released last year into a new album that also includes 14 new tunes (but not the Karla Kane single, which remains separate). "Wash Your Hands of Christmas" by Nick Frater has that Roy Wood feel, Librarians With Hickeys cover the Martin Newell tune "Christmas in Suburbia," The Stan Laurels' "Noche Buena," previously compiled on A Kool Kat Kristmas Vol. 3, is here, as is the previously released "Broken Gnome" by The JAC, and Irene Peña contributes a nicely garaged-up "Will You Turn Up (For Christmas)." Spygenius rolls out the mini-musicale "Revels Without a Claus," touching on music hall, vaudeville, and power pop in the style of the Beatles' Christmas records. Addison Love leans harder on the power pop for "Utah Winter," Kelly's Heels with Steve Rinaldi throws a little old-fashioned English folk into the otherwise rocking "Merrie Christmas," The Stillsouls go upbeat with "Wasting All Her Christmas Time," Michael Simmons lives up to the billing of his mellow "Christmas Waltz," Blake Jones & the Trike Shop offer the rocking "String Lights and Hold On" and the gentle shuffle "(Jingle Bells) Ringing In Your Heart," Dolph Chaney channels Van Halen's "Panama" on his version of "Jingle Bells," and Kai Danzberg breaks out the martial drums and Christmas bells on the poppy "If Santa." If you somehow managed to miss out on Big Stir until now, this collection rolls up everything into a convenient one-click package (but spare a second click for Karla Kane too) at Bandcamp. 

This sister act took a big risk in taking on a much-loved modern Christmas hit and changing the lyrics to address Hanukkah as well as a few other current events, but they've gotten away with it. No independent audio at this point, so here's the video. (Tic Tok vertical videos are annoying, by the way.)

The long-running Americana-Tex-Mex band joins the master playlist of Christmas music in 2020 with an album of originals and covers in their own inimitable style. Among the covers are the traditional "Mi Burrito Sabanero," which appears twice, once in a Latin rhythm style and a second time as backdrop to the band's holiday greetings, a slower take on "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)," and a fairly faithful cover of Tom Petty's "Christmas All Over Again." Originals include the mid-tempo opener "Hear the Bells," the Mexican-influenced "Heart of Downtown," the contemplative title song, the slow waltz "Nature's Domain," the dreamy instrumental "Glory's Hope," the folky Latin ballad "Tanta Tristeza" featuring Gisela João on vocals, the syncopated "Peace of Mind," and the sprightly "Sonoran Snoball" featuring Camilo Lara. The band's fans will like this, and those of you who like to hear original takes on the holiday will enjoy the surfeit of original tunes.

This British indie-pop ensemble isn't new to the Christmas realm, and for 2020 they're back with a three-song EP with the deceptively downcast "Happy Winter," the strummy and upbeat "Can You Hear the Snowfall," also collected on the 2020 Cherryade compilation, and the rocking "Holiday Hymn." Though they have always exuded an amateurish vibe, they're also quite listenable, and this EP is worth checking out at Bandcamp.

Britain's Cherryade has been doing limited pressings of their Christmas compilations of British indie-rock-pop bands for more than a dozen years even as it has been winding down as a record label. Pandemic considerations struck them as they did most of us, so instead of the 25 or so tunes that used to appear on their CDs, this year they compile six solid tunes for an EP which, unlike previous years, is fully available digitally via Bandcamp. The Hannah Barberas contribute their "Can You Hear the Snowfall," Jane and John ask the musical question "Is It Too Soon For Christmas?," the Yellow Melodies go all Jesus and Mary Chain meet the Ramones on "Navidad Interestelar," the Portrait gives us some 70s punk on "Elf Riot!," Building Rockets take on the Beach Boys with "Surfin' Santa," and Little Ways give us a folky strum on their cover of Helen Love's "Happiest Time of the Year." If you've been on the Cherryade tip all along, you'll want this; if you haven't, and you like indie rock, go for it. It's on Bandcamp.

Hidden away on the latest album by this Boston alt-rock band for 2020 is this hot rocker about the local mechanic who has to work on Santa's busted sleigh. Very light-hearted, a solid rocker, what are you waiting for? Run to Bandcamp and grab the song or the whole album.

Yet another Mistletunes tradition is the unveiling of the annual new holiday tune by Dead Gwynne, which is not only free to download but so is every other holiday song they've done in the past, and all at the same link. This year's tune is a talk-sing of an impressionistic lyric over a prominent bass line and grungy synth. Check it out, no cost to you.

I don't know much about Karla except she's in a band called the Corner Laughers, but I'm only sorry I didn't glom onto this 2020 single sooner. Two songs, both of which started as antique folk songs, are rendered here as modern power pop, and though Karla has a voice built for folk music, "The Halsway Carol" stands up alongside any modern three-minute rock you can imagine. The flip side, "The Winter of Life," had its antique lyrics augmented by one Hazel Askew, and it's more of a folky ballad. Run to Amazon or Bandcamp and get this.

Tori recorded one of those "winter, not Christmas" albums about a decade ago, back when that was a thing, and she's back for 2020 with a short collection of tunes that she says she created with the pandemic in mind as well as the US elections, looking to "be positive and try to lift people's spirits." Stylewise, this is vintage Tori, piano-led ballads with orchestral support. The title song makes an appropriate opening to the playlist, and she also offers the pensive "Circle of Seasons," the electric piano-led "Holly," and what appears to be the favorite cut, the martial-tempo "Better Angels." Plenty of good choices for a change of pace in your holiday playlists.

Here's another label compilation of roster artists performing Christmas songs for 2020, and don't let the label's name fool you, this is more indie-rock-pop than country. Kicking things off is Field Music's "Home For Christmas," a festive poppy number well suited for its playlist position, and a tune that was actually out in 2019, though you might have missed it because they issued exactly five copies of the song. Haley provides the pensive winter ballad "Like Ice and Cold," Warm Digits goes synth-poppy with "Good Enough For You This Christmas," Rachael Dadd goes all Tori Amos on us with "We Build Our Houses Well," and Stats performs the bouncy rocker "Christmas Without You." A couple of more familiar numbers are included here, if in new versions, with The Phoenix Foundation offering the synth-vocoder take on "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, and Jesca Hoop covering Fleet Foxes "White Winter Hymnal," which seems to be catching on as a holiday tune; even Pentatonix has a version of it now. Francis Lung goes upbeat, in tone at least, with "To Make Angels In Snow," The Cornshed Sisters offer the piano ballad "Have a Good Christmas Time," and The Go! Team gives us a bouncy end-of-year anthem, "Look Outside (A New Year's Coming)." Proceeds go to support Crisis UK's Home For All initiative. This is a very listenable compilation even if you've never heard of any of these artists before, so go grab it.

Lene is an up-and-coming modern soul singer with a number of singles under her belt and placements in such TV shows as "Sistas" and "Twas the Chaos Before Christmas," the latter of which features both the song "Christmas Morning" and the title song from this 2020 EP. The former is a lovely uptempo original and the latter is a slow-jam ballad. There's also a hip-hop take on "Santa Baby" in which you'll recognize other quoted carols long before you get a taste of the tune in the title, a similarly deconstructed version of "Drummer Boy," a conventional pop take on "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts)," and a solo piano-backed version of "Mary Did You Know." This is a fine modern soul EP.

We're always happy to hear from V.D. King of New Jersey's roots-rocking ensemble Better Off Dead, and for 2020 he dropped this instrumental on YouTube based on a dream he had of Ray Charles playing holiday tunes in his house. Check it out.

This popped up in my Facebook feed and I couldn't find any information about it other than a YouTube link with only the most skeletal information. Two tunes in a hard rock style, the theme from "Christmas Vacation" and a most non-traditional take on "In the Bleak Midwinter," are what's on offer here. If I unearth any independent audio, I'll let you know.

Two labels combined to produce a holiday compilation for 2020 featuring alt-rockers that benefits Feeding America. The track list alternates between covers of familiar tunes and brand new originals. Among the covers are Melkbelly doing Everclear's "Hating You For Christmas," Bacchae performing "This Will Be Our Year" from the Zombies' repertoire, Pronoun covering Jimmy Eat World's "12-23-95," Ohmme handling the putative title song by Sir Paul McCartney, Kaina performing "I'll Be Home For Christmas," Johanna Warren doing "Coventry Carol," and Pom Pom Squad taking on "Last Christmas." Among the originals, we have Sad13 with her anti-commercialism screed "Shit For Christmas," Routine's pensive midtempo number "Wait," Maneka's brooding "Santa Is a Neocon," which actually isn't about foreign policy but is about greed, Illuminati Hotties' plea to recognize the problems in the world around us on "xmas wish list (what we all asked for)," Diet Cig's speedy thrash through "Happy Holiday," and Tasha's not-quite-holiday-oriented "Love Song." If you need an indie take on Christmas, this collection is here for you, and don't forget the charitable benefit this collection bestows.

We've been treated to these guys' treatments of the Christmas season before, as they have two holiday albums on their resume. For 2020, they give us a single of the holiday classic in which they provide a seldom-heard third verse as well as the less-often performed melody (yes, there are two different melodies to this carol; do a few a-b comparisons of different performances and you'll eventually work it out). This is a mellow take with a quasi-military beat; I like it a lot, and you may have fun pairing it with a different performance of the alternate melody in your playlists.

Riotron is Winnipeg's Jeff Fettes' electro-pop project and he has a number of albums out in this style. For 2020 he takes the popular antique carol and sets it to an EDM tempo with treated vocals and synth-orchestra flourishes. It's well done, and you don't often hear this song done at speed, so grab it for your dance-floor mixes.

The artist identifies as a "recording artist/producer/motivational speaker," and his previous recorded output is in the hip-hop field. For 2020 he gives us an instrumental of the classic carol in that style, which is well done and you should check it out.

• The record label Anti-, home of a lot of legacy and modern Americana performers, just put up The Anti- Holiday Compilation (For People That Hate Holiday Compilations), a collection of already-issued holiday (and some not particularly holiday) performances from Calexico, Mavis Staples, Saintsenica, Dr. Dog, M. Ward, Son Little, Booker T. Jones and Jolie Holland, Mose Allison, Delicate Steve, and Peter Silberman. It's only for streaming, so look for it on your service of choice.
• Chance the Rapper did a holiday mixtape a few years back with Jeremih called Merry Christmas Lil' Mama, and for 2020 he added a couple songs to it, "The Return," and "Who's To Say."
• I missed this on TV, but IHeartRadio's annual Jingle Ball featured Dua Lipa performing "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)," Billie Eilish doing "Silver Bells," and Doja Cat singing "Santa Baby." No independent audio I know of, but here's some video.

I attribute my previous unawareness of this group to the fact that they appear to have emerged from within the video games multiverse, having staged musical events from within Minecraft and Fortnight in the past couple of years. For 2020, they posted this number, a very cracked-ska diatribe against Santa Claus, but don't let the attitude throw you; it's catchy and fun to listen to.

The popular singer-songwriter dropped this double-sided single for 2020. "Blue Christmas" is a fairly straight folky reading of the country-rock classic, but "Silent Night" is, for a change, the more interesting of the two, having a sort of electro-drone pulse backing it. Still a slow-tempo reading, but more ear-catching than most renditions. A great change of pace for your discs/playlists.

Mona and Lisa Wagner are indeed twins, Austrian-born and Britain-based, and they love themselves some mid-60s British bands, to the point that they played a two-year residency at Liverpool's iconic Cavern Club and released a live album featuring all 60s tunes, with an emphasis on Beatles covers. I've been getting a lot of notifications for this album recently but it turns out it was released in 2019. Oh well, better late than never. Based on this album, I'd say their sound was less British Invasion and a lot more of a female Everly Brothers, but then the Everlys were a heavy influence on many of the British Invasion bands. The 11 songs are mostly familiar, although I've never encountered "Snow Falls Softly at Night," an antique German carol, or "Walking in the Air," which turns out to have been a top 5 hit in England back in the 1980s and has been covered by everyone from George Winston to Iron Maiden. We should also note the sole original, "All I Want Christmas to Be," penned by Mona, a nice mid-tempo number about holiday verities. Performance-wise, the songs on this album are more 70s pop-rock-folk, although "Walking in the Air" has a "Things We Said Today" feel and their upbeat "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" has a rhythm reminiscent of "All My Loving." Given their Beatles roots, you won't be surprised to find covers of "Wonderful Christmastime" and "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)," the former featuring ukelele and the latter in a calypso rhythm. They do an interesting reimagining of the Bing/Bowie duet "Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy," more folk-oriented versions of "Winter Wonderland," "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year," and "Silent Night," and a cover of "Santa Baby" in which they extract the gold-digging parts of the lyrics and substitute requests for favorite musical instruments like "a '54 vintage bass" and a "Gretsch guitar." It fits with their ethos, but you may feel deprived of the sexy subtext. Still, quite a lot to like here.

Margo typically trends more toward the country side of Americana, but not always. Given the known hostility of country radio to female vocalists like her, I feel safe in recommending her 2020 version of the Joni Mitchell classic, especially since it's just her fine voice and electric piano.

Diggs is probably best known for playing Lafayette in the musical "Hamilton," but he's also been a singer, rapper, producer and songwriter. For 2020 he throws out this Hanukkah jam which will certainly liven up your holiday mixes with its mashup of traditional Yiddish melodies and hip-hop beat. Apparently Diggs' mom is Jewish and the story is inspired by his childhood. Cool tune.

I received a number of pointers to this telling me it was a 2020 release, and since I never heard of these guys before this I grabbed it. Turns out it's a reissue of a 2005 album with a couple extra songs, so I'll file this under the 2000s with the site's sorting tools. Nevertheless, if you dig some rockabilly swing, this collection of 17 familiar songs, mostly mid-20th century favorites and a few older classics, will get the dance floor jumping. Fans of big-band jazz will note a number of cues from their favorite songs in that genre, but there's plenty of rock 'n roll in all these tunes too, their version of "Jingle Bells" being a notable example, along with more uptempo takes on "White Christmas," "Silver Bells," "I'll Be Home For Christmas" and "Silent Night." If you haven't encountered this before, now's as good a time as any.

The current record holder for longest time at the top of the Billboard singles charts (19 weeks) with "Old Town Road" gives us a Christmas tune for 2020. It's fairly listenable as long as you're not offended by a few explicit lyrics, and it's kind of like his big hit but without the country music cues. Check it out for yourself. (There's a clean version at Amazon, too.)

Nick and the Straitjackets have been an item for several seasons now, having toured the world together and also having made several EPs as well as a live album of their Christmas show. For 2020 they've teamed up via technology to put out a pair of classic carols with that cool Americana via rockabilly sound they've formulated together. If you've somehow avoided both these acts, let this single be your gateway drug.

This alt-rock band attacks commerciality and argues against the holiday with this fine 2020 slice of pop-rock. Although it's not mentioned explicitly, the very title also works in support of quarantine measures. It's a nicely subversive uptempo addition to your playlists.

The Southeast's greatest party band is no stranger to the holiday music scene, and they've got a new single in 2020 that is a fine tribute to 60s surf music, right down to the Wilson-esque falsetto yelps, not to mention the Dick Dale guitar that is a factor in most all this band's songs. Must have.

This duo with the "Phil Specter at a horror movie" sound has had Christmas songs before, and for 2020 they mix the metaphors with a snow-on-Christmas tune rendered with a languid Hawaiian steel-guitar melody and arrangement. I love it, and I'm sure it will stick out on your holiday playlists.

Neon Ambiance is Ian Yates and Trevor Michael, and for 2020 they give us synth-pop instrumental versions of 10 classic carols. Nicely orchestrated and modern sounding, this album will make a fine soundtrack for your holiday parties and family videos. The press materials indicate the group's concept is "instrumental soundscapes" a la Sigur Ros, Radiohead and Brian Eno, and that's a pretty good description. The only modern-day pop tune is "Little Drummer Boy," all other tunes are favorite antique carols like "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," "Angels From the Realms of Glory," "Joy To the World," "We Three Kings," "In the Bleak Midwinter," "O Come O Come Emmanuel," "Ding Dong Merrily On High," and "O Holy Night." Check this out.

This Juno-nominated Nova Scotia-based singer-songwriter came out in 2020 with this fine, pop-folk Americana collection of popular carols. Some would say there's a Patsy Cline influence to this stuff, and I wouldn't argue with that, although any country influence is very faint, it's more in the style of her vocal. Among her choices of carol are "White Christmas," "Blue Christmas," "I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day," "I'll Be Home For Christmas," "Silent Night," "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts)," "Winter Wonderland," "O Holy Night," and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." No real surprises in arrangements, just sweet, sincere renditions. The album does contain one original song, "Downtown Christmas Eve," a mid-tempo ode to the sounds and smells of the holiday. The album does NOT contain her French-language version of the song, "En Ville la Veille de Noël," but while you're at Bandcamp you can grab that single separately.

Jessie's an in-demand backing vocalist with credits including Lenny Kravitz, Chic, Duran Duran, and Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul, and she fronts a rock band, Army of the Underdog.  She also writes songs, and for 2020 she's got a sweet pop-rock ballad about how family and friends are the reason for the season. You could definitely hear the Disciples playing the backing on this. Give this a spin.

This 2020 Snowflake vinyl single is by a more indie-shoegaze aggregation, and this midtempo rocker does its best to drown out the cryptic lyrics, which apparently evoke a cold winter's night. Flip it over and the B-side is "Hit the Snow," a cover of a song by The Aisler Set from San Francisco. This is more grunge-power pop in sound and displays a bit more enthusiasm for winter weather than the A-side. Oddly, the Bandcamp page for this record does not display a purchase link. You can, however, go to their European-based merch page and click one link to buy all three at a discount -- assuming the limited numbers pressed haven't run out.

See previous item regarding the availability of this Snowflakes Christmas Singles Club entry. Here we have a straight-up speed metal take on a Christmas season in which Santa takes on the malevolence of a Krampus-type figure, riding a burning sleigh and raining destruction on the landscape. Perfect for when you've just watched the latest "Bill and Ted" movie and need some holiday vibes to go with it. The B-side is "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," also a metal take. It's at Bandcamp.

We've covered the Snowflakes Christmas Singles Club, centered in the Netherlands, in previous years. They offer three vinyl singles each year with one original and one cover tune on each. In past years, some or all of them were downloadable, but in 2020, you must purchase the actual record, priced at 8 euros, to be offered the download. Complicating matters further is that they only press about 300 copies of each. You can stream them at Bandcamp, though. This tune is by a group I've never heard of before, and they specialize in synth-pop. The original A-side is a lovely bit of mid-tempo ennui covering the title's sentiments, and when you flip it over you get a straight synth-pop treatment of the Slade classic "Merry Xmas Everybody." Cool stuff.

I've never encountered Tinashe before, but she's an established modern R'nB singer who recently took over her own marketing and distribution. For 2020 she dropped this six-song holiday EP (seven if you count the 15-second title song at the very beginning) in which she sings four antique carols and two modern pop numbers. The performances are the modern soul sound that borrows a lot from hip-hop but still emphasizes melody, and the songs chosen lend themselves very well to this approach. She does mid-tempo takes on "Angels We Have Heard on High," "Last Christmas" and "Have Yourself a Merry Christmas," slow-jams "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," and does a more traditional ballad treatment on "O Holy Night" and "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts)." This is very nice and too short; I wonder if she'll extend this into a full album at some later date.

Andrew had a Christmas single in 2016, and he's back in 2020 with another pop ballad featuring lots of synthesizer, a bit of vocoder, backed with electronic drums. The singer recalls memories of past Christmases and finds the modern-day celebrations lacking by comparison. It's a bit dour, but I'm sure it will resonate, especially if people follow the current admontions to scale back their holiday meet-and-greets.

Earlier, when mentioning their 2020 single, I noted the band had enough Christmas tunes for their own single-artist playlist. Apparently this gave them an idea, and so there's now a single-click opportunity to round up all 12 of their holiday recordings in one place. Apparently there are a couple here that I missed, like their version of "Let's Turkey Trot" and their originals "Because I'm Santa" and "Messed Up Xmas." Like always, it's at Bandcamp and you can name your price.

It's definitely progress that one of the most hyped holiday film debuts in 2020 has a plot revolving around two lesbian lovers trying to navigate Christmas traditions. (There's no shortage of naysayers about this, but to hell with them.) It's also so 2020 that the film is premiering not in theaters, but on streaming site Hulu. Although this soundtrack is nominally a "various artists" collection, it would be an incomplete overview if I didn't acknowledge that most of these songs were created just for this collection by a group of performer-writer-producers including Daniel Crean, Eren Cannata, Justin Tranter, Kennedi Lykken, Caroline Pennell, and Shea Diamond. They work their modern pop-chart magic on a solid uptempo "Jingle Bells" featuring BAYLI, and typically reverent versions of "O Holy Night" from Jake Wesley Rogers and "Silent Night" by LP. Originals include Anne-Marie's exuberant "Think of Christmas," Brandy Clark's poppy strum "Only Time of Year," kennedi's dreamy waltz "Christmas Morning," and Carlie Hanson's folky "Chosen Family," an ode to the oft-raised notion that people have birth families and chosen families. I definitely want to highlight Shea Diamond's neo-soul contributions to this collection, the Specter-influenced duet with Bebe Rexha "Blame It On Christmas," and his "Mrs. Claus," yet another female-positive reclaiming of the Christmas myth. Also appearing here is Sia's "Candy Cane Lane" from her Christmas album of a couple years ago, and a new midtempo holiday song from Tegan and Sara, "Make You Mine This Season." Plenty of contemporary hit fun for your playlists.

This Bay-area singer, songwriter and producer is dedicated to the sounds of 60s soul in a similar way to the folks at Daptone, from which arose such artists as Charles Bradley, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. I had never heard of him until this album crossed my path recently, and now I wanna hear more. The sound is wonderful, evoking not so much Motown or Stax/Volt as the thousands of independent-label soul records from about 1963 through the beginning of the 70s, and that sound is applied to 10 original songs (the title song, an instrumental, opens and closes the album). "Heartbreak For Christmas" is a great midtempo album starter, and "No Time to be Sad" is a fine vocal group ballad in the style of such acts as the Delphonics and the Intruders. "Just One Kiss" is a funky dance number, "Waiting on the Big Man" is a downtempo vigil for Santa Claus (love the count-off with "sugar plum fairy, sugar plum fairy," something John Lennon did on an early take of "A Day in the Life"), "The Miracle Is Here" is a punchy midtempo croon that evokes Curtis Mayfield, and "To Be Young at Christmas" is a slow number imagining a child's reaction to Christmas. "The Only Present Is Me" is a Christmas love ballad, "Santa's Watching You" is a funky rewrite of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" but with a little more paranoia mixed in, and "Merry Christmas To You" is a solid soulful climax to a fine original Christmas album. Currently in preorder status, not out till next week, click the cover to link the Amazon page.

Once again, Olympia, WA's leading record label compiles 22 holiday tunes from their artist roster into this 2020 compilation of indie rock future classics. Yes, there's a title cut, provided by label chief Tom Dyer and his band the True Olympians, and it's a satisfying rock shuffle about the biggest issue of the current year. Tom comes back by himself later in the album with "Gonna Sing a Christmas Song," a primitive little number that owes just a bit to Wild Man Fischer. "How I Know" by Toxic Socket is a perky little rocker about the telltale tips pointing to the holiday, Frankly, My Deer is a female duo performing a lilting ukulele arrangement of Sammy Kahn's "Christmas Waltz," Jon Davis breaks out the synths and vocoder for the original "Techno Christmas," which sounds exactly like you imagine it would, and the Elf-Tones' original "On Christmas Day" is a mid-tempo piano number about holiday goings-on. Jeff & Ed do their own shambolic version of the Bing & Bowie duet "Little Drummer Boy/Peace On Earth," 20-Twin/Twin go synth-pop for their version of "Up On the Rooftop," Zelda Starfire strums out her ode to kids on the holiday, "Mothers Little Christmas Helpers," and INFRA eD performs an original drum-based chant, "A Christmas Wish." Utterance Tongue covers John & Yoko's "Happy Xmas (War is Over)," Richard Stuverud offers his ballad "By Christmas Time," and Chris Newman Deluxe Combo performs the hippie-rock anthem "Xmas." The Freewheelin' Joe Ross covers Big Star's "Jesus Christ," Walt Perry writes and strums his folkie ballad "Born in a Stall," and Jeff Kelly provided a non-Christmas number "Change is Gonna Come" that he believes is nevertheless a good album closer. I think he's onto something. There's a bumper crop of instrumentals on here too, starting with Yes Masters' "I Hope," Dante & Eros Faulk's "Christmas Eve," Toiling Midgets' "It Ain't Sleazey Being Green," Lisa King's "Carol of the Bells, Approximately," Richard Peterson's "Silent Night," and Dan Tecucianu's "Cinnamon Stars Painted Blue." Another solid holiday collection from the Northwest. You can get it from Bandcamp or click the cover to visit Amazon.

Jaret's from Bowling for Soup and Kelly's from the Dollyrots, the latter of whom are already accounted for in 2020's holiday sweepstakes. But the two of them previously recorded a duet album and this year went for a holiday single that's all about the various ways to celebrate the holiday. Few of them are practical this year because of the pandemic, unfortunately, but you'll enjoy thinking about them as you listen to this 60s pop-rocker with a Specter twist. It's on Bandcamp.

Gonzales is a producer, instrumentalist and DJ who has worked with numerous artists including Daft Punk, on whose major breakout album he performed. For 2020 he's given us an album that is mostly instrumental solo piano versions of classic carols and holiday hits, including minor-key takes on "Silent Night" and "Auld Lang Mynor." This isn't normally what we go for at Mistletunes, so I'll just jump to the three vocal numbers, "The Banister Bough" sung by Feist, "In the Bleak Midwinter" with vocal by Jarvis Cocker, and "Snow Is Falling in Manhattan" featuring both Cocker and Feist. These, like the rest of the album, are fairly low-key, or in the artist's description, "chill." Check it out for yourself if you're interested.

The singer-songwriter released this EP for 2019 featuring two originals, the mid-tempo "Alabaster" and the ballad "Night's Falling," combining them with a dour reading of "White Christmas" and a whistled "O Holy Night." The remaining two songs are instrumentals, Vince Guaraldi's "Skating" and "Christmas Is Coming." Bird previously put a version of "Auld Lang Syne" on an Amazon Music holiday playlist that is also available for download. UPDATE: Bird, fresh off a regular acting spot in the fourth season of "Fargo," has extended this EP into a full album for 2020. Added tunes include a new original, "Christmas in April," that is an ode to the quarantine, covers of John Cale's "Andalucia" and John Prine's "Souvenirs," a tune "Greenwine" that is a medley of Handsome Family's "So Much Wine" and "Greensleeves," an instrumental "Glad," Schubert's "Mille Cherubini in Coro," which a Google search leads to a Luciano Pavarotti version of the song, and "Auld Lang Syne" is added to the playlist.

For 2020, Phoebe drops a cover of the Merle Haggard classic and attaches to it a version of Simon and Garfunkel's "Silent Night/7 O'Clock News" made with the help of Fiona Apple and Matt Berninger of The National, with the accompanying newscast updated for the current day. She extends this release into an EP by attaching two songs from previous years, "Christmas Song" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." If you're not up to date with Phoebe's holiday spirits, now's your chance to pull them all together.

It's been so many years since Sofia started releasing annual Christmas songs that I can't even begin to link you to all our previous reviews. For 2020, the Swedish singer-songwriter ties the holiday to the pandemic pretty overtly, starting with the title, and takes her usual dark view with just a little bit of hope at the end to leaven the experience. It's a nice midtempo pop-rock ballad with just a touch of Americana to it. It's a pay-as-you-wish entry at Bandcamp. For the Talvik completists among you, she also released an EP, Notes For Christmas, with this single, two of her most recent Christmas singles, and an otherwise unreleased song, "Jul, Jul, strålande jul," a traditional Swedish song sung in the original language, and also in German.