December 2025 Archives

I never encountered this singer before, but she's not bad, and this 2025 rocker is a really cool piece that I'm sorry I didn't encounter before now. Starts out slow and poppy, and then the band kicks it into overdrive. Streaming and downloads where you do that business.

Guess we should note when a big rock star drops something Christmas-related, and for 2025 the perpetrator is one of the 90s biggest stars. She starts out all midnight-mass performance, and then the rhythm section kicks in for some rock vibes. Streaming and downloads.

I could find nothing out about this guy other than the fact that he borrowed his name from Kurt Vonnegut. This is a short, less than two-minute rendition of the fabled year-ending song with acoustic guitar and flute but with a mild indie-rock vibe to it. Streaming and downloads everywhere.

This is the first time I've encountered this ongoing series of Christmas compilations by a bunch of New Jersey people led by a fellow named Jon Montague, who helmed the first year's collection before passing away. His friends have continued the series ever since for the benefit of the Arbor Foundation. This is more of a long EP than an album, and it kicks off with Tom Ryan & Friends' "Westward Leaning," a fairly yearning Americana ballad, going into It's a King Thing's "Rockin With Santa Claus," a short but snappy pop rocker, and Mark Martucci's "In the Furs," a midtempo number led by organ and old-school rhythm box. Joy Riding give us "This Ain't a Race," an indie-pop shuffle, Old Souls offer the moody instrumental ballad "Lakota," The 1910 Chainsaw Co. do Tom Petty's "Christmas All Over Again," The Only Ghost In Town offer the acoustic rocker "The Room Is Cold," and Damn the Lions wrap things up with the indie-sounding "Snow Folks," which takes a poke at commercialism, including this site's putative sponsor. The collection only appears on Bandcamp, along with previous editions, but I did find a few of the older albums, along with "Rockin' With Santa Claus," on Amazon.

We've previously noted Alice Cooper's foundation that provides musical education to at-risk youths and their ongoing habit of issuing Christmas music collections based on their annual Christmas concerts. As always, the benefactor's musical past and influences are big influences in what the students come up with, as in Pinup's imaginative deconstruction of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," Vipera's "O Come O Come Emanuel," Faultline's "What Child Is This," Plum's "Sugar Plum Pudding" that starts out as "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town," and Distorted's "Feliz Navidad," but there are more poppy items like Zayah's "It's Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas," Lizzie's "You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch," Dually Noted's "Underneath the Tree," Sammie Jaclyn's "Grown Up Christmas List," and Evelyn Errante's acoustic reading of the traditional "O Holy Night." Mitchael has a poppy rocker in "This Christmas," not the Donny Hathaway song, and Dylan Dean does "O Holy Night" in a more rocked-up arrangement while sneaking in Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah." Some decent playlist candidates here, although the poppier entries have a flavor of "theatre kid" about them. Streaming and downloads wherever you shop. Oh, in case you have trouble searching this out, the artist name in the metadata is "Proof Is in The Pudding." And since I missed it last year, here's the 2024 edition of this series.

This is from the sessions for the Queen II album and is previously unreleased. It's a Brian May song and he revealed its existence on British radio this week. Not strongly Christmasy, but it does have a compatible vibe as it goes on about wintry topics. Apparently the song came from Brian's previous band Smile originally. An expanded version of Queen II is set for release in 2026 and this will be on it, until then it's only on YouTube.

These two hip-hoppers have previously released Christmas collections of tunes going back to 2016, and they're back in 2025 with this five-song EP that dropped Christmas day. All are mid-tempo jams and fairly lively-sounding, my choices here would be "Black Santa" and "Gloria." The rest are "Safe With Me," "I Want What I Want," and "Bless Them All." Like the others, this is only available on Soundcloud.

Austin, TX-based Potter describes himself as a "bedroom wizard," and this 2025 collection does have the feel of a homebrew project. But that's not a bad thing. The description indicates this release was compiled from a lot of different previous projects, and it's mainly his vision of a fairly eclectic selection of covers, like "One More Sleep 'til Christmas" with Julie Wierd, fairly conventional versions of "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" with Lindsey Mackin, same for "My Favorite Things," a live band version of the "Home Alone" theme, and two songs from the James Bond film "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," the title song plus "We Have All the Time in the World." I wouldn't call this an essential grab for your holiday playlists, but it does reward multiple listenings. Grab this from Bandcamp, no other streaming options available.

Well, I didn't have a Kraftwerk Christmas parody on my bingo card for 2025, or any year really. This is a single that smushes Christmas carols into the Kraftwerk song "Pocket Calculator," and steals some other stuff along the way, including a snippet of "South Park." Flip it over for "Neon Xmas Lights," more of a straight mashup of the Germans with Smokey Robinson, Prince, Luther Vandross, Beastie Boys and "Star Wars Christmas." If you like that, the artist offers a separate tune, "Hanukkah Falls on the Sabbath," which is Jack Black vs Black Sabbath. Get this from Bandcamp, no other streaming option I can discover.

Got tipped to this during Christmas Eve dinner, this is the first chance I've had to put it up. Set to that hippopotamus song, it gets its point across quickly. Too bad I didn't have it for this Christmas so you could playlist it, but those of you who celebrate Orthodox Christmas still have a shot. It started out as a TikTok, but has migrated to YouTube and streaming as well.

My holiday travel plans require me to step away from the screen earlier than normal, so I'd like to once again thank readers and followers of this website for sticking with me as I continue my semi-obsession with this website and its mission of tracking new and obscure Christmas music in the general rock 'n roll multiverse. I continue with mixed feelings given that the mission used to be acquiring songs in physical form back when I started doing this in the 1990s and now it's a question of tracking 1's and 0's across the digital realm. The fact that our main pipelines to music think nothing of choosing the next song for you before you can decide what you want to hear also feels kind of diminishing. On the other hand, building original playlists to share with your friends is easier than ever, so there's that. Merry Christmas and happy holidays, and as always I've managed to find you a small silly gift, below.

Paula is a veteran of the Boston music scene who performed with the Drop Nineteens and Boy Wonder before going solo, and she's popped up on a couple of ancient Christmas compilations in the past. For 2025 she gives us this cool Brill Building-via-synthpop ballad, very dramatic and heartstring-tugging thanks to her little-girl vocal style. Downloads and streaming everywhere.

The Hanukkah band from two decades ago is back with this single providing us with a rocking song based on an old proverb. It's neat and doesn't stick out as a Hanukkah song, if that means anything to you. Streaming and downloads. Should note that the band included this and another song, "Jewish Stars," on a revamped and newly vinylized version of their original Hanukkah Rocks album, but you'll have to go to Bandcamp to get it if you still can. Oh, should note that I completely whiffed back in 2015 when I missed these guys joining up with Matisyahu for the kosher reggae "Outside of December."

Cool Philly band drops a pair of pop-punk covers for 2025, the George Harrison song "Ding Dong Ding Dong," good for Christmas and New Year's playlists both, and Wham's "Last Christmas." Streaming and download everywhere.

These Aussies carry the AC/DC flag forward for 2025 with this tune about a holiday tradition, although the human resources department at your workplace might not approve. But it's a driving rocker that'll wake up your playlists. Streaming and downloads, natch.

UPDATE: This album got a major update for 2025, with the original tunes remixed and remastered and a couple new ones added: "AEt," a thrasher that appears to be a jaundiced look at holiday sugar intake, and the even more intense "Everybody Christmas," which they're promoting as a single. Album cover and link to Amazon are updated at right. END UPDATE. Those of you whose life paths carry you a little too close to the retail sector might well be sick of Christmas already. If that's you, these guys might well be your holiday soundtrack, assuming metal crunch with a side order of laughs is your favored genre. On this 2007 disc, "Holiday Hate" brings the bitch list with its "Consumers gotta BUY" chorus, its declaration that Santa doesn't exist and its complaint that Christmas goodies make us fat. Despite the fact that Santa doesn't exist, he turns out to be a "Jollly Old Sadist" who doesn't come through on the wish lists unless you really wanted a shirt box full of socks. "Jingle Bell Metal" is pretty much as advertised, "Silent Night" is nothing of the kind, though it's only 25 seconds long, "Red Snow" is Rudolph's snuff-horror fantasy, causing Johnny Marks to roll over in his grave no doubt, and how else to cap off the festivities than with "Happy F- New Year."

Some cool punk rock from these guys in 2025 celebrating the holiday at the famed Chicago Cubs ballpark. How that works I'm not sure, I don't think there's much going on there between October and April, but sports fans will certainly go along. Flip it over for "Santa's Coffee," a little less frenetic but no less rocking about giving the jolly elf a pick-me-up before the big night. Streaming and downloads, natch. Should note that this isn't the band's first holiday go-round, plus they have a side project as Ralphie's Red Ryders doing songs exclusively about the movie "A Christmas Story." 

I've been remiss if I believe this Minneapolis guy's Bandcamp blurb about how this 2025 tune is his 20th annual holiday single. Doesn't appear they're all on Bandcamp, but there's a bunch of them there. For now I'll just stick to this year's entry, a bit of white-guy hip-hop about how Christmas can transport you through time, a nice sci-fi way of describing nostalgia. Hop over and grab this, as his holiday releases are charitable outreaches benefitting RAINN and Wigs For Kids. Streaming and downloads, click the cover to get it from Amazon.

It had only recently occurred to me that despite flagging numerous covers of this guy's popular Christmas song "Driving Home For Christmas" from 1986, we never gave it its own dedicated post. Two recent developments reminded me of this shortfall; one, the 2025 release of this compilation of holiday tunes by him, and two, his demise this week at age 74. "Driving" had actually dropped as the B-side of "Hello Friend" but, especially in his native UK and Europe, the record got flipped regularly at the end of the year for this nostalgic slice of yacht rock about holiday travels. This compilation is kind of slight, in that it includes two versions of "Driving" and "Footprints in the Snow," the latter one vocal and one instrumental; the slinky semi-spoken "Joys of Christmas"; the ballads"Smile" and "Winter Song"; and the instrumental reggae goof "Rudolph's Rotor Arm." Streaming and downloads everywhere, of course.

These guys are on a Christmas crusade. For 2025 they've added to their holiday repertoire with this sweet indie-pop-sounding ballad. Doesn't show up on streaming yet, but you can download it free from their website.

The Merkels have historically dropped their annual recording project exactly on Christmas Day in previous years, so I was surprised to see their 2025 release had dropped way back on Dec. 1. Anyway, it's here, an EP full of rock parodies designed to change up the pace of your holiday playlists. If you missed last year's single of "Reindeer Game" (Chris Isaac parody) and "Last Christmas I Told You I Love You," not to worry, they're tacked onto the end of this release, at least on the streaming services. The remaining songs are "For Santa's Girth" (Buffalo Springfield), "One Red Light" (Wallflowers), "Tree" (Radiohead), and "Sittin on the Back of My Sleigh" (Otis Redding). As always, you might note the productions are a touch amateur, but that's part of their charm, I think. Available everywhere including Bandcamp.

Hi folks, I took a day to finish off the 2025 Mistletunes musical Christmas mix. I link to it here, but like all the previous ones it's down there in the sidebar too, at the top for alphabetical reasons. Regular posting will resume, so don't forget that our Amazon affiliation helps defray the costs of running this fine website, so consider using links from this site to jumpstart your shopping trips. Whenever there's an Amazon link to a particular song, it's accessed by clicking on the album cover art of the individual post. Join Amazon Prime, get audiobooks from Audible, or stream Amazon Music. Thanks. 

The perennial Christmas punks are back in 2025 with a cover of Eric Idle's anti-Xmas carol. It was funny when it was just him and a guitar, and it's still funny with these guys thrashing it out all 1977-style for us. Appears to only be on their Bandcamp page.

Kansas City, MO-based Chase has been around for a while and for 2025 dreamed up this cool little pop-rocker with little bits of Phil Spector and Bruce Springsteen's sound mixed into a tune that also reminds of a more boisterous Father John Misty. Great stuff, and there are three different mixes of it included on the single. Downloads and streaming everywhere. 

Kylie's one of those British singing stars who, like Robbie Williams and The Darkness, have only managed the slightest visibility in the American music charts. This album originated in 2015 and has been retinseled for 2025 with three new tunes, the self-described "banger" "Hot In December," the uptempo "Office Party," and the ballad "This Time of Year." Kylie's usual sound is contemporary hit radio via early 90s dance music, but for the holiday crowd she willingly went old-school jazz-era pop on "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year," "Santa Baby," "Let It Snow," "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," and "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" in which she exhumes Frank Sinatra for a duet. (Of this latter item, from the original 2015 album, I'm really over this Duets of the Living Dead thing, especially since you can do something similar with AI nowadays.) The original album also featured modern originals like "100 Degrees" done with her sister Dannii, "White December," and "Christmas Isn't Christmas Till You Get Here." The modern stuff is clearly her forte and I'm happy to wave one or more of these into your playlists; the antique pop stuff is probably done better by others. Oh, almost forgot; if you buy the album from Amazon, it includes the 2015 tune "XMAS," which has remained exclusive to the merchant from that day to this. There are also endless remixes of this particular song available there as well.

It's the 30th anniversary of this DIY stalwart issuing their first Christmas song. For 2025 we get a rocked out number about a Santa Claus on the run. Cool stuff, free to download from their site (no streaming anywhere), and as always the whole 30 years worth of holiday music is there for your free download. Check it out.

Stereogum calls these guys "New York synth-punks," and I'll go along because I don't know any different. For 2025 they drop this deceptively bouncy ode to what appears to be an ending relationship but later appears to be an ending world. Guest vocal by Lulu Landolfi, who goes by "Lulu" in the credits, but I'm adding her last name so that no old people in the audience will wonder if it's the same person who sang "To Sir With Love." Streaming and downloads, you know the drill.

Just discovered this and I'm not sure whether it was intended as a holiday release, but given that it dropped just two days ago and is about a winter weather phenomenon, I'm going to allow it. This is a cool lo-fi indie ballad from a Baltimore-based trio with several recent releases to their credit. Streaming and downloads everywhere.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Mannheim Steamroller have become standard entertainment fare in the holiday season after 40 years or more recording and touring, so it's not surprising some other entity would come along to cover that slice of sonic territory. Enter Dynalectric Orchestra, a Montreal-based ensemble that has been around since at least 2019, and for 2025 has dropped an album, a separate EP with additional tunes, and a single, "Best Christmas Ever," covering the Christmas beat. This stuff is all solidly in the tradition established by the predecessor ensembles -- 70s classic rock with lots of metal-style guitar shredding backed by orchestras and synthesizers for the most massive possible sound. I've been on record as being not so excited about this particular sub-genre of rock music, but I'd never discourage anyone from checking it out for themselves. Their official website shows a quartet of middle-aged folks in period-correct rock star attire, though oddly the actual names of these people don't figure here. (I did find four names attached to their Bandcamp page.) And of course, pre-announcements of future tours and lots of swag for sale are there as well. All this is my roundabout way of getting to the payoff; Apple Music shows they released eight albums in calendar year 2025 and even more singles and EPs, leading to my suspicion that these guys, if not actually AI-generated entities ala Tilly Norwood, are definitely using the latest tools to bulk up their discography. Do with that what you wish; I'll give them credit for the quality of "Best Christmas Ever" as a cool midtempo rocker. Streaming and downloads everywhere.

We don't get enough dopey party records around the holidays, so here's one from the famed supermodel and influencer about a little girl at the South Pole who made ice cream out of snow and got the idea to deliver it around the world around Christmas, but the Claus-man didn't wanna share his franchise and flipped the script, leading him to the North Pole and fame. This is kind of a pop/hip-hop banger and you may have trouble following the storyline just by listening, but you won't care because you'll be dancing. Streaming and downloads, though People magazine showed a physical CD package.

Two decades on from their debut, The Darkness are still mining that 70s glam/hard rock sound, though their fandom is largely anchored to the UK and EU, as their earnest take on their inspirations has not gotten them much notice here in the USA. For 2025 they drop their third Christmas single (one and two here), a slow crunch hard rock ballad about two time-tested ways to celebrate the holiday. Streaming and downloads, natch.

Minnesota-based Kestner has been around for almost a decade, and for 2025 she dropped this cool midtempo ballad expressing good holiday wishes but with the possibility she's not having the same feeling going unspoken. Streaming and downloads.

Bernie was an original member of the Eagles, and some would say a valuable one, though he was turfed out in favor of Joe Walsh despite his versatility on various stringed instruments, vocals and songwriting. He's been a busy beaver as a solo artist if not particularly famous for his efforts, and for 2025 he dropped this single. It's billed as parts one and two, though it's actually two different versions of the same song. Part one is a song about the protracted preparation for the holidays in an arrangement that would fit seamlessly into an early Eagles setlist; part two is a more bombastic commercial arrangement, although this version would fit better with 70s Top 40 than a contemporary hit radio format. Anyway, both versions are fine and you can choose which one to go with on your own. Streaming and download.

The label name tipped me off that these guys might be from Philadelphia, and indeed they are. From listening to this 2025 release, you might think they're Tex-Mex, right down to the roller-rink organ. The title is the bell that rings on the "Christmas train," just so you know, although you'll be dancing and your partner will be too distracted to absorb this little factoid. Flip it over for "Christmas Struttin'," about walking down the street at Christmas time. A little slower and funkier but still a worthy holiday rocker. A little investigation reveals this is the third year in a row this band has dropped a holiday goodie for your musical stocking; 2024 gave us "Wanamaker's Christmas" and 2023's entry was "Christmas Fun." Streaming and downloads of course.

Zack is a Pittsburgh-based performer with a recent album and several singles out there in the stream, and for 2025 he covered the long-running country/rock classic in an arrangement that leans more toward a David Lynch soundtrack. If you haven't made room for this particular tune in your holiday playlists, Zack's version is worth having. Streaming and downloads where you do that sort of business.

Indiemono is what passes for a record label nowadays, less concerned with creating hardcopy audio products and more concerned with getting artists where the ears are, in other words, streaming and downloads. This 2025 collection is indie-pop-rock of a particular kind, kinda lo-fi chamber pop and rock, and the 10 selections are all original holiday tunes. "Ho Ho Ho (Ozempic)" by Scoobert Doobert is a bouncy tune about the jolly elf partaking of the weight-loss drug, "Forgiveness (Merry Christmas)" by I Don't Speak French is a cool rocking shuffle, "Pink Sparkling Wine (Merry X-Mas)" by garbagepink is the singer celebrating alone, "All I Need This Christmas" by High Tropics is the usual call for love set to a lilting rock beat, and "Christmas Eve" by ALIE is more of a folkie ode to the night before. "Eskimo Kiss" by Sandra Iris is a sweet ballad, almost Europop in execution, "Such a Glow" by Chinless Wonder is a jazzy shuffle about the holiday lights, "NY'S EVE" by Julia Collado Riu is a slow ode to the last day of the year, "Wrap Up All the Moments" by Laney Lynx and Carey Clayton is a breathy love song, and "Office Party" by pen pin is self-explanatory. Lots of great choices for your playlists, streaming and downloads everywhere.

Funky duo from Bristol, UK drops five jammin' tunes for 2025, starting with the instrumental "Flavors" and segueing into "Rudolph's Revenge," a kind of battle-rap song in which Santa's mascot goes after his fellow sleigh-pullers and Santa himself. Rounding out the EP are "It's Almost Here," a short number with Santa's best wishes over some borrowed James Brown riffs, "It's That Time of Year," a midtempo holiday rap, and "All I Want," more of a slow jam about Christmastime lust. Streaming services have this as a single with "Flavors" and "Rudolph's Revenge," so to get the full EP you'll have to visit them at Bandcamp.

Up-and-coming power poppers The Lemon Twigs teamed up with someone named Tchotchke for this 2025 holiday anthem about, well, getting tchotchkes as Christmas gifts. Not a lot to say, this song just dropped today and it's got all the elements that Twigs fans revere in their previous non-holiday recordings, enough so that the band should really pencil in a full Christmas album at their earliest convenience. Streaming and downloads everywhere.

Longtime reader and friend of the site Howard Cogswell is, like many of our readers, someone who has made a hobby out of the pursuit of unique Christmas music. Well, times have changed but Howard hasn't; where this site originated in a time where we encouraged each other to chase down rare tunes on CD, vinyl, cassette, 8-track, reel-to-reel tape or USB thumb drive, we've evolved past that to downloads, streaming, and now, rolling your own via artificial intelligence. Mistletunes previously flagged some folks doing this in uproarious and profane ways; in 2025, we now know someone who has gone whole hog in dialing up Christmas songs of his own. In an email, Howard says he looked for "fresh ideas that haven't been done before" like "Christmas Boat Parade" and even cooked up some characters of his own like "Rip Van Crinkle," the "Christmas Bumble Bee," and "Christmas Roller Coaster." One song he mentioned, "Coming Home For Christmas," was derived from an existing poem. In my travels through his discography, I found he hit a lot of familiar beats as well. The overall vibe of JingleNogg tunes is pretty pop-oriented, roughly 70s-style pop with orchestrations underpinned by soft rock rhythms, but there are a number of tunes in different genres as well. If there's anything that gives me pause, it's that he's dropped five full, lengthy albums of these tunes and a number of singles, all in 2025. I've linked to a single one of the albums on Amazon, but the whole JingleNogg discography is available there and on the other streaming services. 

I first encountered these guys as one of the entries in the Snowflake Christmas Singles Club a few years ago, and for 2025 they've dropped a short album/long EP including their cool indie-rock entry from that series, "Happy Christmas To Me," along with several other previously released holiday tunes and a couple new ones. Things kick off with the thrashy "Not My Order," a goof on using the internet to buy gifts; "(I Wanna Wear a) Mirrored Hat Like Slade" is a poppy Christmas wish tune calling back to 70s glam-rockers Slade; "The Life We Led" is a midtempo reflection on a couple's past together; "Santa Bail Me Out" is a nice rocker about holiday misadventures; "Dreamland" is a duet vocal about holiday celebrations; "Click It and Pay (Walking in the Air)" sounds like it's also about online shopping; and "Merry Christmas Darlings" is an overall loping holiday greeting not unlike the previously mentioned Slade, with yet another mention of online commerce. Streaming and downloads, but if you go to Bandcamp they'll sell you a vinyl version of the album.

This London band gives us a kinda shoegaze-pop-rock love song about the holiday for 2025. Don't know too much about them, but feel free to judge them by this fine release, up for downloads and streaming everywhere.

I'm not familiar with these guys, and though there are a number of holiday in stir records out there (and mentioned on this site), one more in a tasty midtempo blues arrangement is always welcome. It's new for 2025, as is another tune, "Hearts Christmas Blue," which features a duet vocal from Emma Wilson. For some reason they aren't paired together, but they're out there for downloads and streaming.

These guys were pop punkers more than 20 years ago, took a hiatus and now they're back. For 2025 they dropped this cool number full of stop-start dynamics celebrating the holiday. It's part of an EP, though the other two tunes aren't holiday oriented, but they're listenable nonetheless. Streaming and downloads everywhere.

Haven't encountered this St. Paul, MN group before, but this 2025 release definitely lives up to its name. It's all covers, but chosen for their melancholy vibe. "I Was Thinking I Could Clean Up For Christmas" is the Aimee Mann song, "Christmas Eve Can Kill You" arrives via the Everly Brothers, "Christmas at Denny's" is the Randy Stonehill original, and "In the Bleak Midwinter" is the antique carol. Fingerpicked guitar, breathy vocals and the occasional use of drone instruments maintain the mood. Definitely worth their inclusion in your playlists. Oh, just to underline that I'm late to the party here, they did the same thing in 2015 with Vol. 1, including "Blue Spruce Needles," "Fairytale of New York," "The Lawson Family Murders" and "River." 

Don't know who these guys are, and the generic nature of their name makes search engines throw up all kinds of crap ads for crew-neck shirts and sweaters. I eventually discovered this is a bunch of Canadians in Chesterville, Ontario putting this 2025 album together in preparation for a holiday show in their home town. Highlights include two bluesy numbers, "Mexico Way" and "Christmastime Is On the Way," the pop-rocker "Eve of Christmas," the midtempo rocker "Cold Canadian Nights," the ballads "My Christmas Tree," "December Night" and "Peace This Christmas," a rocker called "Merry Christmas Mary Ann" with a lead vocal reminiscent of Neil Diamond, and a country number "But Santa I Can Explain." Classic carols here include "Good King Wenceslas," "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," "Jingle Bells" and "Jolly Old St. Nicholas." The preponderance of ballads make this a little mellow for our purposes here, but there's a bumper crop of good original tunes on here that deserve notice. Streaming and downloads everywhere.

Cool, clattery pop-rocker for the 2025 Christmas season where the singers dodge conventional Christmas celebrations to head out for a party that's more, as the kids say, lit. Flip it over for "Yuletide Moon," a little less Christmasy, more impressionistic of a winter outdoors. Just noticed that these folks, Nashvillians by way of Boston, tag themselves as "psychedelic," whatever that may mean 60 years later, but it's cool rock 'n roll no matter what you call it. Streaming and downloads, apparently the B-side is only on Bandcamp.

Seaside, OR's finest offer three new songs for Christmas 2025 via their Bandcamp page. "I Love Christmas Time" is solid pop-garage rock expressing delight at holiday memories, "Festive Trip" is a modern take on "Jingle Bells" dashing through the snow, although the visions appear to be courtesy of a tea made of 'shrooms, and "Lonely This Christmas" is a cool cover of the 70s UK classic by the band Mud. Doesn't appear to be on the usual streaming outlets, although I did discover a 2020 single, "Harehills Christmas," and a song on their 2002 album To Get A Better Hold You've Got To Loosen Yr Grip called "Every Day Is Christmas With You." Those appear to be widely streamable.

The long-running Philly punk band is still active, and for 2025 they dropped this wild synth-pop number about a deranged character doing business as Santa Claus and invading people's homes. It's fairly entertaining, and for now it's only on their Bandcamp page.

Haven't encountered this act before, but for 2025 they dropped this Yoko Ono cover with a female vocal, and they jingle-bell the arrangement up, making it sound very commercial. The original was the B-side of the John & Yoko classic "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)," and it's nice that it seems to be getting a second life of its own in recent years. Streaming and download where you do business.

Andemic is Andy Williams, once of Philadelphia and now of Los Angeles, and once vocalist of Lefty's Deceiver. This 2025 release is seven fairly lengthy songs, giving it the playing time of an LP, but we'll defer to the artist's judgment here. Overall, this is modern hard rock with some of the drone-ish components of industrial, but there's just enough pop sensibility to make this listenable to folks who don't normally seek this kind of music out. Two of the songs are covers, a thumping "Jingle Bells" with the carol's full set of lyrics, and a driving one-chord take on "I'll Be Home For Christmas." The rest are originals, kicking off with "Everyone's Always Sick Every Single Christmas," a clever observation set to a Morphine-like backing; "Wanamaker, Wanamaker," an ode to the defunct Philly department store's annual Christmas light show and organ recital; "Massapequa Park," celebrating the holiday outdoors; "War On Christmas" recalls the defeat of the Hessians on Christmas Day 1776; wrapping up with "(There's No Such Thing As) Christmas Cake," which notes that there's no one particular such pastry attached to the holiday. Check this out as a download or a stream.

Cool rock 'n roll, Underground Garage-ready tune for 2025. Don't know much about these guys except they've been around since roughly 2017, but they haven't had anything lately until now. Having trouble making out the lyrics, but apparently this is the British meaning of "got the sack," as in "fired." Why? It's a mystery, says the chorus. B-side is "Run Rudolph Run," a perfectly fine rendition of the Chuck Berry favorite. As of this writing, the only way you can get it is from their website, as I can't find it on Amazon, Spotify or Apple Music. UPDATE: David from the band says email them at santa@rockerati.com and ask for it free of charge.

The long-running British protest singer goes ultra-timely in 2025 with this broadside against right-wing xenophobia and fascism. It's directed against the UK's far-right agitator Tommy Robinson's hateful tirades against immigrants, but US audiences no doubt can substitute some names closer to home peddling the same messages. This is so fresh I don't see it on any of the usual services for sale or streaming, so here's the video.

I just heard about this Philadelphia band's cover of Counting Crows' "A Long December," which apparently only dropped two days before Christmas 2023. I discovered that this is just the latest in an ongoing series for this band, which has previously dropped new original Christmas songs in each of the last four years and is compiling them under the title For the Holidays. All these tunes are pensive mid-tempo indie-rock numbers and each of the originals is a gem.They include "Is It Snowing, Wherever You Are?," the lengthy "Christmas Lullaby," "Peace In Winter" and "Love Lives In Our Hearts, At Christmastime." Nice work, and 100 percent of the earnings from this go to Broad Street Ministry, which provides food and clothing to Philadelphia's homeless. Should make a note to check back each year for as long as this goes on. Visit them on Bandcamp. UPDATE: This year's additional song is a doleful original holiday ballad, "Old Time Christmas." FURTHER UPDATE: Add "Silent Night" to this collection for 2025.

The new collection of indie rock Christmas music from this Italian music blog has just dropped, so let's get right into it. Oscar Twins do a driving 90s rock tune called "Holy Fans," in which holiday commercialism takes a hit; Marcello Newman's "Natale hilare ex Roma" is a talking synth-pop narration of a different kind of 12 days of Christmas, cynical and funny; Setti's "Magica notte" is a folk-rock number in Italian, but I'm pretty sure the title translates as "Magical Night" and the rest of the lyrics proceed from there; Vanishing Muffins say they want to "Hit You With Snowball," but the lyrics to this fuzzy 90s rock tune are more about lusting after a lover; and e.p. nap featuring melody almroth offers this anti-Christmas number "john lennon, bono, bob geldof," a driving instrumental backing a recitation of an essay whose thesis is "Just be nice to people. Who gives a fuck about what time of year it is?" Assistant offers "Thank God We're Alive," a syncopated remembrance of past holidays that weren't so great; A Minor Place tills the same row with "The Story So Far (Christmas Time Not Doing Fine)," a bouncy number with twangy guitar and synths; No Other News covers The Aislers Set with "Cold Christmas," a more power pop tune; Baruf gives us a little hip-hop production with a brief "Christmas Time Is Here"; Baseball Gregg offers "Nevicare," a bit of slow-tempo surf-adjacent 60s pop-rock; and the Lost Cavalry offers "Christmas Wish," a sort-of R.E.M. tune with a hopeful slant on the holiday. Lac Observation's "Strungout Moonchild vs Arthur the White" follows an addict wandering around on the holiday; The Interpretation Cultures cover the Field Mice's "If You Need Someone" in a new-wave-via-Velvets arrangement; The Ian Fays perform "King's Cup," a rock ballad with sweet female voices mentioning cookie baking and the title-mentioned game; Steven Lipsticks and his Magic Band cover the Sonics' "Santa Claus" in a doomy, gothy synth-based arrangement; and Kristian Noel Pedersen does "Christmas All Over Again," not the Tom Petty song but a cool lo-fi rock 'n roll tribute to the holiday; Heron King offers "The Light," not Christmas but compatible sentiments; Deine Mutti's "Samurai" is in Italian, but it's a solid rocker and I did detect a "buon Natale" in the lyrics; Feduzzi takes on Charlie XCX with "Girl, So Confusing But With Guitars," the last part no doubt added by the artist; Easy Heart covers East 17 with "Stay Another Day";  Guimaraes offers "Damn Fine," a "Twin Peaks" tribute but not holiday oriented; and the Shalalas give us "After Hours," a Velvet Underground cover, also non-holiday. Buy this from Bandcamp and support Gaza Soup Kitchen with your purchase.

These guys carved out a niche for themselves many decades ago by being both Christian rock and heavy metal, so it's kind of surprising they haven't made more of Christmas before now. For 2025 they dropped this full album of old-school metal. The selections include the title song; "On This Holy Night," a midtempo take on the story of Jesus; "Still the Night," a fist-pumping holiday anthem; "Heaven Came (On Christmas Day)," and "Reason For the Season" as original holiday tunes by the band. They fill out the collection with a previously released version of "Winter Wonderland," plus "Go Tell It On the Mountain," "Little Drummer Boy," "Silent Night," and "Joy to the World." Weirdly, only Amazon has the full album; Spotify and Apple have "On This Holy Night" as an EP with "Still the Light" and "Winter Wonderland." Can't say listening to real live metal once more made me particularly nostalgic, but I wouldn't want to discourage fans of the genre from adding this to their holiday library.

We only got onto this particular bandwagon last year, but this ongoing compilation series of indie artists doing holiday tuneage has dropped a 2025 edition. Death Valley Girls offer the grungy synth anthem "Season of Dreaming," semiwestern's contribution is the thumping grinder "Merry Xmas Mary," Olivia Ellen Lloyd goes full country and western with "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!," Shannon Lay's "I'll Be Home For Christmas" is folky and spacy in equal measures, Zach Cooper makes a Hanukkah move with the almost spaghetti-western instrumental "8 Candles," Nightlands sings a choral ballad about a "Christmas Moon," Heavenly Peace cranks up the old-school modular synths behind a rhythm section for "Jingle Bells, Batman Smells," brend_zombley goes contrarian on us with "Scrooge Good," Eric Slick gives us an 80s synth-pop slow-tempo "The First Noel," Serious Bob evokes an ethereal "Magical Christmas" and Meridian Brothers wrap things up with an authentically Latino "Lloro Sonriendo En Navidad."  Unique takes on the holiday, up for streaming and download.

From Nashville, these folks are young hipsters obsessed with the crossroads connecting surf, punk and rockabilly. For 2025 they take a cue from the John Waters oeuvre, aided by a member of the band Cha Cha Heels, with this ode to the fashion accessory of the title. Flip side is "Female Trouble," the theme from the Waters movie of the same name, though not holiday oriented. Nevertheless, this is good stuff and you should playlist the A side for sure. Streaming and downloads, plus a Bandcamp page.

This 2025 collection results from an all-star music show broadcast live on Canadian television and recorded for your streaming and downloading enjoyment. Although Adams is nominally the artist on this, no doubt to facilitate easy searching, there are other big names involved here, including The Sheepdogs, Barenaked Ladies, Alessia Cara, Lights, and Alan Doyle. Given this was done for TV, there aren't any great creative leaps here, but there are plenty of good performances nonetheless. Selections include "Little Saint Nick," the Barenaked Ladies' "Green Christmas," Tom Petty's "Christmas All Over Again," "Jingle Bell Rock," "Deck the Halls," "I Saw Three Ships," "O Christmas Tree," "Christmas Time," "I'll Be There Christmas Eve," "Santa Man," "Make It To Christmas," and a new Adams original, "California Christmas." Downloads and streaming everywhere, no indication as to whether the original broadcast will be offered anywhere outside Canada at this time.

We've had these guys, San Antonio garage act dubbed the "Tex-Mex Beatles," on the site before with Christmas goodness. For 2025 they dropped this cool song, a 60s pastiche featuring a 6-year-old girl who asks Santa for "peace" for Christmas. It's part of an album called Christmas Candy, which is mostly made up of previously released tunes, many not holiday-oriented but do feature folks like Flaco Jimanez and Augie Meyers helping out. Anyway, this is aces, and there's an acapella version on the album too. Streaming and downloads everywhere, including Amazon and Bandcamp.

Hamell On Trial is an Austin, TX-based artist with almost 30 years of indie rock releases to his credit. For 2025 the artist has dropped a full album of holiday rock, rated somewhere between PG-13 and R. It starts with "Xmas Carol," a flashy uptempo album opener, and goes on to "Rudy," a profane talking folkie take on the red-nosed one's story; "Taut," a relentless beat obscuring the lyrics, couldn't make it out after a couple of tries; "POS," not a holiday tune, check the title in the Urban Dictionary if you're not hip; the album's title song, a bluesy strum backing a sketch about calling North Pole customer service; "Adele," an apparent love song to the pop diva that's also not a holiday tune, nor are the rockers "Dream," "Kisses" or "Amy";  "Gonna Miss U" is a poppy ode to not having someone in your life on the holiday, mentioning decorating the tree while "high as hell"; "Frosty" tells the snowman's story in Hamell's inimitable style; "Xmas List" is a folky strum about ditching the list in favor of love for all; and "Mailman" is the old joke about giving him a Christmas tip. Streaming and downloads everywhere, and a super-deluxe vinyl LP package is on offer through the Bandcamp site.

Haven't heard of Stephen before, but this 2025 release is a solid pop-rock ballad describing the usual holiday verities. Sedate but it's a new original tune, worth having in your pop holiday playlists. Streaming everywhere. 

AI alert: Tom Dyer of Green Monkey Records, when putting out a call for the songs that populated that label's two-volume Christmas compilation this year, included a memo about "cuss words" in the songs. Mark Brunke took the memo and some AI and created this entertaining little number. Most of you will probably not find this a useful addition to your holiday playlists, but it's funny and Christmas-related, so head over to Bandcamp and grab it.

This Olympia, WA record label last did one of these holiday compilations in 2020, although individual artists on the label have dropped some Christmas tuneage in the interim. This year, according to the label, they did a last-minute call for participants and got 33 responses, which led to there being volume 1 and 2 of this 2025 collection. Festivities kick off with Rusty Jason with Calamity Jason and the Editorial Review (whew!) throwing us "Retail Christmas," a country ode to Black Friday, The True Olympians faithfully covering the Sonics' "Don't Believe in Christmas," Across 35th offering a rocked-out take on the "Frozen" tune "Do You Wanna Build a Snowman," Mike Tye & Rosie Dyer offering a folky original "Christmas Spirit," Amy Denio playing all the parts on her original holiday nutritional warning "Sugar Sacks," Daven and Megan Tillinghast performing a choral gospel augmentation of "Angels We Have Heard On High," and Toxic Socket throw us an original rocker, "Jing Jing Lin." Richard Peterson's "On Christmas Day" originally appeared on his own album, Band Of Jays offers the syncopated, poppy "When It's Christmas," and Jim of Seattle's "Happy Holidays" is an imaginative solo piano medley of familiar Christmas carols in which he switches songs so quickly you have to work to figure the transitions. Throttle Body m/c does a "Silent Night" that isn't the familiar carol but an original folk-pop lament, Guidon Bear's "IWanna4GiveYou" is an indie-pop gem built on a Police-like rhythm and lots of female vocals, The Freewheelin' Joe Ros & Ed Portnow give us the bluesy shuffle "I Wish It Was Christmas," Fur For Fairies performs a lo-fi take on the Webber-Rice classic "Christmas Dream," Infra Ed does "Orange Grinch," which is the Grinch theme but in orange, and Chris Lund's "Christmas Time," a kind of power pop tune in which we hear equal parts Neil Young and Big Star, wraps up the proceedings. Click the cover or go to Bandcamp to get this volume. Vol. 2 gets a separate entry.

As promised, here's the second volume of Green Monkey's massive 2025 Christmas song drop. The True Olympians open things with the third version of their original "Fruitcake," previously on another Green Monkey comp and a Tom Dyer solo EP, Reggie Garrett and Christine Gunn offer "Personent Hodie," an antique number first published in a Finnish music folio in the 16th century and rendered here in a period-appropriate arrangement, Levi Fuller offers a politically astute dirge with the title "Merry Christmas (Everything's Fucked)," The Squirrels take a goofy tack on "Joy To the World," apparently donated from the band's own 30-year-old album, and Marke Brunke created the ragtime number "Old Christmas Rags" with the assistance of AI, although he put so much work into it it's hard to see what effort AI saved him. Kaz Murphy 3 offers the earnest original "Where Is Santa?," Krampus Choir does the ukulele ballad "Krampus," The Hyperdrive Kittens give us the punk energy of "All I Want," and Von Cube's "Christmas Time" has that 70s hard rock feel filtered through a lo-fi approach. The Olson Bros Band give us the acoustic swinger "Keepin' It Jolly," Daddy Daughter Datge DOD's "Jingle Bells" is fine if you're looking for parents getting their kid to sing a song, Tommy Lee Dyer's "John Lee Christmas" is a John Lee Hooker-styled holiday song, and Woo & Rooby do "Join Our Hands," a humorous acoustic novelty. The Dyer Family Singers perform "On Thanksgiving," a song for that holiday actually recorded on Thanksgiving, Dead Air Fresheners do "The Worst Noel," a film noir narration spoken over the familiar carol, The Elftones offer "Christmas is Here Again," a coming-home midtempo tune, and Ben Shaw wraps things with "The Man With the Beard," a folky ballad. As before, click the cover or visit Bandcamp.

Aphrose is a Toronto-based soul singer of Jamaican extraction, and for 2025 she drops this cool old-school soul midtempo ballad about living the whole year with Christmas spirit. Flip it over for "You Ain't Mine (At Christmas Time)," a little slower, also soulful, about missing someone on the holiday. Check these out for sure.

Fresh off her 2023 Christmas album, Cher drops a new holiday song in 2025, nicely uptempo and produced in the currently fashionable hit radio style. Has that kind of 90s-00s relentless rhythm often heard on the radio along with some synth-pop touches. Streaming everywhere, of course.

El Vez is nominally supposed to be an Elvis impersonator, but his past records show him parodying many other musical totems over the years. For 2025, he's dropped this single, which is unrecognizable as the popular carol of the title but is quite the old-school rock 'n roll raveup, so get this into your playlists. Flip side is "Tamalada," which is a Latino gathering where tamales are made and partying goes on, so not necessarily Christmas, but not necessarily not. Streaming everywhere, of course.

This New York group has dropped an EP in 2025 with four cool original holiday tunes in a lo-fi-pop-rock vein. "Fake Plastic Tree" is a 60s-influenced romp about enjoying the holiday in the glow of the title decoration, "Snow Day" is a midtempo rocker about craving that popular weather-related break in the week, "Cookies For Santa" brings in some background synths to support the story, and "Santa Don't Forget About Me" is a poppy plea for a visit from the jolly elf. Downloads and streaming from Amazon or Bandcamp.

The Maccabeats have brought the Hanukkah beats to the holiday before, and for 2025 they've gone completely bonkers with this nutty tribute to this year's streaming trend, "Kpop Demon Hunters." Lots of modern beats in this, with just the slightest suggestion of more traditional idioms. Streaming everywhere.

Sorry for the inadvertent hiatus in posting the last couple of days. My internet service was out for 36 straight hours over the weekend, and I had appointments yesterday and will have one today that may further delay posting. I'll try to make up for it over the course of this coming week. Meanwhile, I'll take this opportunity to remind you that our Amazon affiliation helps defray the costs of running this fine website, so consider using links from this site to jumpstart your shopping trips. Join Amazon Prime, get audiobooks from Audible, or stream Amazon Music. Thanks. 

Wicked Cool is Stevie Van Zandt's record label, and this 2025 compilation is the label's second after Christmas a Go-Go from 2008. Like that collection, these songs are all previously released as singles, and nearly all of them on Wicked Cool. As they're all solid examples of what you'd hear on Sirius XM's Underground Garage channel, the rock 'n roll bonafides are not in question, although regular readers here have probably heard most or all of them before, or at least read our reviews here. Among the tunes I've previously missed are "Christmas With Me" by Jessie Wagner featuring Rocco of the Snow, a nice uptempo girl-group influenced tune; "Gimme Christmas" by Prima Donna, a cool thumper that will remind you of the Ramones; "Santa's Coming (Ho Ho Ho)" by the Woggles, a bluesy stomp straight out of the garage; "To Heck With Ole Santa Claus" by Ryan Hamilton, a rockabilly cover of the Brenda Lee tune; Steve Conte's cover of the Kinks' "Father Christmas" is a solid tribute to the original, as is Soraia's "Santa Claus," the Sonics' original; and the Chesterfield Kings' boogie take on "White Christmas." That leaves "It's Christmastime" by the Empty Hearts," "Another NY Christmas (Piss the Season)" by Wyldlife, "Christmas in the Sand" by Kurt Baker, and "Auld Lang Syne" by the Dollyrots as tunes you can search on this site for the original reviews. Streaming and downloads everywhere, no hardcopies that I can find.

This British band has only been around for a few releases, but this 2025 single is a thrashy punk ode to a disgruntled railway worker who makes the song title a reality. Flip it over for "Christmas Train," a lighter take on the holiday that's still punky and thrashy like its A-side companion. Downloads and streaming, and there's a link to a 7-inch vinyl artifact as well, but with Damaged Goods being a UK company I make no guarantees regarding shipping costs.

Guyton is nominally supposed to be country, and being Black she has had to work pretty hard to be noticed in Nashville. This 2025 collection, featuring some new songs and some old ones, isn't going to strengthen her case to be recognized as country, however; this is straight-up 2020s pop-rock with just the tiniest bit of soul added, that element being her voice. (I'll spare you an extended essay on how country is just whatever Nashville says it is on any given day.) Strong uptempo performances characterize such tunes as "Save a Little Christmas For Me," "Sugar Cookie," "It Won't Be Christmas," and the Michael Bolton duet "Christmas Isn't Christmas." "Mistletoe Kisses" is more of an old soul ballad, although the tempo is jacked up a bit compared to how this might have been approached at, say, Stax or Atlantic. The title song is more of a ballad, as is a pretty soulful take on "O Holy Night" and "Do You Want to Build a Snowman." Streaming and downloads everywhere, of course. Missing from this collection is another 2025 single, a duet with Drew Baldridge, "Joy to Your World," another midtempo pop-rocker with the kind of modern production you'll recognize instantly.

Bongo Boy Records is back again for 2025 with the 10th volume of their holiday series of compilations. Although we've found in the past that the word "Rockin'" is doing a lot of work when representing these collections, there's nevertheless been some good playlist candidates here, as always. Monique Grimme is apparently the star of this year's compilation as she's represented four times, starting with "Christmas Is Coming, the Goose is Getting Fat," a pop-rock duet; "First Snowfall Memory," a mildly funky, almost yacht-rock tune; "Silver Dust and Mistletoe," a minor-key power ballad with some solid lead guitar; and "My Favorite Part of Christmas," another ballad, this one more gentle in approach. Following on, we have "Christmas Time" by Inches From Sin, a cool midtempo tune that seems to combine 70s Top 40 with 80s synth-rock, and they return later with "Jingle Jangle Jingle," a fine uptempo 70s funk tribute. Simonne Draper gives us the orchestral instrumental "Flowertina," Boys 'n Barry offer us "It Was Santa," a poppy featuring with Sandi Kight, "Why Can't Everyday Be Christmas" by Steve Contino is an uptempo rocker with a bit of 80s drum machine propelling it, Wayne Olivieri & DJ Christ Ibe give us the synth-poppy "I Love Christmas Time," Kristin Hope punk-thrashes her way through "I Saw Three Ships," the New Bardots nod to the end of the holiday with the closing song, "New Year's Lullaby," a nice barroom rocker, and, as always, Jackie Kringle & the Elves give us the title song of the collection. Plenty of playlist candidates here, whether pop or rock. Streaming everywhere, click the cover to find it on Amazon.

This cool 2025 pop-rocker features an ex-member of 90s band Fuzzy along with the singer from Letters To Cleo. The disadvantages of Christmas, according to the band, include its inability to arrive more than once in any calendar year, and there's more in the same vein to be had while you're bopping along. Click the cover to sample at Amazon. There's a "deluxe single" in vinyl available from the band, shared with another band which I'll tell you about next.

Boston rockers The Other Girls dropped this 2025 rocking classic, which is split with Hilken and Melissa's tune, understandable since Melissa is in both bands. This one has more of that garage attitude, laying out the downside of the holiday with gusto. As with the other song, the band offers the "deluxe single" in vinyl, or you can chase it down from Amazon.

These guys from Fullerton, CA identify as Orange County Punk, which I guess is Green Day-style pop-punk rock, judging from what's on offer on this 2025 EP. If you can imagine the Darlene Love classic covered by Green Day, then you've got this down cold. Quite enjoyable to me, and if your playlists are heavy on this style, you'll want this. The other two songs are non-holiday tunes in a similar vein, "U-Haul Van" and "Better Off Dead." Rum Bar Records is on Bandcamp, or you can click the cover to get just the holiday song off Amazon.

Not too sure if these folks are a band or if they're podcasters, but for 2025 they've dropped this single with two original holiday tunes, "It's Martini Time" and "A Box of Wine For Christmas." In keeping with their name, this is old-school jazz-pop lounge music, so it's up to you how you want to play this, but these tunes work as novelties, if nothing else. Check them out on Bandcamp, doesn't seem to be available any other way.

I tend to assume readers know that Peter was the lead singer of Herman's Hermits because of my advanced age; probably more readers nowadays know he has an airshift on Little Steven's Underground Garage. At any rate, we can agree he's a legacy artist in the rock field, which more than justifies his appearance here with his 2025 single, nicely uptempo and more pop than rock, which has always been his musical style. Streaming everywhere. Oh, just noticed that way back in 1970, he dropped a bluesy take on "Do You Hear What I Hear."

ShanDaria is from Charlotte, NC, and I got a preview of this 2025 single to share with you. It's a cool slow jam that's all about missing someone on Christmas and asking Santa for help. Supposed to drop Dec. 5, but it's apparently streaming already, so go check it out.

Fresh off last year's album compilation of Tonight Show holiday novelties, Fallon returns with up-and-coming country singer Carter Faith to duet on this old-school country song about the longtime internet meme about Christmas sweaters. Looks like the above-mentioned album has been reissued to include this song. Not my cup of tea, but if you're going full Americana on this year's playlists, this should offer a little comedy relief.

Longtime readers should recognize Sofia, as she is pretty much an annual visitor to this site with her tradition of a new Christmas original going back two decades. For 2025 she's compiled some of her recent singles into an album, adding three new songs. "Let Peace Be the Song" is her official 2025 single, a fine folky major key melody contrasting a downbeat lyric about a cold, cruel world during the holiday season. There's also a baroque version of "Silent Night" and another original, "Merry Christmas, Adios, So Long," in which she critiques AI and declares she's out of ideas for Christmas songs. While we hope she's not completely serious, she's certainly earned a break from telling Christmas stories in song. Nine other tunes on this album were previous singles, and we've covered them in previous years, so pop into the search window if you need to know more. Downloads and streaming everywhere, but go to her Bandcamp page for CDs.