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peppermintxmas.jpgAnother Boston power-pop ensemble checks in for 2021 with this cool 70s-inspired pop rocker, starting out quiet and delaying the rock 'n roll explosion to the second verse. A fine piece of work, and if the song on its own doesn't tempt you, perhaps you haven't glommed on to several past Christmas singles of the Rum Bar label that are included for the price of a single. They are "Classic Ruins" by Scrooge's Body Shop, "What Will Santa Bring" by Heatwaves featuring Freddie Dilevi, "Some Kind of Christmas" by Stop Calling Me Frank, "Christmas Time Again" by the Connection, and "X'mas Time (It Sure Doesn't Feel Like It)" by The Dogmatics. For some reason "Peppermint" appears twice in this collection, and there appears to be no difference in the two versions. Anyway, you'll pay more for a beer than for this collection, so what are you waiting for? Get it on Bandcamp. UPDATE: For 2023 Rum Bar added two songs to this collection, "Maybe This Christmas" by the Gypsy Moths and "Effin' Dreidel Song" by Jay Allen and the Archcriminals. Still a "name your price selection" at Bandcamp.

Jangle Bells, various artists (Rough Trade)

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janglebells.jpegRough Trade, once an independent punk-new wave record label based in Britain, is now more of a vinyl-and-merch clearing house with actual brick-and-mortar stores in New York and London. Nevertheless, they have pretty good taste in ferreting out indie artists they can feature with fresh vinyl, and for 2023 they compiled a Christmas album which is mostly previously released, or previously exclusive streaming-only, songs. So I probably don't have to spend a lot of time selling you on this if you're into physical media (vinyl and CD versions available through Amazon as well as Rough Trade). They claim one exclusive-to-this-compilation tune, Marika Hackman's "Driving Under Stars," and other tunes include "Groovy Xmas" by Linda Lindas, Black Midi's "Jingle Bell Rock," Los Bitchos' "Los Chrismos," Pale Waves' version of "Last Christmas," Allo Darlin's "Will You Please Spend New Years With Me?," Bubble and Squeak's "The Christmas Stick," and Sinkane's version of "Christmas Wrapping." Fourteen tunes in total for vinyl, the CD gets five bonus cuts: "Lonely Star (Christmas Song)" by Dream Nails, "Merry Christmas" by Willie J Henley, "I Wish I Were Giving You a Gift" by Girl Ray, "Christmas Anyway" by Stars," and Alex Lahey's version of "Merry Christmas (I Don't Wanna Fight Tonight)." No downloads or streaming, but as I said a lot of these tunes already existed in those realms.

polaroid2023.jpgThis Italian radio show and blog has been compiling indie-pop Christmas albums for several years now, and they're back again this year with 19 new songs. It's a "name your price" purchase at Bandcamp and the proceeds benefit SOKOS, a volunteer-run health clinic in Bologna, Italy for migrants and the homeless. As you might expect, some of the artists are performing in Italian here, but the Bandcamp page helpfully offers each song's lyrics, which you can drop into Google Translate at your leisure. Emphasize the "pop" in indie-pop, as nearly all these performances, even the uptempo ones, have a sort of mellow vibe to them. Baseball Gregg has a semi-distracted performance on "December First," in which the singer wants to make this record but is battling the sniffles. "Our Long Goodbye" by May Eyes Love is more of a wordless vocal/instrumental, "Santa Claus Goes Erotic" by Tacobellas is an R-rated punker, "Blue-Eyed Boy" by Her Skin has the vocalist wanting a guy who has a different girlfriend at Christmas, "Who Cares If Christmas Comin;" by A Minor Place featuring Cristiano Pizzuti is a meditation on holiday loneliness, "O e Natali tutti I giorni" by Luca Mazzieri is a nice folky strum which I'm pretty sure is about Christmas, "All the Wreaths" by the Ian Fays is a ballad full of ancient pop culture references, and "My Treee" by Plastic Palms is sort of the Velvet Underground on helium, but it's cool for all that. There's more, and you should at least give it a listen.

merrieindie.jpgOnly just discovered this charitable effort mounted on behalf of Wales' nonprofit Crisis, which fights homelessness. It's a huge playlist, taking just short of two hours to listen to, and in keeping with the name it's a roster of indie artists playing Christmas songs. You'll find performances from bands we've covered here in the past, like the Futureheads, Lisa Mychols, the Pearlfishers, the Hannah Barberas, Helen Love and Ricardo Autobahn, but the preponderance of the playlist offers songs I haven't heard before, though I'm pretty sure they've been curated from around the British Empire. Sonically this 2023 collection might remind you of the Cherryade compilations, although there aren't many artists from the lo-fi realm here. The rundown here will be incomplete, but when you grab this from Bandcamp, you can hover over the song titles and click on the "info" tag to learn more about each individual artist. Among the highlights are Bjear featuring Ella Ion with the ethereal "Sleep Sound," Bunnygrunt's short tribute to the Velvet Underground "All I Got For Christmas Was This Lousy Boy," Caleb Nichols' ballad "I Fell In Love On Christmas Day," Lisa Mychols' "The Joy Is In the Giving" was re-recorded especially for Crisis, Charlie's Hand Movement's "Always a Dream" is mid-tempo power pop, El Gato Roboto's mildly punk "Merry Merry Christmas" is cool, Fascinations Grand Chorus reuses the same title in a girl-groupy rocker, El Sancho repurposes "Blitzkrieg Bob" into "Merry Christmas Joey Ramone," and Vista Blue stays in that lane with "I Want New Ramones Songs For Christmas." Red Shoe Diaries give us "Ice and Snow," Brixton Riot punk out on "Lockdown Holiday," The Wedding Present's "The Loneliest Time of Year" is here, Valentina Way sings about the "Advent Calendar 2022," Wicketkeeper offers the punky "Ho Ho It's Christmas Again," and Wake Up and Smell the Sun goes old-school boogie on "Thee Christmas Card Committee." There's more, all good, and if you can't get enough you can still download Vols. 1 and 2.

bongoboy8.jpgIt's the 2023 edition of this annual compilation, which we've covered in previous years. The NEW Bardots appear twice, first with their almost power-pop version of the Band's "Christmas Must Be Tonight" and then with their previously released "Santa Don't Like Politics." Lyla Meta gives us a folk-gothic take on "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," STUDEO offers the midtempo rocker "Under the Christmas Tree," and Charles Brown performs an instrumental version of "Greensleeves," known in the vocal version as "What Child Is This." Boys 'N' Barry offer the pop rocker "Christmas With You," Ma Bell break out the banjo with "Christmas in the Country," Annemarie Picerno takes the blues uptempo with "Mr. Santa," Gregg Wietstock takes a folky tack on "2020 Christmas Star," and Rita Fay Tanner's ballad "Little Child in My Arms" is performed live. Oh, and as with all the previous editions of this compilation, we get Jackie Kringle & the Elves performing the title song.

phillyspecial2.jpgBack for a second year, members of the Philadelphia Eagles join with Philly-based musicians for a seven-song collection of Christmas music to benefit various Philadelphia charities. Among the participants, in addition to Eagles Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata (and reputedly KC Chief Jordan Kelce, Jason's brother and official Taylor Swift arm candy, who's on "Fairytale of Philadelphia") are Patti LaBelle, Amos Lee, Eric Bazilian and Rob Hyman of the Hooters, DM Hotep, Kevin Hanson, and members of Waxahatchee, the War on Drugs, Mewithout you, Dr. Dog, and the Silver Ages Choir. As with last year's collection, probably none of these entries are going to be your favorite versions of the songs, but it's a well made and listenable album. This year's album features a Jason Kelce original, "Santa's Night," a countrified ballad that isn't at all bad, and the rest are all familiar tunes. "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts)," "This Christmas," "Pretty Paper," "The Dreidel Song," "All I Want For Christmas Is You," "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," and "Auld Lang Syne" all get serviceable versions, and they parody the Pogues on "Fairytale of Philadelphia," although the recent loss of Shane MacGowan probably dampens your enjoyment of that particular cut. Widely available on download and streaming, and the official website offers vinyl combined with swag to raise the maximum amount for charity.

giftwrapfewgood.jpgImagine my surprise when, during my expedition into the recent history of Warner Records' Gift Wrapped series of compilations, I pulled up Volume 3 of this New Jersey indie rock label's similarly named series of holiday EPs instead of the Warners Vol. 3 I was looking for. Volume 1 dropped on Christmas Eve 2019 and features seven songs, starting with Backyard Superheroes' not-quite-ska "This Christmas" and proceeding into Calendar Year's "Noel Solitare," an uptempo cross between thrash and Britpop considering the nature of loneliness and the connection to the holiday. Emotional Transporter gives us the punk tribute "We Are Santa's Elves," Love, Rose comes back with a cover of "Little Saint Nick" similarly punked out, and Jake and the Nowhere performs "Christmastime in New Jersey," a drunken recitation of the state's place names with a bit of holiday nostalgia thrown in. Grey Goes Black goths up Wham's "Last Christmas" and TEDxDANCESøN wraps things up with "A VERY MERRY TEXxMas," a clattery symphony for guitars and synths. Volume 2, from 2020, kicks off with Ed Allison's fairly faithful Fall Out Boy cover, "Yule Shoot Your Eye Out," followed by Fit the Bill's midtempo acoustic pop-rocker "Snow & Mistletoe," Grey Goes Black returns with a slowed-down cover of "Christmastime Is Here," and TEDxDANCESøN gives us a synth-pop cover of My Chemical Romance's "Every Snowflake Is Different (Just Like You)." Blue Vines resurrects Tom Petty for three minutes with a poppier take on "Christmas All Over Again," and TH Speedball wraps things up with the synth-pop "Santa Claus (Ho Ho Hoin')," a lost-love take on the holiday. Volume 3 starts with Pezh & Son Pat doing a fairly faithful version of "Last Christmas," Landon Defever covers Fountains of Wayne's "Valley Winter Song" in a more indie-pop way, Vater Boris offers "Silent Night Manic Night" in a version that starts as a drone and ends as a surf instrumental, and Todd Barriage does "If La Dispute Made Christmas Music," a reference to the hardcore band, although as I've never heard that band I'm missing the gag, as this is a Christmas-themed monologue laid over a decent cover of "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)." These are all download and streaming; the individual links above are to Amazon, but if you click the cover you can access them all on Bandcamp.

giftwrap4.jpgWe don't get a lot of major label compilations for Christmas in the post-physical-media era, so kudos to the Brothers Warner (Stan, Nathan, and Itzy) for maintaining a tradition in the year of our streaming 2023. You'll find that, just as in the old days, this collection spans genres, so you'll want to pick and choose among these offerings. Bebe Rexha gives us a modern pop rocker in "Count On Christmas," Michael Buble drops an old-school croon on "Let It Snow! -- 10th Anniversary Version," Dolly Parton is herself on an old-fashioned country-tinged pop ballad, "Comin' Home For Christmas," and Seal offers the Donny Hathaway chestnut "This Christmas." JoJo with PJ Morton give us the holiday ballad "Wishlist," Teddy Swims lays down a pop=gospel reading of "Silent Night," Josh Groban's "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" is an orchestral, almost Broadway reading of the John Lennon classic, Andra Day gives the jazz vocal treatment to a ballad version of "Winter Wonderland," and Brandy Clark and Charlie Worsham give a Nashville duet treatment to the Carpenters' "Merry Christmas Darling." The Goo Goo Dollsx' "This Is Christmas" makes an appearance here, along with Lukas Graham on the somewhere between hip-hop and pop song "HERE (For Christmas)" and Kathleen's odd rendition of "I'll Be Home For Christmas" featuring strange synths and background noises. My assumption is that this collection was curated from around the Warners empire of associated labels, rather than the result of any original commissions, but I'm happy to be corrected on that. There's a vinyl version of this out there for you collectors, of course.

giftwrap3.jpgWhile tracking down this year's Volume 4, I had to crawl down a rabbit hole when I realized I was only aware of two volumes in this series. Turns out Volume 3 came out in 2015, though there doesn't seem to be any trace of it anywhere this year. AllMusic at least remembers when it was available, and it made a pretty decent playlist. Grateful Dead with a live "Run Rudolph Run," Donny Hathaway's "This Christmas," a Joey Ramone remake of "Merry Christmas (I Don't Wanna Fight Tonight)," Dwight Yoakam's "Santa Can't Stay," Booker T. & the MGs with "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," The Pretenders' "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," Chicago's version of "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year," Otis Redding's classic version of "Merry Christmas Baby," Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons' "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus," Pet Shop Boys' "It Doesn't Often Snow at Christmas," Everything But the Girl's "25th December," America's "Frosty the Snowman," Linda Ronstadt's "I'll Be Home For Christmas," Emmylou Harris' "The First Noel," Sinead O'Connor's "Silent Night," Jethro Tull's "Ring Out Solstice Bells," Solomon Burke's "Presents For Christmas," Clarence Carter's "Back Door Santa," Lindsey Buckingham's "Holiday Road," and Los Lobos' "Rudolph the Manic Reindeer." If you can't track down physical media, you can duplicate the playlist if you like it well enough.

cherryade17.jpgThe folks at British indie-pop label Cherryade continue with their annual Christmas tradition of an old-school compilation album despite having all but ceased year-round operations. The curation has for years been curated by label head Rachael Neiman and for the past several years she's been assisted by radio/podcast host Gareth Jones. This year's collection of 25 tunes includes 16 specially commissioned for this collection, the remaining tunes having been culled from various digital sources including Bandcamp. It's CD only; apparently rights issues prevent it being streamed or downloaded, and the cost of vinyl is well beyond the curators' budget. As always, this is indie-punk-pop-rock with attitude, evoking everything from fractured 60s girl-group and garage to 80s synthpop. Selected highlights include "Christmas Number One" by Problem Patterns, solid girl group with guitars; The Photocopies' "I'm Not Coming Home For Christmas" only lasts a minute but you'll want more; The Surfisticats go all instrumental on "Santa Bring Me a Surfboard Please"; Toy Disco goes lo-fi synth-pop on "A Gameboy For Christmas '96"; you office supply geeks will go for The Twelve Hour Foundations' "Thank You Letters (Written on Basildon Bond)," as they namecheck a particular brand of stationery; "Thinking About Christmas" by Portable Radio is a cute piano-led bit of music hall pop-rock; The Get Arounds give us a rocking ode to "Xmas Radio" that few would come up with in this age of all-Christmas radio stations with playlists of 20 songs, seven of which are Mariah Carey; Madrid 's The Yellow Melodies return with "Por fin es Navidad"; Building Rockets produce their own original song "Christmas Island," though they cover similar ground with a Jimmy Buffett treatment; Edam Edam, from France, gives us "Krampus," sung in the demon's own voice; Keith Burton gives us some British quirk with "Christmas Food Shopping In Adverse Weather Conditions, On Foot," evoking the Bonzo Dog Band; Canadians In Space offer "Peace & Gravy," keeping holiday dinner in the forefront; Baby In the Bitch Seat rocks out a tribute to "Mrs. Claus"; Goddammit Jeremiah offers "Keep Your Christmas Tree For Burning," a cool punk thrash; the often-included Hanna Barberas offer "It's Christmas Time Again," previously released; Pete Drake and Doctor Bongo offer "A Spider's Christmas," which if you listen closely offers tribute to UK singing superstar Cliff Richard. There's more of course. Hurry over to Bandcamp to order the CD, as they don't press very many copies of each year's offering.

polaroid2022.jpgThis is the fourth annual indie-pop hoiday compilation release by Italian radio show/music blog Polaroid, released with a name-your-own-price-tag via Bandcamp, and with proceeds benefiting the SOKOS volunteer-run health clinic in Bologna, Italy. This year we have a title song, "A Polaroid For Christmas" by A Minor Place, a strummy bit of chamber pop-rock; "You Made Me Remember My Dream" by Baseball Gregg, a power-pop ode to dreaming originally by Marlene Belissimo; "Shining Light" by Waving Blue, a moody guitar ballad; "Bolle" by Setti, a folky strum in Italian; the quick punky rocker "Christ Almighty" by The Photocopies; Domino's "Herr Wade," a German pop number with banjo; "Lontano da qui"  by Deine Mutti, a dreamy guitar-pop number in Italian; "As the Days Change" by Grand Drifter, an English-language pop shuffle by an Italian band; "When We Are Together" by Prim, covering The 1975 in a solo guitar-vocal rendition; "Spend Christmas With Me" by My Lo-Fi Heart, a stately bit of synth-pop; and DJ Minacola's "Jingle Bells," an extremely slow playing of the melody on a single synthesizer, which is not how you expect to hear this particular song. This is very, very indie-sounding, but I think folks will find plenty to like here. UPDATE: Stubby writes in to note that there are four volumes on Bandcamp, but  Polaroid has been doing these comps since 2007.

guardians.jpgI have not yet watched this special, owing to the fact that I'm old and I remember the legendary (?) "Star Wars Christmas Special," but I did look into the soundtrack, where I found almost entirely movie soundtrack-type instrumentals except for two excellent pop-rock tunes featuring the Old 97s, who are already on the Christmas tip. They back Kevin Bacon on a solid midtempo "Here it is Christmastime," which they previously released without Kevin, but the winner of this two-horse sweepstakes is "I Don't Know What Christmas Is (But Christmastime Is Here)," a solid jangle-rocker with hilarious lyrics written from the viewpoint of an alien who just landed on Earth and is trying to explain the holiday. This you will want on your holiday playlists. The PowerPop blog notes that the show also includes airings of the Pogues' "Fairytale of New York" and Fountains of Wayne's "I Want an Alien For Christmas," though these don't appear on the official album. Oh well, download or add to your streaming queues the two songs reviewed here and be a little better off for it.

I Surrender.jpgThis is a label compilation from the New York-based I Surrender Records featuring a selection of their artists performing original punk Christmas tunes. If you've never heard of this label or its artists, this is a cool collection of high-octane holiday music. (The first four tunes all come with content warnings.) Valencia offers "How Valencia Stole Christmas," a pastiche of holiday readymades; The High Court's "Rico Christmas" is a swipe at over-commercialization; the band latewaves thrashes through "Hungover For the Holidays," because of course they do; Mattstagraham goes even faster tempo through "I  Can't Keep Up With the Holidays"; Pollyanna's "Christmas Garbage" sounds like an homage to the more famous band whose name is the second word of the title; We Are the Union drops the almost-mandatory ska offering, "Yr Always Alone (On Christmas)"; Alex Amiruddin & Vinnie Caruana give us a downtempo "December 26th," which is about escaping town and not so much Boxing Day; Punchline's "Together" is a poppy rocker; and Raccoon Tour leave us with the wild farewell "Happy New Year I'm Still a Piece of Garbage." A short (tailored for vinyl no doubt) but enjoyable collection of tunes.

cherryade16.jpgOnce again, Cherryade Records and DJ Gareth Jones compile their annual labor of holiday love, this 70-plus minute compilation of indie-pop-rock Christmas songs from around the world. It's only available to the public on CD and only 200 copies are offered, so hie yourself over to Bandcamp soonest if you want a copy of the 2022 disc. Let's start with Birmingham's Wiince, whose "Happy Xmas (When It's Over)" disguises their Scrooginess in a poppy-grungy melody, then onto Building Rockets of Austin, TX and the classic punk "It Ain't Christmas." We get more of the same with returning artist Goddammit Jeremiah's short "Where's My Presents" and The Portrait's "Renegade Reindeer," in which the Jacksonville, FL group imagines the reindeer as a gang. Another British band, Sheffield's Get The Fuck Outta Dodge, insists that "Well if Die Hard's a Christmas Movie, Then This is DEFINITELY a Christmas Song," but only for 57 seconds. Bristol/Bath "supergroup" Candymouse get on the green transportation tip with "Leccy Car For Christmas," returning group The Hannah Barberas offer a breezy "Dancin' Santa," and Sparky's Magic Piano return for the first time since Volume 5 with "Waiting For Christmas," spacey and orchestral with a children's choir. Mouse Assassins from Luton solve the mystery of "Who Nicked Santa's Trousers," Analogue Electronic Whatever break out the synths to ask "What's For Christmas," and Arcadia do likewise on "Christmas In the 80s," as does Rodney Crowell on the sinister-sounding "Cold Christmas." Coosticks are on about celebrating a happy holiday for "Bobbi & Kayleigh," Tennessee's File Under Foliage offer the piano-led "Sleigh Comes Tumbling Down," and Toronto's Cameronoise offers a holiday-flavored power pop instrumental, "And a Star On Top of it All." Cherryade was serious about world-wide coverage, as Spain gives us The Yellow Melodies and their indie-pop-rock "Ya vuelve la Navidad," Germany goes the same way on Herr Wade's "Und sie tanzen im Himmel, France's Joni Ile offers up a cheap keyboard rendition of 1968's "Joyeux Noel," and from Japan we get yumenoma's "A Winter Romance," a surprisingly Western-sounding number if you can factor out the language barrier. Fans of Wild Man Fischer will enjoy Kawaii Sakura Trees' "Catch is Catch Can," Jimmy McGee's "All I Want For Christmas is International Socialism," and Steveless' "Think of Christmas." Back on the synths we have My Lo-Fi Heart with "Spend Christmas With Me," Ukulele Bailey is surprisingly upbeat about there being "No Christmas Pud," by which he means pudding, The Woodlice make up a wild tale about Scrooge getting caught in the "Scrooge Flume," All Ashore! mourns the British energy crisis with "In Front of the Gas Fire," and the DMs wrap things up with "For Christmas Day." This exhaustive rundown, though not of much use to those who can't score a copy, will at least allow you to see if you can find some of these tunes on your own.

boybongo7.jpgWe've had the Bongo Boy label here in the past with previous installations of their holiday compilation series, so this is 2022's entry in the series. Boys 'n' Barry kick things off with the nicely uptempo rocker "It's Christmas Time," featuring a fine female lead vocal. The New Bardots (previous participants in this series) go 70s hard rock on "Never Too Much Christmas," Mark Winter's "Christmas in the Air" has that 70s soft rock thing going on, "Every Christmas Side By Side" by Courtland Thomas is a cool rockabilly/stride tempo number, Annemarie Picerno makes a fine bluesy mama on "Mr. Santa," and Gar Francis has a midtempo ballad, "Palaces," that has a Fleetwood Mac feel to it. Wayne Oliveri goes all midnight mass on a bell-filled ballad, "Glad It Is Christmas Time Again," and fires up the synths for a poppy "I Love Christmas Time," David Scott Kocher gives us some Nashville holiday verities on "Christmas Time in the Carolina Country," STUDEO goes girl-groupy on "It's Christmas Time Again," and as always, Jackie Kringle & the Elves' title song is part of the proceedings. You can grab it from Amazon or the label website.

Spirited soundtrack, various artists (Republic)

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spirited.jpgNobody ever lost money retinseling Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" for a modern holiday, whether a straight dramatization of the original novella or an all-singing, all-dancing takeoff, whether animated or live action. Your friends at Apple TV+ went musical theatre for their 2022 version of the venerable story, featuring Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds and Octavia Spencer, and this album is the resulting soundtrack. As with any musical theatre production, the songs tend to be specific to the plot, but as anyone with any experience in the realm of popular music knows, the canon, holiday and otherwise, is filled to the brim with songs that originated on Broadway or in other musical theatre realms. The whole show is filled with fourth-wall-breaking snark, so feel free to let the "Glee" nerds in your immediate circle put this in your streaming queue and make notes as to which songs might fit your holiday playlists. "Bringin' Back Christmas" would pair nicely with your favorite Stan Freiberg tunes like "Green Christmas," and "That Christmas Morning Feeling" is mostly independent of the show's plot when heard in isolation. "The View From Here" is a nice ballad, though it's a little specific to the show, and "Do a Little Good" starts out like Oasis' "Wonderwall" and is generally nice, though a minor expletive near the beginning might spoil it for some. As it's a new production (of an old story), this will probably be a worthwhile diversion this year, certainly more so than yet another sequel to "A Christmas Story."

Band in Seattle.jpgAh, one of those rabbit hole research situations presents itself. I started out believing I'd unearthed a new Christmas compilation, only to discover it's from 2016. Looking further, I discovered that "Band in Seattle" is a local TV series featuring Seattle-area bands that's been on for seven seasons. This 2016 collection is the soundtrack from a single Christmas-themed episode of the show. And it's pretty darn good, offering modern takes on classic tunes like Jupe Jupe's "I Saw Three Ships," Blake Lewis' mildly hip-hop influenced "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," Star Anna and Whitney Lyman offering traditional versions of "Silent Night" and "O Holy Night," respectively, Jake Hemming & the Bereaved going hard rock on "O Come O Come Emmanuel," and Good Company going all big-band blues on "Good King Wenceslas." The rest of the tunes are originals, starting with Bread & Butter's rock take on "All I Want For Christmas Is For You to Stop Being a Psycho," Whitney Monge's ballad "Around Christmas Time," Charlie and the Rays' jump blues "Long Nights (Yule Log)," The Crying Shame's boogie version of "Don't Touch the Christmas Tree," Sundae + Mr. Goessi's old-fashioned jazz ballad "Dear Santa Won't You Bring Me a Ring," SweetKiss Momma's 70s hard rock "Santa's Got Bad Intentions," Vaudeville Etiquette's country-inflected "Spice the Eggnog," Jessica Lynne Witty & the Cousins' similarly styled "Yuletide in My Doublewide," The Bend's grungy "Wassail, Wassail," Furniture Girls' pop-rocker "Yule Tied," The Malady of Sevendials' gothy "I Remember That December," The Staxx Brothers' "Slow Jam For Christmas," which isn't really in the slow jam style, and Champagne Honeybee's 50s-flavored lament "Kimchee For Christmas." Click the cover to get it from Amazon. There were Christmas episodes of the show in 2017 and 2018 per IMDB, but I was unable to rustle up compilations from those years, so feel free to comment here if you know something I don't. UPDATE: Stubby writes in to note that the "Band in Seattle" show went all in on the 2016 release with not only CD but DVD releases, and they wildly overestimated demand for the physical artifacts. As a result, there were only a few new songs on the 2017 show and the 2018 show simply drew from the two previous years. He notes a couple of the bands, one of which was The Staxx Brothers, issued separate 12-inch singles of their songs. Nevertheless, the 2016 album remains available to download.

YinzerXmas.jpgUnless you're from Southwestern Pennsylvania, you're unlikely to get the title of this 2022 charitable holiday collection. Folks from the Pittsburgh area tend to use "yinz" or "you-uns" for the second person plural pronoun, and those who use these idioms a lot get called "yinzers."  Now that we've dispensed with the linguistics trivia, this collection features a raft of Pittsburgh-area bands performing holiday favorites for the benefit of Band Together Pittsburgh, a non-profit supporting music-based outreach to the autistic community. Things kick off with Gene the Werewolf's version of "All I Want For Christmas," the familiar arrangement but a crunchier performance. Joe Grushecky does "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" in a 70s hard-rock style, Donnie Iris takes the Elvis tack on "Blue Christmas," Pete Hewlett does a solid big-band take on "What Christmas Means to Me," Joey Wodarek Jr. does Tom Petty's "Christmas All Over Again," and Cello does an original hip-hop arrangement of "The Grinch." While most of the collection is solid rock 'n roll, there are some more traditional takes, such as the Clarks' Scott Blasey on "Most Wonderful Time of the Year," Jeff Jimerson on "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," Bill Deasy on "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts)," Johnny Angel and the Halos on "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day," Benj Spencer on "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," and The Skyliners on "Dancin' in the Snow." Meanwhile, Baylee Taylor localizes, and puts a tiny bit of country into, "Home For the Holidays," Patrick Lah and Joe Hnath perform Michael Buble's "Cold December Night," Joe Wodarek takes on Donny Hathaway's "This Christmas," and he teams with Stevee Wellons for "Baby It's Cold Outside." We get some blues, too: Miss Freddye throws us some jump blues on "Hey Santa Claus," Norman Nardini plays a stride rhythm on "Merry Christmas Everybody" (not the Slade classic), Abby Abbodanza gives us "Let's Be Naughty," and Clinton Clegg lets rip on "Please Come Home for Christmas." Should also note that the band Totally 80s unexpectedly performs a 70s classic, Elton John's "Step Into  Christmas." There's more, and it's all worth your while. Only available to download directly from the charity.

winwarners.jpgNowadays, major record labels are known for two things: endlessly reissuing top artists' legacy recordings and taking the lion's share of contemporary artists' streaming royalties. Once upon a time, some of the top labels actually attempted to appeal directly to record buyers in hopes of creating loyalty to the brand. (Remember the back of an early Who album in which the record company highlighted its other releases, noting, "If you liked The Who you are sure to love Len Barry"?) Warner Brothers took this to legendary heights starting in the late Sixties with its fourth-wall-breaking magazine ads for such things as Van Dyke Parks' debut album Song Cycle, which did so poorly at retail the company not only mentioned the poor sales in the ads, it told listeners to send their worn-out copies back to the company and they would receive two mint copies by return post, one to be given to a friend. Over time Warners would offer limited release label compilations, two vinyl LPs at a time, for a dime via mail. Around 1988 Warners dropped the compilation named above, serial numbered as a promotional release, though Discogs notes that it was offered in colored vinyl (one red disc, one green), cassette, and CD versions. Half the 37 individual cuts were radio station bumpers recorded by artists signed to Warners, some of whom also contributed full Christmas songs to the collection. This was probably the first known release of Los Lobos' "Rudolph the Manic Reindeer," a Tex-Mex instrumental version of the popular carol that has since been compiled frequently on other collections. Other tunes include Jeff Lorber's jazz fusion "God Rest the House," Good Question's hip-hop flavored "Winter Wonderland," more of the same on "Cold Chillin' Christmas" by Cold Chillin' Juice Crew, the 80s synth-rock-pop "Maybe This Could Be the Christmas" by Gardner Cole, the jazzy vocal "Once in a Blue Moon Rising" by PM, more 80s pop by Secret Weapon on "I'm Coming Home," folky pop number "Fais Do Do" by Daniel Lanois, and Mark O'Connor's semi-pop-classical instrumental of "What Child Is This." Jim Horn's sax takes the lead on "Silver Bells," Thomas Page offers the ballad "Christmas Without You," Hugo Largo goes ambient on "Angels We Have Heard On High/Gloria," Danielle Dax does a nicely uptempo shuffle on "Blue Christmas," and Jessie Ed Davis' funky "Santa Claus Is Getting Down" is a collection highlight that I haven't encountered anywhere else but here. The band 54-40 offers "2000 Years of Love," Honeymoon Suite does a faithful rendering of "I Believe in Father Christmas," and items heard elsewhere include R.E.M.'s "Deck the Halls" and Throwing Muses' "Santa." Rounding out the musical offerings are Peter Cetera's "Silent Night" and Randy Travis' country lament "How Do I Wrap My Heart Up For Christmas." Pee Wee Herman fans will be happy to encounter three bumpers by him, including one in which he claims to be one of the Traveling Wilburys, complimenting the Wilburys bumper done by George Harrison. A fine legacy collection, and if you're willing to pay collector money you can get a copy from places like Discogs and eBay. (Warners did another one called Yulesville in 1987, but I've yet to track down a copy of that.)

rockinXmas6.jpgA while back, we covered a compilation from Bongo Boy Records with the same name and an earlier volume number. Hadn't realized the series had continued, but I stumbled onto this 2021 compilation while looking for something else. The album title is a tad misleading as there is far more than rock being offered here, but we'll start with the rockers. "When We Were Kids At Christmas" by 42nd St. Singers featuring Alyssa Young is a nice 60s girl-group number, and they come back later with a similar take on "Let's Go to Toyland." Studeo offers the nicely midtempo "It's Christmas Time," Tammi T & Keith Hines Production give us some modern synth-pop with "Christmas Cheer," See Your Shadow Songwriting goes somewhere between Southern rock and country with "Christmas on Cellblock 9," no relation to the great Coasters classic, and Jackie Kringle and the Elves offer the collection's title song. (If this sounds familiar, apparently this song has appeared on every one of these Bongo Boy compilations.) My two favorite tunes on here are the ballad "Snowman" by Hannyta, which will remind you strongly of Amy Winehouse, and The New Bardots' rocker "Santa Don't Like Politics," in which they both-sides the issues "Meet the Press" style, though they ultimately come down on the side of kindness and holiday joy. (Which means they picked a side after all.) Kate Magdalena gets three entries here, traditional pop rendtions of "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear," "The Holly and the Ivy," and "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts)." Opening and closing the collection are versions of "Mary Did You Know" and "I Wonder as I Wander" by Jeralyn Glass & Dr. Sue Morter, in which the performances are bracketed with seriously sappy spoken-word parts; if hip-hop had been invented by the women's studies department of a small rural liberal arts college, this is what it would sound like.

polaroidblog.jpgPolaroid is an Italian radio show and music blog, and for the last three seasons they've compiled an indie rock Christmas music collection via Bandcamp. I was just hipped to this by Stubby recently, so excuse my lateness to the cause. You can name your price on the download, including $0, but throwing some money in the pot will benefit SOKOS, a volunteer-run health clinic in the Bologna region of Italy. This year's collection is notable because unless you already have it, this is the only way to get the A-side of "Happy Christmas To Me," Swansea Sound's Snowflake Christmas Singles Club entry, for the time being. As you might imagine, Italian bands figure in this collection, so we have the twang/grunge number "Il corriere gentile" by Deine Mutti and Vulva De Leyva's "Scende dolce il Natale," an angular-sounding rocker that owes a little to XTC and Flaming Lips. A number of covers appear hear, including Built To Spill's "Twin Falls" by Adult Matters, Joe Tossini's "Lady of Mine" by Baseball Gregg and Cristina Muñoz in a modern electro-pop arrangement, Mounties' "Dust on the Christmas Tree" by A Minor Place, Kiwi666's version of Badly Drawn Boy's "Donna and Blitzen," Setti's cover of Daniel Johnston's "Maledicitta," Black Tail's grungy take on Nilsson's "Snow,"  and Big Cream's thrashy "Prayer To God," originally by Shellac. Rounding out the collection is PRIM's breathy "Cold Cold Winter," Grand Drifter's "Memory and Dust," and Humesick Suni's "Why Christmas." This is quite a listenable collection, and while you're downloading it you can look at the past entries in this series as well.

southernrockxmas.jpgI'd call this a mostly forgotten genre of music, except that its blues-rock-country fusion lives on in Billboard's country charts, even if the classic artists don't appear there. Cleopatra assembled this compilation for 2021 with a collection of artists that go from the classic southern rock genre to country-rock and on to actual country performers. Oddly, they didn't see fit to include (or couldn't license) southern rockers like Lynyrd Skynyrd, Marshall Tucker Band or 38 Special, but you can read about their holiday exploits elsewhere on this site. The Outlaws kick things off with "What Child Is This," the Artemis Pyle Band puts a bluegrass spin on "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," Steve Morse does the hard-rock guitar god thing on "We Three Kings," Point Blank does an uptempo blues-rock take on "Merry Christmas Baby," and Charlie Daniels does a John Lee Hooker boogie on "It's Bad To Have the Blues (At Christmas Time)." Georgia Satellites does a typical southern rock take on "Run Rudolph Run," Adam Hood pushes that other Charles Brown classic "Please Come Home For Christmas" uptempo, Paul Nelson Band does a close-to-the-original version of Slade's "Merry Xmas Everybody," Richie Furay medleys "Come and Praise Him" with the Band's "Christmas Must Be Tonight," and Blackfoot thrashes out on "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer." Sammy Kershaw's "That Spirit of Christmas" is a straight country number, Pat Travers puts the southern rock stamp on "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)," Black Oak Arkansas offer a ballad, "Christmas Everywhere," and Oak Ridge Boys wrap things up with "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town," combining the Spector arrangement with a country approach. Nothing earth-shaking here, but there are only a few songs I'd personally skip from this collection.

verycherry15.jpgBouncing back from a COVID-limited 2020, Cherryade Records in Manchester, UK, with the help of DJ Gareth Jones once again, brings us a full CD of indie-pop-rock Christmas goodies for 2021. CD is the only way it's available, however; get your order in quick for one of the 200 copies. (International mail and Brexit-related cock-ups may make it difficult for US readers to get a copy, but give it a shot anyway.) We get 21 tunes from a number of British indie bands, as has been normal in the Cherryade series, and most are originals. The covers are DUCK's version of Throwing Muses' "Santa Claus," Mouses' version of Shakin' Stevens' "Merry Christmas Everyone," and Mega Emotions' version of a rare Paul McCartney number, "We All Stand Together," which doesn't have much in the way of holiday lyrics but fits in with the playlist anyway. Among the highlights of the disc are "Happy Xmas (our war has started)" by Pete Drake and Emma Solomon, a timely lament about supply chain difficulties threatening the holiday; Basic Bitches' poppy thrash "I Hope Your Holidays Are Fine"; Synthetic Villains' "There Was Snow On His Boots," an instrumental evoking the pre-"Pet Sounds" Beach Boys; and I like "Llega la Navidad" by The Yellow Melodies even though I don't understand the Spanish lyrics. "The Yellow Beard Santa Claus" by the Vegetablets has that mid-60s pop feeling, Kiss Me, Killer goes grungy with "Kiss Me, Christmas," Jonny Melodic addresses the "Office Xmas Party" with humor, synths, and scratchy rhythm guitars, the Hannah Barberas provide "Oh Santa Claus" in a slightly different version than their two previous recordings of it, and Bean Weevil offers a song about "Charades." Mouse Assassins waltz along to "Hey, Hey, It's Christmas Day," Mild Horses put a Raveonettes-type spin on "Alone For Christmas," The Old Married Couple breaks out the ukeleles for "Until Christmas," SUPER 8 give us a power pop "This Christmas," and Building Rockets conclude the disc with the spacey ballad "Song For Next Christmas." A very listenable collection, especially for indie-rock fans. You can stream samples of it at Bandcamp, too.

damaged.jpgThe Damaged Goods label remains a mainstay of the British punk scene, and their artists have had a fairly active Christmas life -- indeed, a number of the label's holiday works have featured on Mistletunes in the past. For those who haven't been following the Damaged saga, this collection will bring you up to speed quickly -- and enjoyably. The site has previously reviewed such items as Holly Golightly's "Christmas Tree On Fire," Wild Billy Childish's "Christmas 1979," TV Smith's "Xmas, Bloody Xmas," Goldblade's "City of Christmas Ghosts" featuring Poly Styrene, and Severe's version of "Stop the Cavalry." Add to that the Singing Loins' "Ding Dong Merrily On High," an almost skiffle-like tune that cops from traditional carols; Helen Love's much poppier take on the Ramones' "Merry Christmas (I Don't Wanna Fight Tonight)"; another Holly Golightly song, the sweet ballad "Little Stars," done with the Greenhornes; Cuckooland's punked-out "Silver Bells"; Monkhouse's thrashy "Guinness and Wine," necessary holiday beverages for many; and Buff Medways wraps things up with "Merry Christmas Fritz." Thee Headcoatees are billed as providing their version of the Sonics' "Santa Claus," but my copy came with a different song by the band that has X-rated lyrics and is not about Christmas. I've tipped the label. UPDATE: Damaged Goods has chosen to press this collection on vinyl for 2021. They've rejiggered the playlist, adding The Courettes' "Christmas (I Can Hardly Wait)" to the proceedings. We'll see if they corrected the above-mentioned error with Thee Headcoatees' "Santa Claus."

rocksea12.jpgOnce again, Rock By the Sea, a charity based in the Georgia-Florida area, provides us with a compilation album of local artists performing holiday tunes. For 2021, the rundown includes the Jason Lee McKinney Band and its cover of "Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin'," Leah Belle Faser and Hoke Faser with a synth-pop/country hybrid version of Wham's "Last Christmas," Death On Two Wheels' easily recognizable "Blue Christmas," Vanessa Peters taking a blues classic country on "Please Come Home For Christmas," English Nick & the Yanks doing a faithful version of Slade's "Merry Xmas Everybody," and Gin, Chocolate and Bottle Rockets giving us a typical piano-led "O Holy Night." Artists providing us with original tunes include Drew Angus with the folk-pop "Snow Globe," Run Katie Run's rockabilly swing number "Fa La La La'ing In Love," BIRDHEAD's lo-fi pop tune "Holiday Honey," Mike Mentz referencing the pandemic with the folky "Quarantine Christmas," The Farleys with their singalong special "Christmas Time," and Bob Malone wraps up the collection with "The After Christmas Song," a not-quite New Year's rock ballad. Once again, a warm and mellow playlist whose sale supports charitable works along the southeastern seaboard. Get it at Bandcamp.

baltimas.jpgAs you might have construed from the name, this 2015 collection of indie Christmas tracks originated with a group of musicians in Baltimore, MD. Some of them are lo-fi amateur attempts, others are parodies or comedy bits. Jessie & Hughes pay twisted tribute to Sonny & Cher with "I Got (Snow) Shoes, Babe," Allison Clendaniel & Connor Kizer do "Good Kynge We Siestas" and "In the Bleakly Middle of Winter" over, presumably, a few holiday schnapps, Cricket Arrison takes three different shots at "Christmas at the Dam," Curiosity Rover channels Flaming Lips with the electro-pop anthem "Please Ask Santa If There's Christmas On Mars," as does The Dan Lips' version of "Some of White Christmas," and Tim Whatley & the Wenkers repurpose "Heat Miser" into "The Regifter Song." Ben O'Brien does a doomy parody of Melissa Etheridge on "Come To My Driveway," Dina Kelberman covers Mono Puff's "Careless Santa," Frogman performs Deep Blue Something's "Breakfast at Tiffany's" for some reason, and Meredith Moore takes a crack at "Hard Candy Christmas." Lola Pierson performs "Santa Looked a Lot Like Daddy," Jimmy Joe Roche mutates "Jingle Bells" on his "Jingk," and Becca Morrin & Jared Paolini tinsels up the theme from TV classic "Cheers." Then there's Alan Resnik's series of five demented holiday songs sprinkled throughout the playlist, each named "Chick-fa-la-la-la-la" followed by the names of cities, in which he cold-calls a Chick-fil-a restaurant, identifies himself as a 12-year-old boy (unconvincingly), and sings one of his songs over the phone. They're entertaining enough in a Wild Man Fischer on his meds sort of way, but maybe a few too many in total number. The folks behind Baltimas also made compilations in 2014 and 2016, and you can find them all on Bandcamp.

bigstir2020.jpgLast 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. 

cherryadeEP.jpgBritain'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.

lostxmasmemphis.jpgHere'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.

simplyhaving.jpgTwo 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.

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