Mistletunes

I typically write a letter to the readership of this fine music blog when we're close to the holiday, and this is it. The most recent past holidays I've reflected on my advancing age and my growing distance from what the "youngsters" consider "hep," but I'm way over that now. I'm just happy to still be at this and hope that you folks are getting something here you're not getting anywhere else. If nothing else, doing the blog informs my annual Christmas mix and that's all that's really necessary as far as I'm concerned. Whatever holidays matter most to you at this time of year, I hope you're enjoying them, and if I have any advice, make an effort to enjoy them all. Insert Amazon plugola here. Oh, and here's your annual Christmas gift.

Earlier in 2024, this Los Angeles band dropped a single, "(You Broke My Heart) On Christmas Eve," with a note that it was part of this EP, which finally dropped today. The other songs are covers; a noisy take on "Hark the Herald Angels Sing," a grungy version of the Ramones' "Merry Christmas (I Don't Wanna Fight Tonight)," and probably the first cover I've heard of Cher's "DJ Play a Christmas Song," which is in the style of the other songs here. Downloads and streaming everywhere, and a CD version is available from their label.

This is George's second single this year, a little more uptempo with a bit of ukulele and trumpet, and the lyric stating how he'd like to marry Mary for a merry Christmas lets us know he's having a lot of fun with this. There are serious compositional chops involved with this number, which has all the earmarks of a late 60s top 40 single. You might want to rush this into your playlists; streaming and downloads in all the usual places.

Last year George dropped a New Year's single which was a pretty cool piece of power pop. For 2024, he's dropped two separate Christmas singles. This one is a poppy ballad and kind of sappy, though there's a possibility he's just having us listeners on, given the overlay of familiar carols that starts about two-thirds of the way in. Check it out for yourself, streaming and downloads everywhere.

Yes, it's in the sidebar with all the other ones; alphabetically, it's near the top. Enjoy it, please. Meanwhile, one more bit of plugola: please start your Amazon shopping trips from a live link on this site, as affilate fees keep this website going.

Don't know anything about these guys, but here's yet another semi-jaundiced pop-punk take on Christmas ennui for 2024. It's cool and will definitely brighten up your playlists. Streaming and downloads from all the usual suspects.

Bone Sound Inc. has been dropping Christmas compilations since 2020, and this is the one for 2024. The concept is basically indie artists doing Christmas songs, kicking off with Boeckner doing a grungy "Blue Christmas," Electric Santa playing with the tempo concept of the title with a thrashy "Merry Fast/Slow Christmas," Serious Bob doing an exaggeratedly slow version of "O Christmas Tree," and Boy Brooks taking a slightly more uptempo approach to "O Holy Night." Julian Lynch goes practically motionless in the atmospheric take on "O Little Town of Bethlehem," Heavenly Peace offers "Slow Hanukkah," a version of "O Hanukkah," brend_zombley takes on "Angels We Have Heard on High" in which the melody is slowly drowned out by white noise, and Fire-Toolz wraps things up with "Shaktipat w/The Lord," more grungy synth noises. This is something for fairly specific tastes, so tread lightly. Check it out on Bandcamp.

Not satisfied with a decade's worth of Christmas goodies, members of Vista Blue created this side project to do songs related only to the movie "A Christmas Story." For 2024 their song regards the bandit from Ralphie's dreams that he dispatches with the famous air rifle. As with other songs by this group, the specificity to the movie might not be what you want for a Christmas playlist -- or it might just be what you're looking for. Downloads and streaming everywhere, and you can catch up with the whole discography at Bandcamp.

This Nashville punk band has been making Christmas songs for 10 years, and for 2024 they dropped this EP featuring the Ramones-like "I'm Gonna Be Warm This Winter," "When the Christmas Tree is All Aglow," and the title song, based on the quote from "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation." Weirldly, the version on most services drops "I'm Gonna Be Warm"; to get all three you must go to Bandcamp.

Not satisfied with having dropped three Christmas albums in three years, including 2024, the charity project of the Philadelphia Eagles just rushed out this single, which is pretty much what you would expect given who's involved. Nevertheless, completists must hurry to include this in their collections. Downloads and streaming everywhere, natch.

I don't have any prior experience with this group, but I do know they dropped this EP of five covers for 2024. Their sound is a kind of alt-rock Americana, somewhere in that realm where the Lumineers and Avett Brothers do business, and their takes on these songs don't make much effort to follow the originals, which is not a bad thing, although avid Beatles fans might not find their take on "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" to be a satisfying listening experience. Nevertheless, this is a solid effort that you should consider for your playlists. The other songs are Bon Iver's "Holocene," Fleet Foxes' "White Winter Hymnal," Joni Mitchell's "River" and Vince Guaraldi's "Christmas Time Is Here." It's a different sound, but I like it. Downloads and streaming in the usual places.

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."

World News is a young band from London with that solid alt-rock sound, and for 2024 they dropped this upbeat holiday anthem that reminds me a bit of Echo and the Bunnymen. Oddly, their Bandcamp page lists this as being from 2011, and Spotify has it as 2021, but all their other releases have dates no older than 2023, so I feel safe in touting this as new. Unable to find it on Amazon, but it's on Apple too.

One never knows what to expect from Gaga, which is probably intentional, given her range across pop, rock, and cabaret music, along with her occasional forays into acting. For 2024 she dropped this solid rock version of the popular Santa song that has bluesy roots and will definitely get the room dancing, assuming anyone still does that anymore. Download or stream it. You may recall a couple previous Christmas cuts of hers.

These folks are from somewhere in Ohio and they have connections to fabled cult prog-rock group Crack the Sky. For 2024 they dropped this very CTS-adjacent 70s rocker about disappointing holiday behavior, which they manage to make sound fun. Streaming and downloads available for this.

This guy scaled the heights of rock stardom as lead singer for Journey, but after some health problems that affected his singing, his band ousted him in favor of a young soundalike singer. In recent years he resumed performing as a solo artist, and now for 2021 he dropped this short album of six Christmas pop standards and two New Year's chestnuts that is absolutely non-rock. I'm only covering this as a warning, since many folks might glom onto this thinking they're going to get vintage Journey sounds and they're not; this is strictly old-school jazz-pop. I really don't think Steve's voice is suited for this sort of singing, given that he sounds like an older, shopworn version of his younger self on this material. I imagine his fans will be happy with this, but I think they'd be happier with a more rock-oriented program, and I think he'd sound a lot better with that sort of material. UPDATE: Reissued in 2024 with five additional tracks.

And here's another AI-created collection of Christmas songs with risque, hilarious lyrics for 2024. Almost Vinyl is similar to Relatable Grooves, although in this case the "artist" is identified as American and the songs here aren't only Motown takeoffs, although there are a couple; the rest are various strains of 50s and 60s pop, soul and country styles, and not all the songs are tagged explicit, though one that isn't, "Christmas Pussy," should be. All the songs here are credited to Tristan Watering; I found a LinkedIn profile stating he's from Concord, NC, but there are no posts there. So, straight to the song titles, in addition to the one above: "It's Too Fucking Early For Christmas," "Harvey the Chronically Depressed Snowman," "Drivin' Around With a Christmas Tree," "Mom Saw Jesus in Her Fruitcake," "Holiday Hours," "Santa's Not Real (You Little Shit)," "What the Fuck Is Snow (I'm Gonna Die)," "Surviving the Mall Before Christmas," "Socks," "A Chilly Predicament," "Christmas With My Second Family," "Pretending I Understand Hanukkah," and "Santa Dropped His Sack on a Kid." Almost Vinyl has a Bandcamp page (hometown North Carolina) where you can find dozens more non-Christmas tunes, or you can download or stream from the usual sources.

Before I start raving about the hilarity of all this, please note that YouTube tags this music as being created at least in part through artificial means. Relatable Grooves apparently is domiciled in Belgium, and the descriptions on YouTube of these tunes is completely fictional, claiming the 10 tunes here are rare unreleased Motown classics by nonexistent singers. There's no other information available about this 2024 offering, which doesn't surprise me; Spotify is full of "artists" without any biographical information. Anyway, whatever AI they used to create this album must have gorged itself on the entire Motown oeuvre, because these are convincing ripoffs. And the lyrics are hilarious; all songs are credited to one Ben Geudens, who has a LinkedIn profile that states he's from Belgium but no photo, bio or posts, and a fairly active X account that retweets posts in the original Dutch and discusses AI at a professional level, but shares characteristics with fake accounts. But AI or not, you're going to get some laughs out of songs like "Merry Cringemas, Baby," "You're Too Fat (To Dress Up As Santa)," "Can't Afford No Damn Presents," "Fightin' Around the Christmas Tree," "Let's Talk Politics at Christmas Dinner," "Put My Eggnog In Yo' Mouth," "This Christmas Turkey Sucks," "Kissed Grandma On the Mouth (Tastes Like Raisins)," "Fuck These Christmas Lights," and "I Didn't Wanna Be a Christmas Singer." Explicit tags on all per iTunes. Downloads and streaming in all the usual places; Ben or whoever the creator is might want to invest in a vinyl pressing for this.

Punky's a former member of the 70s pop-metal band Angel, and for 2024 he's dropped this decidedly non-metal pop rocker in the romantic come-on genre. It's pretty catchy in a 70s Top 40 kind of way, and since the young indie kids were trending in that direction, at least in recent years, you might want to give this a spin. Downloads and streaming everywhere.

We've previously noted that with the growth of YouTube and social media, there's been a simultaneous collapse in the number of released Christmas novelty records even as the internet appears to be swarmed with entries in the field. "Tonight Show" host Jimmy Fallon has personified this, with his numerous previous attempts at Christmas novelties, in league with celebrities old and new. For 2024, he's gathered up most of his past entries in the field and added some new recordings for an album that's available on vinyl (including peppermint splatter) as well as the usual downloads and streaming. No doubt the celebrity involvement influenced the major label's interest in releasing this. So "It Was a... (Masked Christmas)" with Ariana Grande, "Wrap Me Up" with Meghan Trainor, and "Almost Too Early For Christmas" with Dolly Parton are all here. Add to that a close harmony "Holiday" with the Jonas Brothers, a new take on Rudolph with the Roots called "Hey Rudy," Justin Timberlake's duet "You'll Be There," a Weird Al "New Year's Eve Polka," "One Glove" with Will Ferrell, "Merry Happy Christmas" with Chelsea Handler, and "Hallmark Movie" with Cara Delevingne. Add to that some Jimmy solo songs like "Christmas Ding Dong," "How You Know It's Christmastime," "Chipmunks & Chestnuts," "Coquito," "Weird Cousin," and "Thanksgiving Eve," the latter of which trots out his Bob Dylan impression. All told, this is pretty listenable from end to end, especially if you're into celebrity star turns, although there's an awful lot of auto-tune employed on Jimmy's voice. Nevertheless, there will certainly be playlist candidates for every taste.

It's titled like an EP, but this 2024 offering from this long-running post-punk British band is just two songs. "Now and Laughter" isn't overtly Christmas, but it takes a metaphysical view of the season's verities. Flip side "Out From Under" is another example of this group's funky oeuvre, though not holiday-oriented. Streaming and downloads from the usual suspects.

This former child actor from Canada branched out into hip-hop several years ago, and for 2024 dropped this cool, very commercial midtempo ode to someone who's clearly good and bad for the singer. Check it out, on streaming or via download.

I'm not all that familiar with Victoria Monet, I admit, but she dropped a hip-hop album called Jaguar II back in 2023, followed up with a deluxe release as is the current fashion for those who have the fan base to support such a move, and now in 2024 has dropped an orchestral instrumental version of the same album heavily medleyed with familiar Christmas songs. The Christmas tunes aren't explicitly called out in the playlist (except "I'm the One (Jingle Bells)"), but trust me, they're all over this, when they're not using themes from the original Jaguar II album. The song titles are essentially derived from the original album's songs, like "It's a Celebration Every Time It Snows," "Cadillac Christmas," "How Does It Make You Feel," "On My Mama (Christmas Medley)," "Stop (Askin' Me 4Gifts)," "Christmas in Hollywood," and "Merry Christmas Dan." If R'nB flavored instrumentals that only occasionally touch on the holiday is your jam, then I guess this is for you. Downloads and streaming available.

Sarah's on record with past Christmas releases, including two full albums, but for 2024 she offers this midtempo pop-rocker in which she celebrates the peace and harmony parts of the holiday with the help of students from her Canadian music school. Previously released in 2012 on a limited basis, but it's now up for downloads and streaming everywhere.

The video for this suggests an attempt at placement in a Target commercial, but we're not offended any longer by people trying to monetize their work. This Elvis, as opposed to the others, has been on "The Masked Singer," and now for 2024 has this soul/pop hybrid about the sights and sounds of the holiday. Streaming and downloads in the usual places.

Anthony has played with people like Spin Doctors and Lenny Kravitz, while the late Paul Nelson is a classic rock/blues guy who worked with Johhny Winter and Buddy Guy. The two collaborated on this cool traditional hard rock/blues number just before Nelson's passing, and now it's out for 2024. Lyrics self-explanatory, natch. Streaming and download available.

Yes, it's her, the teen singer of the late 80s who toured shopping malls with her cover of Tommy James and the Shondells' "I Think We're Alone Now." Well, all those mall denizens (and their daughters) remember her, she's got more than 100 million streams of her hit singles. But she's still with us after all these years, and for 2024 she's got this pretty heartfelt holiday-themed piano/strings pop ballad about being watched over by the angel at the top of the Christmas tree. Nice stuff, streaming and downloads available. Should note that Tiffany has bombed the music services with singles this year, including a couple reissues/re-recordings of her original hit single and another unrelated ballad called just "Angels."

So much of the internet is oriented toward scamming users (and webmasters) that I apply a cargo ship's worth of skepticism to incoming requests for link-sharing and other such stuff. But I was in a good mood when this request arrived, and so I'm going to note that FeedSpot has made Mistletunes one of the Top 50 Christmas Blogs on the World Wide Web. I noted that we're in the top 10, at least via the link I was provided, and a couple of other Christmas blogs familiar to me are there too. So if you're interested in seeing the company we're sharing, hop on over to FeedSpot and find out. Meanwhile, a reminder that we're an Amazon affiliate and starting your shopping trips from a link here helps keep us on the web. Thanks as usual.

Once again, the Italian music blog Memoria Polaroid has compiled a selection of indie rock bands worldwide contributing holiday-oriented songs. As you might imagine, there are a fair number of Italian bands singing in their native language, but about half these songs are in English, starting with PoPo's cover of Low's "Just Like Christmas," a crunchy rendition possibly inspired by Jesus and Mary Chain. The Ian Fays offer "Set the Table," a tune that seems to suggest someone long gone is being asked to set the holiday table. Shiva Bakta perform "Christmas Quarantine," the premise of which may seem old hat at this point but don't worry, the next American administration seems poised to start a bird flu pandemic. Her Skin does "I'll Be Happy Anyways," a cool pop tune about lost love on the holiday, Waving Blue featuring Matilde gives us "See You at the Club for Christmas," a fairly doomy folk strum rather than the dance tune you might expect, and Neucloud has "In Colder Times," a midtempo indie rocker with just a little David Lynch overlaid on it. Altre di has "No Guest List," a semi-rockabilly flavored raver that doesn't appear to have a holiday connection, and the same can be said for Casta's cover of the Cardigans' "My Favorite Game" and Heron King's version of the Bobby Charles song "I Must Be In a Good Place Now." Danxgerous (no typo) does Joni Mitchell's "River" with guitar and celeste, Georgia, Georgia performs "Good Luck Babe" and AGA gives us a tone poem, "Open in the Eyes." Among the Italian language offerings, Setti's "Star" is a nice 60s folk rock opener, Deine Mutti goes lo-fi on "Voglio dormire fino a Natale," Olymipa Mare sings a folky "Giallo," Bauf introduces some hip-hop elements on "L'infanzia di Maria," and Baseball Gregg performs "stefania." Get it from Bandcamp as always, and this year's charity being supported by the collection is the non-governmental organization Palestine Children's Relief Fund.

The Milk Carton Kids are a folk duo many have compared to Simon and Garfunkel, and indeed their mastery of the folk music duo format recalls that famous act. For 2024 they have given us this collection of 10 classic carols, all of which are very earnestly performed as a folk group would perform them. As such, there are no real surprises here, but for those of you with a sweet tooth for authentic folk music, please have at it. Appears to be only available for streaming and download, but as this is distributed by a major label I would expect physical media to turn up for this at some point.