Mistletunes

Indie label Cleopatra has persisted into the modern era with its occasional forays into the slowly dying genre of Christmas compilations, offering really cool punk, general, alternative rock, southern rock, psychedelic, rockabilly and psychobilly collections over recent seasons. For 2024 it's "Gothmas," bringing goth and industrial bands together for downbeat but by no means unlistenable takes on Christmas using familiar tunes and others less so. Five songs are by Cleopatra's Dark Ensemble, about which I couldn't find more info but I'm going to assume is some sort of label-organized ensemble, doing "Silent Night," "Carol of the Bells," "Deck the Halls," "You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch" narrated by Malcolm McDowell, and the collection's title song. The band Priest also does "Carol of the Bells," in a unique arrangement less bombastic than most rock bands' takes on the song. Kap Bambino offers the original "Red Water (Christmas Mourning)," an unexpectedly upbeat synth-poppy tune, and This Cold Night's "Reindeer" is similarly poppy in a more goth-oriented tune. R. Missing takes on "Little Drummer Boy" in a minor-key arrangement, Buzz Kull's version of Merle Haggard's "If We Make It Through December" is suitably dour for the collection while stealing a synth riff from Til Tuesday's "Voices Carry," and La Scaltra's "Sleigh Ride" is based on the riff from an 80s-90s song that currently escapes me. Rosetta Stone covers Sisters of Mercy's "Driven Like the Snow," Die Krupps takes on the Sonics's "Santa Claus" goth-style, and David J's version of Taylor Swift's "Christmases When You Were Mine" is suitably desperate-sounding. Skold takes on the Kinks' "Father Christmas," The KVB covers "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)," Xiu Xiu performs "Frosty the Snowman," Missing Persons (the very same!) goes with "Last Christmas," 45 Grave does "The Snow Miser Song," and a version of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" comes to us via Leaether Strip (spelled correctly). All told, a very listenable collection, and even the non-goth-oriented folks out there should be able to find some playlist candidates here. Note to vinyl-heads: only the first 14 songs of this collection are on the ancient artifact version. To get the full 20 songs, you must buy the CD, download, or stream it.

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This popped up as a vinyl artifact last year; it's found its way to streaming in 2024. This is not what one might expect from the lead guitarist of the Patti Smith Group, but it's a nice emotional ballad about giving for the holidays. The band does the flip side without Lenny. Should be in all the usual places now.

Covering the Chris Rea original for 2024, Dasha does a nice job. A contemporary hit production, but it goes heavy on the acoustic guitars while laying down a bit of atmospherics in the arrangement. This one's a Spotify exclusive this year.

The popular pop singer takes on the Lindsay Buckingham original in an 80s-influenced synth-pop production. Very good; yet another 2024 Spotify exclusive.

Don't know much about Ambor, but this 2024 cover of Chuck Berry keeps to the original's guitar arrangement over a more syncopated backing. Poppy, but a serviceable cover. Stream it at Spotfy only this year.

A fairly conventional jazz-pop cover of the popular carol, I have it here mainly because it's one more of Spotify's exclusives for 2024.

Here comes another cover of the Joni Mitchell classic for 2024 as part of Spotify's exclusive Holiday Collection. This one's a piano instrumental, if that's your jam.

Here's a Spanish language original for 2024 from this Guatemalan group of brothers. They have won Latin Grammys as well as Dove awards, so they are pretty well known in Latin circles as well as the Christian music scene. Another Spotify exclusive for 2024.

Some have suggested Ben's best-known tune "Brick," about an abortion the day after Christmas, was a Christmas song, but I never was down with that, and in a Variety interview Ben disavows any notion of that. So you won't hear a retinseled version of that on this 2024 holiday album. What you will hear is a handful of solid new originals based in the holiday, cast in Ben's signature singing and piano playing and backed with imaginative arrangements. "Sleepwalking Through Christmas" addresses the very real phenomenon of going through the holiday motions, "Me and Maurice" is about walking his dog in the snow, "Christmas Time Rhyme" is a sprightly number, "We Could Have This" showcases the romance of Christmas with duet partner Lindsey Kraft, "Xmas Aye Eye" is a synth-pop ditty in which Ben used AI to write the lyrics, and "Little Drummer Bolero" and "Waiting For Snow" are instrumentals. Ben also covers "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts)," Burt Bacharach's "The Bell That Couldn't Jingle," and Mills Brothers obscurity "You Don't Have To Be a Santa Claus." Plenty of playlist candidates here, and an enjoyable album that can be listened to all the way through.

This San Francisco-area performer has several albums under her belt as well as a history in commercials and jingles. For 2024, she is dropping this ballad that she calls a true story of her 6-year-old self seeing Santa's sleigh in the sky. Not too sappy considering the subject matter, and she gets props for writing "The Costco Chorus sings on high/Jingle Bells and Silent Night." Appears to be streaming and YouTube only.

Amy's had a number of past Christmas songs, and for 2024 she drops this ballad that's a plea for togetherness wrapped up in ethereal backing behind her own singing and guitar picking. It's beautiful as well as meaningful, and it has a new Netflix movie tie-in with "Virgin River." Located in all the usual places. Please note Amy's a co-producer of this year's Kevin Jonas Sr. album.

This is the father of the Jonas Brothers offering his own EP of Christmas music for 2024. Often known as "Papa Jonas," the collection is released under his own name, and all songs are written or co-written by him. The title song provides a fairly cool pop-rocker to get your attention, then we get "Jesu Bambino/O Holy Night," an original tied into the classic carol. "ChrisMess" is a fun take on dodging everyone's issues during holiday gatherings, "Stained Glass Window" is a power ballad (remember those?) about worshiping in church, "Joy to the World (A Christmas Prayer)" offers the I-got-mine-give-everybody-else theirs sentiment often heard this time of year, and "Wrap Me Up in Christmas" is a nice uptempo party song, although having Mom ask to be unwrapped at the end might not be as sexy as the composer thought it was. "ChrisMess" gets a reprise at the end in a more countrified version. All told, it's kind of a Dad-joke equivalent of a Christmas collection, but feel free to graze it for playlist entries.

Søren was a member of a band named New Politics, which was pretty popular on the international scene, but he eventually ended up working as a songwriter and producer in Nashville. He recently got the urge to record for himself again, and in 2024 he dropped a solo album and this new Christmas single. It's a solid modern pop rocker, almost power pop if you factor out the radio/streaming sheen on it. Streaming and download in all the usual places.

Pacific Northwest label Green Monkey has provided us with a number of fine alt-rock Christmas albums over the years. For 2024, they're dropping this album, which at first glance doesn't seem in keeping with the label's reputation; at first listen you assume this is a bit of retro-Christmas orchestral pop. Indeed, most of the songs are public domain classics, although Richard offers two originals, "Christmas By the Roundabout" and "On Christmas Day," both midtempo ballads, and a couple of the classics are augmented by the otherwise unidentified Phil Green: "'Phil Green' Sleeves," featuring some additional lyrical flourishes along with the "What Child Is This" lyrics normally offered, and "Green Christmas, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen." There's also versions of "Little Drummer Boy" and "It's Christmas Time Down in Bethlehem." The publicity notes that Richard is influenced by soundtrack music of the early television era, and as an indie musician, he achieves his sound with the heavy application of synth keyboards to provide the string and horn sections that soundtrack music demands. This is an extremely quirky offering, but it's also pretty listenable. On Bandcamp and elsewhere.

This 2024 release may be the first big-name application of AI in the Christmas music realm. Brenda gave permission to have her vocal redone in AI to allow the song to be sung "by her" in Spanish. There's a single with the original version on the other side, otherwise it's available in the usual places. While tracking this down I discovered there was an EP in 2023, A Rockin' Christmas, with five songs, all previously released except a second version of "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" that was remixed by someone named filious (no caps). You might find this to be fun to drop into a playlist of more modern holiday tunes.

John hasn't been the transgressive indie filmmaker for many years. Since his "Hairspray" was reimagined as a musical, he's been writing books and hitting the lecture circuit. One think he did do that's relevant here is compile a great off-the-wall Christmas album a good while back. For 2024 he dropped this single on Bandcamp, which is a mediocre cover of the Singing Dogs version of the carol. Flip side is "It's a Punk Rock Christmas," a silly monologue that is heavy on the sex talk (make that queer sex talk), though I admit to letting loose a few laughs at some of the gags. Not mandatory, but fine if this is your jam.

.... but I finally climbed down into the listening room with some of the early stuff that's coming for Christmas 2024. First reviews will follow soon. I appreciate your patience.

This Pittsburgh-based act dropped for 2023 this lo-fi indie power pop number about shopping for the holiday at thrift stores and wrapping the gifts in newspaper, although the dearth of newspapers out there nowadays suggests the singer would have to scavenge them from the neighborhood recycling bins on trash day. Nevertheless, a cool number with a bit of XTC-style riffage and prominent bass to recommend it. Just noticed while checking out the Bandcamp page there's another song from 2021, "When Santa's Here," a more midtempo Kinks-styled number, and it's a free download. Grab these for your holiday fun.

Another act I haven't encountered before is this seven-piece Southern California band that has been around since 1992, jamming together Latin alternative, ska, rock and reggae. In 2020 they dropped the EP in the title, and in 2023 they dropped another titled East Bakersfield Christmas II, and between them we get a boisterous Christmas party experience. The first EP gives us knock-down versions of "Donde Esta Santa Claus" in English and Spanish, "Jingle Bell Rock," "What Child Is This," "Feliz Navidad," and a slow reggae take on "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts)." Version two gives us a cool original, "Christmas Time In Bakersfield," a ska take on "Run Rudolph Run," "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," "Mi Burrito Sabanero," and "Winter Wonderland" backstopped with "Llego La Navidad," the same song in Spanish. Grab both and playlist them as an album.

Speaking of synth-pop, this 2023 album is essentially a holiday romp through a really well-stocked keyboard sales showroom. Never heard of this act, it appears to be a one-man band who tours Europe with his music and whose website is full of geeky wirehead-speak about building synthesizers and systems out of equal parts commercially available modular synths and Arduino hobbyist computing components. As for the music, it's more progressive-symphonic instrumental and less to do with rhythm sections and such, though it begs to have the volume slider pushed to the max. Song choice is familiar things like "Carol of the Bells," "Deck the Halls," "Sleigh Ride," "Little Drummer Boy," "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," "Mary Boy Child," "The Holly and the Ivy," "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," "Silver Bells," "Greensleeves," "Winter Wonderland," and "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town." There's also a version of the John Lennon classic titled here "War Is Over," and "Do They Know It's Christmastime." The whole thing is sort of a cross between Kraftwerk and Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

This Missouri-based group has been around for five years and has two albums of modern-era synth-pop-rock out. In 2023 they dropped this EP featuring a faithful take on the Wham! classic and two other songs: "It's Christmas," a similarly upbeat synth-popper, and "Snowflake Music," a short instrumental featuring digital chimes and old-school 808 drum/bass machine. Cool stuff.

Bananarama were queens of the British New Wave starting in the early 80s, with multiple hit singles and collaborations with such folks as Fun Boy Three. Over time they evolved into a cabaret disco act with lesser, though not insignificant, chart success in Europe. In 2010 they dropped this EP, which is just five mixes of the same holiday song. I probably wouldn't have chanced upon this if I hadn't seen that a career retrospective is dropping in March 2024 including this song. But if you've got a theme playlist for 80s new wave stars, you might want to add this to it.

This San Antonio, TX band has a strong reputation in that part of the country, occasionally being called "the Tex-Mex Beatles." This 2023 album makes a great case for that, as these guys are a polished, power pop rock outfit. Don't know why the title song plays with genders, but it doesn't hurt anything on this strong album opener. Another great song is "Christmas With My Dad," a tour down memory lane with a backbeat. They cover "Run Rudolph Run" and also give us a "Tex-Mex Rudolph" version of the familiar carol featuring Tex-Mex celebrity keyboardist Augie Meyers, and parody the Ramones on "I Wanna Be Your Santa." Two other originals, "Home" and "She So Baby" are great tunes though not exactly Christmas oriented, and there's nothing holiday styled about their cover of "I Hear You Knocking." The album wraps with acapella versions of the title song and "I Wanna Be Your Santa," and I will tell you straight up that this is a minor rock Christmas classic even if you just distill it down to the most holiday oriented tunes. Click the cover to grab it from Amazon. Shouldn't leave without noting that this compiles some tunes from previous years, and you can get a better picture of that by browsing their Bandcamp page.

Kinks guitarist and occasional writer for the band Dave Davies dropped a live EP in 2023 that includes a verstion of the band's 70s classic "Father Christmas," as the title will no doubt inform you. Three additional live cuts are non-Christmas, but Kinks completists will want this, especially as there's vinyl available in addition to downloads and streaming.

This hard rock band from the 90s has been on the Christmas bandwagon before, and they're back for 2023 with this solid old-school hard rocker that'll remind you of the pre-disco 70s. Wham, bam, thank you ma'am, and they rhyme "Christmas" with "wish list." Download or stream this at your leisure.

George Nipson is actually Mark Horn, a guy with a long history in the music business that includes albums of kids' music as well as a 1978 solo album called Someday that sells for stupid money in collectors' circles. The PowerPop blog notes that Mark changed his name because his real name belongs to a stupefying array of other artists who would likely appear before him in searches of streaming sites. At any rate, feel free to download or stream this from any of the usual sources, as it's a neat year-end power pop tune. (I believe the crowd noises are added on and that this is a studio recording, btw.)

Last year we posted a bootleg video of Billie doing this, but for "Saturday Night Live" in 2023 she performed it again, with much better sound quality and arguably a better performance. Enjoy.

Not too much to say about this one, these Detroit folks put together this Christmas song and video for 2023, with a young Kym Ward on backing vocals. A bit on the amateurish side, but if anybody with chops wants to cover this in the future, they should by all means, because it would make a great power-pop holiday ode. No independent audio I'm aware of.

Following a tip on a Christmas album, I ended up disappearing down a rabbit hole. This album, for 2023, is a CD containing 14 tunes recorded at various times over the past few years. English rockers Don't Call Me Ishmael appear to have a history with this time of year, with several past EPs and albums of holiday-themed indie rock. Meanwhile, they dropped a fresh set of tunes on the EP Ghost of Christmas Past for 2023, which is download only, as three of these four songs are on the CD -- "The Ghost of Christmas Past," "Christmas In July," and "Jaded to Merry." The fourth song, "Clementines," is described as a reimagining of their past song "It's Christmas (Let's Pretend We're Fine)," which is on the CD. Meanwhile, back on the disc, we also have "I Won't Hesitate (This Christmas)," "Big Kid at Christmas," "My Christmas (Is Better Than Yours)," "From Lapland (With Regret)," "Morning December 25," "Mary and Joseph," and covers of "White Winter Hymnal," "All Alone at Christmas," and "Pipes of Peace." Grazing the Bandcamp page will allow you to pick and choose among these songs, or collect the full set.