Pure Holiday, Ice Choir (Cascine)

Old-school synthpop rears its head here with the two sides of this Brooklyn band's holiday single for 2014. "It's Different Now" is reminiscent of a ballad by Erasure, a sort of coming-of-age Christmas song. "Cut Down the Tree" is also a ballad about harvesting the holiday decoration, although it's hard to tell because the vocals are mixed kind of low. Still, this will fill that Depeche Mode-sized hole in your holiday playlists.