Indie Christmas 2017, various artists (alexrainbirdmusic)

Alex Rainbird apparently is a real person who, along with his girlfriend Beth, spends the whole year curating collections of up-and-coming indie-rock-folk artists, as many as 70 a month, and this is their indie Christmas album. I can't say I've heard of any of these people before, but that doesn't matter; what does is what's in the grooves, or the bitstream, however you roll for your playback experience. This collection leans heavily on the folky chamber-pop side of indie, not much rocking out here, but it's a smooth listening experience. "Wish List" by Colin & Caroline is a bouncy little boy-girl holiday duet for those of you looking to replace "Baby It's Cold Outside" on your playlists, Snow Coats' "Happy Christmas Song" is a nice midtempo number that lives up to its title, James Hoffman offers slow folky takes of "Silent Night" and "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear," and there are two versions of "O Holy Night," an uptempo one by Lowercase Committee and a spacier one by Svvn with De Joie assisting. Sakura offers the almost-country "December," Redvers and Melissa perform the lilting "I Saw a Shooting Star," Almond & Olive do the ukelele strum on "It's Christmas," and Todd Kessler wraps things up with a gentle "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." An unpretentious holiday listening experience.