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.)
December 2023 Archives
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.
Somehow missed this dropping in November 2023, the long-running 80s rockers from Jersey giving us a solid new Christmas song with the flavor of long-running favorite "Please Come Home For Christmas," not to mention similar lyrical content. Download or stream it at your leisure.
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.
Hey, remember Christmas Jollies? The Salsoul disco Christmas album from the late 1970s produced by Vincent Montana of MFSB fame? It's been reissued and remastered a number of times over the years, but for 2023 it's gone full box set edition, a 3-CD set featuring the original album, some outtakes, and an entire second album called Christmas Jollies II done by a different producer, but definitely in that 70s disco realm. I consider it a niche interest item myself, considering how cornball the original album was to my less mature ears, but given how the popular music scene of the last 20 years has consisted of young artists slicing and dicing various versions of past musical genres, maybe we're due for a suburban couples-swapping soundtrack revival. Your call.
Bunnygrunt is a St. Louis-area band that's been around for a couple of decades, and this 2023 collection purports to be "Thirty Years of Holiday Hits By the Grand Elves of Midwest Twee Core." I do know a couple of the cuts here were a single in 2022, for the rest I'll have to take their word. "Twee core" would be a good term to describe this, mostly upbeat rock music in which female vocals and enthusiasm overwhelm typical commercial production values. The previous single included "The Twelve Words of Christmas," a very short rocker, and "Merry Christmas, I DO Want To Fight Tonight," a rejoinder to the Ramones holiday classic. "Season's Freaklings" is an upbeat number with simple lyrics, "Blue Christmas" is an amateurish cover of the familiar tume, "The Hanukkah Scoot" is an instrumental, "I'm Gonna Be Warm This Winter" is a romantic tune with minimal backing, "All I Got For Christmas Was This Lousy Boy" has a slight flavor of 70s glam rock, and "11:59," credited to "Blondiegrunt," is a cover of the Blondie tune that starts with a countdown to tie it to New Year's. Not bad, but more for people with a particular taste for this sort of indie-pop-rock. Grab it from the Bert Dax Cavalcade page at Bandcamp. I will note that the label has nine volumes of this sort of indie rock holiday music, though the newest one is approximately from 2011; maybe someday I'll give them some additional coverage.
Still more surf-styled instrumentals for 2023 from this band located in Bruce Springsteen country, Freehold, NJ. In this case, we get the surf treatment for a familiar Christmas song, mildly influenced by the Phil Spector arrangement of this song. Click the cover for Amazon or go to Bandcamp and get it.
More surf music from this Cambridge, UK instrumental band for 2023. Original instrumentals often have the disadvantage, in the Christmas sphere, of lacking anything that points toward the holiday, and this one falls into that classification, at least until it sneaks in a little Christmas riffing and jingle bells at the end. Grab it from Bandcamp.
Photo Ops is a one-man band out of Los Angeles, and back in April 2023 he issued a full album called Burns Bright that includes this mellow bit of folk-chamber pop that expresses holiday verities but is somehow a little, shall we say, off. On Amazon or Bandcamp.
Solid power pop-rock from this Washington, D.C. band talking about the desire for some sort of New Year's revolution but doubting that it will actually come. A subversive rejoinder to "Auld Lang Syne" for the modern era. From 2023. Click the cover to get it from Amazon or visit their Bandcamp page.
English female trio Peaness has only been around a few years but they seem well on their way to popularity if not stardom as we think of it nowadays. For 2023 they dropped this sweet power pop ode to kissing on the holiday. Flip side is "Sad Season," a weepy ballad complete with violin accompaniment, but it's a nice song that might catch on with more midlle-of-the-road listeners and performers. Download or stream both of them.
This is a Daptone supergroup featuring vocalists Ron Preyer of the Younghearts, Torrence Brannon of the Delfonics, and Clarence Matheney of Los Yesterday. Daptone stalwart Bosco Mann produced and co-wrote this cool vintage soul number that will bring folks out on the dance floor. Gotta have. The label offers vinyl, but download and streaming are the more common ways you'll grab this. The flip side, as was common practice back in the day, is an instrumental of the song.
This prolific Indiana punk band has a history of cutting Christmas records that I wasn't aware of until now. For 2023 they dropped this EP with four tunes, "It's Christmas Time," "What Are You Gonna Get?," "Christmas Every Day" and "The Rain Washed the Snow Away." All are cool pop-punk numbers you should like. Having enjoyed this, you should head over to Bandcamp and check out A John Waters Christmas Tribute, in which they cover four tunes found on the classic Waters Christmas compilation, Nobody Told Me It Was Christmas, The Carols That We Sing, and Christmas Sounds. Further on, you might also be interested in their side project, Ralphie's Red Ryders, in which all the songs relate to the popular movie "A Christmas Story." However, I would note that despite the association, the songs actually don't come off as Christmas songs to my ears. Still, you might have a movie-related playlist or two that these songs would work with.
A long time ago we were constantly posting punk-rock Christmas parodies by this group, and then they released an album they billed as their greatest hits and we forgot all about them. Appears they've been sneaking tunes out all along, and in 2023 they dropped two new ones, a cover of "Last Christmas" and this tune, a parody of Blink 182's "All the Small Things." Head over to Bandcamp and graze their discography page.
Another 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.
Long-running indie outfit Phantom Planet has broken up and reformed a couple of times over the past couple of decades. For 2023, they dropped this midtempo reflective tune that builds to a strong rock climax while expressing a unique view of the holiday.
Long-running hip-hop artist Kweli dropped this joint for 2023, which addresses a war on the holiday that is much different than the one that is frequently claimed to exist in right-wing media. It's worth hearing, and worth reflecting upon as well.
The official Christmas single of this Colorado Americana group for 2023 is this rather doleful take on a classic carol that is normally rendered as a joyful party song. It's good though, and for those who are having a downtempo holiday, it may be just what they need.
The actual title of this comedy EP is Merkel and the Merkelettes Sing One Half of a Christmas Classic and a Couple of Songs You've Never Heard Before, but it was too unwieldy for the title field. For 2023, this Philly comedy ensemble only managed to squeeze out four tunes, a fairly smarmy version of "Silver Bells," a weak takeoff on the Beatles "Her Majesty" called "Saint Nicholas," and two originals. "Don't Get Caught Under the Mistletoe" is rendered as some sort of lost World War II pop song and "Christmas Eve in a Communist Bookstore" is a Sixties folk revival satire. They've done better work in previous years, but the latter two songs deserve a hearing. Pop over to Bandcamp and see for yourself.
I've historically done a Christmas Eve letter to the readership, but as with last year my real-life plans will have me far from the Mistletunes workshop on that day, so I'm going to get it in now. Thanks everybody for continuing to read this site, hope I've pointed you to some great music to soundtrack your holiday celebrations, or at least gave you some fodder to frighten your friends, relatives, or work party colleagues. Mistletunes continues to exist in a 2002 version of the internet where there's no social media and not enough bandwidth to host downloads, mainly because the software undergirding this endeavor is stuck in approximately 2009 and no longer allows me to do anything more than make new posts. (Updating the software will take much more money than I make from the Amazon affiliate fees I get from you nice folks who start your Amazon sessions by clicking a live link hosted here.) While streaming cuts into the aforementioned affiliate fees I might otherwise garner, the Mistletunes mission is still useful to folks trying to compile the most up-to-date Christmas season playlists, so I persist for as long as I'm able. So once again, happy holidays of all the various origins, religious or otherwise, that you celebrate, and enjoy this little present below.
Anytime we're talking about this guy in the modern day it's either to do with whether there will be a Van Halen tribute tour, whether he and Sammy Hagar can get along, or whether he's kind of a dick. Well, for 2023 let's talk about this cool holiday single, just guitar, harmonica and Dave being a raconteur. Nice work, this will spice up your playlists for sure.
Hey, more blues. This 2023 EP features Ollee singing "Weary Silent Night," a cool stride sung to a lover; the uptempo "Gonna Have the Blues This Christmas" if her baby doesn't come home; Freddy King's "Christmas Tears" and Charles Brown's "Please Come Home For Christmas" in the familiar arrangements; and she wraps up with Willie Nelson's "Pretty Paper." Well performed stuff and the two originals are aces. She's also dropped a "radio edit" of "Pretty Paper" separate from the EP along with a version of "O Holy Night," and while writing this I discovered her 2020 song "Kris Kringle Jingle." Check them all out.
Nichols has been making music for a couple of decades now and just dropped a solo album in October 2023. Just a few days before Christmas this same year, he also dropped this EP keying off John Lennon's tossed-aside holiday greeting "Merry Crimble." "Christmas, California" is a cool mid-tempo rocker with heavy late-Beatles influences, although I had a bit of trouble following the lyrics. "Crimble Medley" mashes up several Beatles-related Christmas tunes, starting with "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" and proceeding into "Christmastime Is Here Again," "Wonderful Christmastime," "Photograph," and "Ding Dong Ding Dong," sometimes playing two or more of them at once. And "I Fell In Love On Xmas Day" is a sweet acoustic ballad with a Lennonesque vocal. Downloadable and streamable.
Keeping their 28-year streak going, this indie-pop duo drops their 2023 entry, a mid-tempo number with dramatic Ennio Morricone guitar accents exploring the link between Christmas and Halloween. As always, the song is free and the link will take you to every one of their past holiday tunes.
This Belgian duo is better known as a dance act but they also make records, and in 2023 they had a minor hit called "HAHA." So they decided to make a Christmas-themed version called "HOHO." It's a neat bit of synth-pop-disco, although I had to strain to hear its Christmas distinctions. Grab it from Bandcamp.
Can't say I'm familiar with either of these hip-hop artists, but here's a collaboration between the two of them. This is the "official video," and I can only find streaming audio on Spotify.
One of the hit tunes from 2023's box office juggernaut "Barbie" has been repurposed as a Christmas tune. There's some studio blather at the start, so the song doesn't start until 1:35. This is part of a remix EP featuring other versions of the song, and it's downloadable and streamable. There's a vinyl version too, according to the YouTube page.
Robin's from the Gin Blossoms, and this, his side act, previously covered the Ramones' "Pet Sematary" for Halloween. For Christmas 2023, they dropped covers of this Elvis Presley song and also took on "Last Christmas," both in more midtempo rock arrangements. Check them out.
This pop-rock singer-songwriter had a hit last year with the hip-hop-flavored "Nonsense," and for 2023 she drops this six-song EP featuring "A Nonsense Christmas," a holiday reworking of her hit. That and four other songs here are original to her, including "Cindy Lou Who," in which she sings of the Whoville denizen as a romantic rival; "Buy Me Presents" is a midtempo number, bouncy and hook-laden, and humorously brazen about its point; "Santa Doesn't Know You Like I Do" is a holiday hookup song; and "Is It New Year's Yet?" is a solidly synth-funky way to take you out of the current year. Things wrap up with "White Christmas," in which she kicks off with some melismatic vocal exercises, but then swings into a modernized version of the classic Drifters arrangement. I would note that Sabrina's "cute chick" voice might mask the fact that the download vendors have marked this EP as "explicit," though that's more thematic than anything to do with the seven words you can't say on television.
Dyer, and his record label Green Monkey out of Olympia, WA, have been responsible for quite a bit of indie-rock Christmas goodness over the past couple of decades. Just yesterday, Dyer dropped this short album/long EP of himself playing a bunch of his past holiday tunes on acoustic guitar, which was intended to be sent to his mom (that's her picture on the cover art). It was, but he also dropped it on Bandcamp. Go check it out, if only because he reprises his Lou Reed funeral tribute "No Lou This Christmas."
Pylon was one of the early 80s Athens, GA bands along with B-52s and R.E.M. who didn't quite have the same commercial impact, and they broke up and reformed a couple of times until one of the original members died in a car crash. Subsequently, other members put together this band and renamed it to keep it distinct from the original group. For 2023 they put out this cool kinda talk-singy thing that maintains that early 80s indie vibe. Download and stream it.
Reggaeton and hip-hop seems to have elbowed old-school reggae out of the spotlight, but for 2023 original era reggae artist Eek-A-Mouse has dropped this song, which is a lovely bit of toasting over a classic reggae track. A little something to break up the conformity in your playlists. Eek-A-Mouse previously toasted "The Night Before Christmas" and "Christmas A-Come" way back in the day.
Neil, of Crowded House and Split Enz fame, previously contributed "Sweet Secret Peace" to Nettwerk's Maybe This Christmas compilation, and for 2023 offers this downtempo ballad about seasonal depression. The odd thing about this is that it comes to us via Aussie humorist Neil Hamburger's new album called Seasonal Depression Suite, for which this is perfectly appropriate. Anyway, it's easily streamed or downloaded separately. Obsessive music fans may wish to note this same album features performances from Bow Wow Wow's Annabella Lwin on "It Felt Like a Dream" and YouTube sensation Puddles Pity Party on "Maids Can't Mop Up Memories," though their songs don't have much to do with Christmas.
Haven't encountered Haley before this, but my Facebook feed keeps pushing an ad for this album at me, so I checked it out. From 2022, it's a very nice pop-rock-folk album, marked by solid playing and Haley's sweet vocals. It's here mainly because, among a collection of familiar covers, she drops three original songs that are worth hearing. "I Can't Wait For Christmas" is a nice mid-tempo ode to pre-holiday anticipation, "Christmas Cheer" is a strong piano-led mid-tempo number that you might expect to hear soundtracking a holiday ad, and "Holidays are Hard" is a Rhodes piano-led ballad about lost family and friends during a celebration. No real surprises among the covers, which include "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," "Deck the Halls," "Silent Night," "Jingle Bells," "Winter Wonderland," "White Christmas," "Auld Lang Syne" and Joni Mitchell's "River," all performed well in familiar arrangements. Download and streaming, although the Facebook ads are for an actual CD from her website.
The solo singer-songwriter and member of Porcupine Tree dropped this cool rock ballad for 2023, more of a winter song than a Christmas number, but that's nothing new here. The wrinkle is that a friend dared him to write a Christmas song, and when he said he didn't think he had what it took to write Christmas lyrics, the friend asked ChatGPT to do the job for him. The video is also AI-generated. I'm fine with it, but I probably won't be when somebody lashes together a bunch of bots and starts filling Spotify with "Christmas songs" of a far less artistic nature than this one. Appears to only be available on YouTube for now.
Netherlands band The Non Traditionals, formerly known as That Band From Holland, have been releasing Christmas-themed indie-chamber-pop for about a decade now, which we've documented many times here. For 2023 they have released this full album, which is their greatest hits plus one new song, "The Santa Express." It's a kind of clattery alt-rock dirge but is kind of compelling for all that. The band informs us that this is their "very last album" and that everything's remastered. So head on over to Bandcamp and check them out.
Ballsy is the side project of Caveboy bassist Isabelle Banos, with several singles out, including this slice of modern power pop-punk that dropped for 2023. It's fabulous, uptempo with plenty of radio-friendly hooks, and it'll liven up your playlists for sure.
Wasn't aware of this Portland, OR band until now, but they're a long-running Americana outfit who have shared members with the Decemberists, among others. For 2023 they've dropped this Americana version of a slow jam in which the narrator addresses a long list of her family's foibles. It's not bad, keying off Robert Earl Keen's "Merry Christmas From the Family," though not quite as funny, but maybe I'll revise that after living with it for a while. Download and streaming, of course.
- Just noticed that Chris Isaak's most recent Christmas album has been reissued with four new songs, "Jingle Bells" featuring Jess Dunbar, "Begging Forgiveness," "Silent Night," and a new version of "Dogs Love Christmas Too (Rodney's Mix)."
- And I'll call attention to the mix disc sidebar, where my 2023 holiday playlist, There Ain't No Santos Claus!, is ready for your listening pleasure. Spotify playlist is attached at the end of the "liner notes," and you can listen there or search it directly on the Spotify app.
I don't do a great job of keeping up with blues, though we've covered blues Christmases all through our history here. Anyway, props to Stubby, who included a cut from this in his annual playlist and that's how I became aware of it. This 2023 album is 11 cuts of classic old-school blues and every cut, while full of familiar holiday verities, is original. "Bad Santa" is self-explanatory, a sort of sequel to "Back Door Santa." He comes home to a "Carioca Christmas," documents the "Reindeer On Strike," takes on the "War on Christmas," goes instrumental on his harp for "Snow Shuffle" and "Fireside Waltz,"adds a little Tex-Mex beat to "Coquito Girl," gives us a stride treatment on "Where'll I Be For Christmas" and "Thee Three Kings," tries a little soul balladry on "That Grinch Is Me," and wraps up with a festive "It's New Year's Eve." Worth your attention, especially if you've neglected the blues like I have.
The Bongos go all the way back to the 70s punk/new wave scene in New York, and if you claim to be any sort of a rock 'n roll fan, you will have a copy of their album Drums Across the Hudson in your collection. I wasn't aware they occasionally reunited in the modern day, but they're back in 2023 with this great Christmas single that doesn't require a lot of analysis from me; it's their classic sound in a nice upbeat ode to holiday joy. Download and stream, of course.
After more than two decades idle, Perry Farrell's post-Jane's Addiction band is making a comeback with plans for a farewell tour next year. For 2023 they're dropping a sweet, sentimental, almost folk-rock Christmas story about their guitarist's dad who recently survived cancer. It's a keeper. Download or stream it.
Rough 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.
Another tune in this year's Netflix movie "Best Christmas Ever" is this uptempo pop-rocker from Amy Stroup, longtime singer-songwriter and singer for Sugar and the High Lows. You won't need a cryptex to figure out what this is about, and this 2023 song nicely merges girl-group properties with a contemporary radio soundscape. Downloads and streaming available.
The Nineties ska-pop band is making a comeback, with a new album planned in the coming year, and for 2023 they've dropped this deceptively cheerful take on a downtempo holiday trope, the lover who's not there for the holiday. Long-memoried listeners will recall that Save Ferris has previously done a Hanukkah-themed cover of the Waitresses' "Christmas Wrapping" and also took on the Kinks' "Father Christmas."
This is King's second submission for 2023, a solid rocker about SantaCon. Well, maybe exaggerated just a tad. Watch it here or you can download it for free.
King, a member of long-running New Jersey band Better Off Dead, has been doing Christmas songs annually for a while now. For 2023 he's done two. This one he facetiously refers to as a "crock opera," about seven minutes long broken up into 12 movements with individual titles, all in service of making kimchi for Christmas a thing. It's a cool rock 'n roller even if it has way more changes than your average old-school rock song. Best part is it's a free download, so knock yourself out.
The Tonight Show has, under Jimmy Fallon, has been dropping new hit Christmas songs on a yearly basis, and this is 2023's entry. You can download and stream it too.
This 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.
Alan Sparhawk is a founding member of the Midwestern alt-rock band Low, along with his late wife Mimi Parker. In her honor, Alan has dug up these two Christmas songs written by his father and a friend years ago and dropped them free of charge for 2023. To access them you must visit a site that accepts donations to Hope Lodge, a cancer charity that directly assists needy families. The donation is optional but recommended. As for the songs, they're not bad, though definitely a bit on the amateur side, "Christmas in My Heart" being a pop ballad and "I Love Christmas" more of a 70s top-40 disco thing. Still, you should give them a listen. Oh, while you're at it, Alan lets us know that Low's seminal Christmas album is back out on vinyl.
Lorena's press kit emphasizes her love of country music and country singers, but this 2023 holiday single is as synth-pop-disco as it gets. And while there's no shortage of classic carols modernized this way in the canon, this is still a fun listen, given Lorena's heavy country influence in her voice set against this urban soundscape. Check it out.
Only 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.
Popular pop-rocker DeGraw has dropped a holiday EP for 2023, but the rock is simply not present in this set of a half-dozen familiar Christmas songs. It's strictly orchestra pop of the Andy Williams variety. Not even "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" manages to live up to its title. It's the familiar Brenda Lee arrangement, but it may as well be Pat Boone doing it. "Silent Night" manages to work in a little bit of a gospel feel, but that's as hip as it gets here. The rest includes "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts)," "White Christmas," "I'll Be Home For Christmas," and "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year." Feel free to drop any of these into a playlist for your grandma.
The popular Colorado-based boy band drops for 2023 this perfectly sculpted modern pop-rocker about having the jolly elf reconnect the singer with their baby. Flip it over and you get the same song in a piano-led version. Download and stream, of course, but vinyl addicts can get a single from the band's website.
Haven't encountered this Norwegian Americana group before, but they've got five albums out and for 2023 dropped their first Christmas album. The group explains that they had done a holiday special in 2022 for Norwegian television and decided to drop an album curated from the songs chosen for the show. The title song is a sweet original ballad, and the rest of the songs are chosen equally from past favorites and Norwegian folk music. Their musical style is almost uber-Americana, incorporating rootsy styles of guitar playing and singing. Because they're European, their approach is almost "better than the real thing," in the same way that Sweden's First Aid Kit comes over. Among the selections the English-speaking world is likely not to have heard before are "Folkefrlsar," "Mitt hjerte alltid vanker," and "Kling no klokka." Other selections include "Christmas Comes To Us All Once a Year," the Mahalia Jackson number; Chris Rea's "Driving Home For Christmas"; "Walking In the Air," the UK favorite from the TV show "The Snowman"; Gordon Lightfoot's "Song For a Winter's Night"; the Band's "Christmas Must Be Tonight"; and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." All told, a little sedate for Mistletunes regulars, but it's well done and eminently listenable.
Philly's power-punk-pop ensemble has been out with Christmas music before, and for 2023 dropped this EP with their previously released "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth," a nicely power pop version of "Auld Lang Syne," and a fairly straight reading of Charles Brown's "Please Come Home For Christmas." Check it out on Amazon or at Bandcamp.
Conor Oberst's long-running midwest indie-folk-rock band drops this version of the John Prine classic for 2023. Along with the song he includes a sample of Prine doing a monologue. Proceeds from the recording will go to Prine's charity, the Hello In There Foundation. I've blown hot and cold on Bright Eyes in the past, but you could do worse than to playlist this tune.
This Australian band first came around a couple years ago and is still working on a follow-up to their most recent album Angel in Realtime, but for 2023 they drop this straight cover, just piano and vocal, of the American Songbook classic carol. Streaming and download only.
Haven't encountered Abbie before, but as I got a tip about her from the Boston-based Rum Bar label, that indicates she has solid garage/power pop credentials. For 2023, however, she drops this introspective ballad about the search for love on the holidays, proceeds from which will go to Save the Children. Click the cover to get it from Amazon, or visit her on Bandcamp.
This power pop band originally dropped this song in 2010 on the first Kool Kat Kristmas compilation, but they've re-recorded it for 2023, ostensibly to pitch it to a movie studio. Whether they got the job isn't known, but the song's quality is not in question; it's a nice catchy midtempo pop-rocker. Flip it over for band member Rick Hromadka's solo take on the Carpenters' "Merry Christmas Darling." Click the cover to grab it, or visit them on Bandcamp. (Note: Amazon still has the 2010 version of the song up, if you're interested.
It'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.
Back from their recent full holiday album, the band in 2023 drops this rocking ode to bringing Christmas cheer to all. It's been added to their album, making this the third discrete version of that disc after the 2021 reissue with added tracks, although I can't seem to find any version but the original on Amazon. So the link will go to the new song, on streaming and downloadable.
Somehow I was distracted during the year 2000 and missed that this New York City band went huge with "Teenage Dirtbag." For that matter, I never noticed their existence at all despite the fact that they've persisted till now, or at least founder Brendan B. Brown did anyway. For 2023 they've repurposed their big hit into "Christmas Dirtbag," and it's pretty cool in its major-label-version of indie rock sort of way. The rest of the collection is three new originals, the hard-rocking "You Made Me Believe In Christmas," the poppy "Feels Like Christmas" featuring Gabrielle Sterbenz, and the ballad "Mean Christmas." Oh, and there's a new version of "Teenage Dirtbag" played by a string quartet. Download and streaming for now, don't know if there's any physical media version.
From his 2023 album Back to Moon Beach, the ragged Philly alt-rocker drops a five-minute version of this folk classic that is more synth-pop than anything, though there's a folky slide guitar solo dropped over the keyboards and a bit of high-voice harmonizing evoking child singing to seal the holiday feeling. The rest of the album isn't anything to do with Christmas, but this will fit nicely into your playlists.
This Charlotte, NC band likes the exotica sound, and for 2023 they've dropped this EP dedicated to this world-music-as-perceived-by-Americans form of music. "Snowfall" is a languid opener, "Christmas Day" ups the tempo with a bit of rock backing with a steel guitar melody, "Matchstick Girl" drops the tempo back a bit and features marimba with low reverb guitar, and "Christmas Every Day" is more of the same. All instrumentals, in keeping with the band's heritage in the surf-instro scene. Download, stream, or grab a vinyl EP from their Bandcamp page.
Karla is better known as a songwriter for such folks as Linda Ronstadt, Wynnona and Bonnie Raitt, but she's always been a performer as well. I missed it when she dropped this Christmas album in 2020 as a 10-song collection, but it appears she's been adding one song a year to the collection since then, so it's now a 13-song compilation with 2023's entry being "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts)." Given her reputation, it's a little surprising that the only original song on here is "Everbody's Home Tonight," a sweet ballad about holiday verities. Otherwise, we get mildly country-pop 70s-style arrangements of "Chestnuts," the title song, "O Come O Come Emmanuel," Joni Mitchell's "River," "In the Bleak Midwinter," "O Come All Ye Faithful," "Coventry Carol," "O Holy Night," "The First Noel," "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear," "Angels We Have Heard On High," and "Away in a Manger." She's also been touring in the Christmas holidays, if that interests you. Given the liquidity of the playlist, no surprise this is download and streaming only, although there may be physical copies of this year's version at the artist's website.
The daughter of Bobby McFerrin ("Don't Worry, Be Happy") is now an R'nB singer-songwriter, and she's dropped this catchy little midtempo jam for Christmas 2023. You won't mistake this for an early soul-era tune, but that's only because of all the modern touches like synth bass and gymnastic vocalese; otherwise it's a solid song performed well.
Just out for 2023 as part of a career-spanning compilation, this previously unreleased ballad is in keeping with this artist's one-man-band rock-pop aesthetic. Makes one wonder why he left it in the can for so long, but no worries; it's out now. Physical media fans will have to purchase the entire compilation, but the rest of us can selectively download and stream it. This is Eels' third Christmas tune, with 2000's "Christmas Is Going To the Dogs" and 2002's "Everything's Gonna Be Cool This Christmas" as predecessors to this year's offering. Three tunes is just begging for at least an EP future release, but you may be able to playlist all of them now.
Sofia's been a staple at Mistletunes since she began issuing new original Christmas songs annually back in the mid-aughts, especially since they are typically free downloads with occasional physical releases. The Swedish singer-songwriter is back in 2023 with this sweet ballad about loneliness on the holiday, with the slightest tinge of hope included. Zip over to Bandcamp and grab it for yourself. It's also up for streaming if you prefer it that way.
Nicholas has had holiday entries before, and this solid synth-rocker for 2023 is billed as more of a New Year's song. It's uptempo and catchy, and you LifeSavers addicts out there will recognize the title. Flip side's an instrumental of the song. Downloads and streaming natch, click the cover for Amazon or visit him at Bandcamp.
These funk superstars from the 70s have managed to persist to the present day, and for 2023 they dropped their first-ever Christmas cut, which consists of new lyrics to their hit song "Summer." That was a great languid summer jam, so no surprise this ends up being a great languid Christmas jam. Check it out. (I should note that I encountered a War hits collection that included a song called "Baby It's Cold Outside," but that's not the familiar holiday tune.)
British garage-rockers dropped this single for 2023, a nice thrashy ode to all the excesses of the holiday season delivered with plenty of attitude. Download and streaming available, and there's a vinyl artifact as well.
Back 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.
Apparently this pop-punk duo, in its long history of dropping holiday tuneage, had not yet thrashed out a version of this ancient New Year's chestnut. Well, it's here for 2023. Download or stream, and if you insist, there's a CD on Bandcamp with a bunch of their past Christmas creations, including this one.
As previously promised, Cliff's back with a new Christmas song for 2023. Great 70s funk groove with a call-and-response chorus. If you've got too many covers of the original artists from that period in your playlist, slip this in there for something a little fresher. Not sure if there's a physical artifact out there, but you can download or stream it.
Thought we were getting something new from this antique music duo, but it turns out to be just a new video for an existing song. Check out what we had to say here.
