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.
January 2024 Archives
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.
