Do you have egg nog-tummy, Christmas-time fatigue, coffee-infused insomnia or instant vertigo every time you hear Bing Crosby singing "White Christmas"? No? What about a hangover from the Christmas party last night? Who was that passed out under the Christmas tree with the Santa hat on?
In any case, with Dec. 25th only seven days away, I am admittedly a day behind in keeping with the 12 days of Christmas goal - one playlist a day. Doh! (hoh hoh hoh).
Due to the unprecedented number of worthy alternative Christmas and holiday songs discovered during the Big Search, each subsequent playlist will now contain 15 or more tunes each. Eventually, all of these playlists will be wrapped into a special edition.
Sufjan Stevens' famous box set Christmas Songs is a hit once again this year, and two of the songs from the set are included here for sampling.
Glasgow, Scotland's pop geniuses Belle and Sebastian (named after a French children's show) performed a now semi-classic set for the BBC's legendary Peel's Sessions on Dec. 18, 2002, of which two songs are featured below. More tracks from that show will be included with subsequent playlists.
For other songs on this playlist, The Fray jumps in to the mix and serves up their own respectable cover of John Lennon's classic Christmas/anti-war song "Happy Xmas (War is Over)".
Other cover songs include A Band Called Quinn's version of "It's Christmas Time" and a modern and dreamy rendition of "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" by In Memory, plus The Format's delirious take on the classic "Holly Jolly Christmas".
Mix Four kicks off with the first-ever original and popular true punk rock (now more commonly referred to as alternative) Christmas song by who else but The Kinks.
Simply titled "Father Christmas" (1977), the song lashes out at the commercialism of Christmas and yet ironically encourages disenfranchised youth to beat up Santa Claus if he doesn't give them "some money" and "the toys to the little rich boys." *
On a lighter note, Beulah, Michigan indie pop musician Andrew Dost delivers an original and cynical view of the season in "Yeah, I Know, It's Christmas Time." The Matches serve up their own brand of bitter cynicism about Christmas, "December is For Cynics".
1 - Father Christmas - The Kinks
(contains 'offensive' lyrics)2 - The Most Wonderful Time of the Year - In Memory
3 - The Chestnut Times - Ex-Otago
4 - Christmas Reindeer - The Knife
5 - Yeah, I Know, It's Christmas Time - Andrew Dost
6 - Happy Xmas (War is Over) - The Fray
7 - Noel Song - Animaniacs
8 - It's Christmas Time - A Band Called Quinn
9 - Saving Up Her Wishes (For Another Christmas) - Celestial
10 - Holly Jolly Christmas - The Format
11 - Santa, Bring My Baby Back To Me - Belle and Sebastian
12 - It's Christmas, Let's Be Glad - Sufjan Stevens
13 - Merry Christmas Everyone - Shakin Stevens
14 - I'll Be Home for Christmas - Matchbook Romance
15 - Come On Let's Boogey to the Elf Dance - Sufjan Stevens
Bonus Tracks
+ Every Day Should Be a Holiday - Dandy Warhols
+ Jonathan David - Belle and Sebastian
+ December Is For Cynics - The Matches
(During the next couple of months, some of the 'surprise unknowns' contributing to this first-ever extensive collection of alternative, indie and rock Christmas songs, will be profiled on IRC. Subscribe to the Feed Me Indie feed. )
* In the UK, Europe and Australia Santa Claus is commonly referred to as "Father Christmas". Ray Davies, The Kinks' lead singer, and now considered by many rock critics to be one of the best rock and pop songwriters of all time, hails from a working class suburb north of London called Muswell Hill.
Andrew Dost has more Christmas songs to stream on this MySpace Page, and his work is impressive, and a great discovery.
Labels: 12 Plays of Xmas, Alternative Christmas Songs, Best Christmas Songs, Indie Christmas Music, Indie Christmas Playlists, Indie Xmas
2 Comments:
Thanks for the mixes. I just finished my own compilation (but, thanks to you, it's turned out much more interesting than I expected).
Cheers!
yo. thanks for the heads up. i fixed your listing in the roundup:
http://gyozamonsta.wordpress.com
happy holidays.
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home