Guestpost by Joris 'Stereo' Gillet: A Christmas album for people who don't like Christmas albums? With a little bit of imagination the instrumentation on So, this is Christmas​.​. by the Second Hand Orchestra - lots of brass and woodwinds - could be interpreted as take on the seasonal Salvation Army Band approach. But instead of a merry round of carols the result is more Moondog and (Japanese bands like) Tenniscoats and Maher Shalal Hash Baz. The tempo and melodies are slow and sombre. The sound pallet rich and warm and but it's no Wall of Sound. There are no bells. The selection of songs do ..read more

So, Bright Eyes recorded a version of that indestructible alt.Xmas classic, Christmas in Prison, with the voice of John Prine, who wrote and sang the original and who died in 2020. Proceeds go to chartiy: John Prine's original: Souvenirs by John Prine MANY versions of Christmas in Prison, most stay very close to the original. This version I found starts with that PhilSpectorian boom-boomboom-tack drumintro. Very different, very good: Christmas by Ben Cady Christmas in Prison is a well-known theme in Christmas Music so (you guessed it, THEME POST TIME!) I dove into songs about the feast be ..read more

Sometimes we at Christmas A Go Go HQ feel like the seven dwarfs in that song: We dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig/In our mine the whole day through/To dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig/Is what we like to do. But even with all that diggin', we still don't find everything. So we're very grateful for all your tips. Here's some of the songs you guys recommended. Thank you Dennis for pointing us to the EP of UK punk(ish) band Comet Gain. Let's say they played out their love/hate relation with Christmas and Xmas music. We don't agree, we just like it: "(I hate)CHRISTMAS RECORDS! E.P" by COMET GAIN ..read more

After a slow start, the REALLY good Christmas songs are pouring in this season. Here's a round-up of five beauties: Hats off to Christmas Underground for passing on this BANGER of a Christmas pop song, by Australia's Ashley Jefferies. Some Fleetwood Mac-influences there. Cool lyrics too (should I add this to the Shit Christmas theme posts?) Keep My Shit Together by Asha Jefferies Tis not the first Xmas song Ashley did, this one is more introvert. LOUD, foul-mouthed and with a big hook, this emo xmas track: andresv · Andresv and okaybut - A Saturday Christmas More relaxed, this beachy, bossa ..read more

 In the past we wrote a few times about the art of sampling. Read here for more details. One of the regular Xmas sample artists is Reid van Atta, aka Casta. He's a real champion in the use of electronics with sounds and voices from soul and hiphop. In 2022 he did not make an album but this year he's back with 'The 12 Beats Of Christmas (2023)'. Great to hear the old skool rap sounds, like in 'Biz & Kane's Explicit Interlude' and in bonus track 'Christmas Rappin' '. The other bonus track 'Bad All Year Round' contains a lot of scratchin'.  He's so good in sampling that Sh ..read more

After the recent passing of Les Cowboys Fringants' Karl Tremblay, his better half and co-member Marie-Annick Lépine has released the song 'Noël Noël' with a children's choir to raise funds for cancer research. The children's choir of the Vieux Palais of L'Assomption, a city north of Montréal, has shows coming up for anybody in the area like my friends and family. When Tremblay passed, the entire town was full of morners and in the spotlight for two whole days. A friend said to me, 'We have our own Père Lachaise cemetary now', as people from around Québec will travel to Tremblay's grave. The ..read more

Truus de Groot is quite a character. We at CAGG like her DIY attitude. The last few years she made a couple of very nice electronic Xmas tracks. See here what we wrote about her previous tracks. She's a real DIY post-punk artist. She likes to build her own, mostly analogue, synthesizers . This years Xmas song is a slow and sad story. ''It's a lonely lonely Christmas' she sings, while on the video, she is crying. The other side of Christmas ..read more

Over to Ton '@T55' Ensing, our correspondent in the field of Americana, alt. country and...oh well, jus' good songs: Angela Perley is best known for her lovely cosmic country album 4:30, released in 2019 - a record made for long car travels. This year she finally released the follow-up record: Turn Me Loose, which is quite nice as well. In between, in 2020, she released her first christmas tune: a sweet little altcountry rocker called All I Want for Christmas Is Your Kiss. This week she continues the journey with North Star Bound, a cosmic country ballad with some melancholy sleighbells, a ..read more

Bony Macaroni once contributed to the Veluwsch Kerst Collektiev, but the collective sadly decided to stop celebrating Christmas back in 2021. And look: this year Bony Macaroni is releasing two Christmas singles by their own name. The first one is 'Christmas Mosquito Bites', see below. And although this cheerful track and corny video suggests otherwise, it lyrically has become a very sad, climate-critical song. Sounds much poppier than we are used to, but appearances can be deceiving.  Fortunately, things can still go faster, screamier and harder for The Bony Boys. And more hungover a ..read more

French singer-songwriter Pomme from the Lyon region in France just dropped an EP called 'Saisons' ('Seasons') with songs about autumn and, of course, Christmas. In in a recent interview, she mentions having been inspired during a spring visit to Montréal, Québec, where she put together her EP in three months. For the fans, she'll have a spring-summer EP dropping next year. '_dec carte de noel' (yup, this is the spelling) is about unrequited love that hits you right in the gut and always hurts a bit more around Christmas time. The video goes all 'Love Actually' on the cue cards, but then agai ..read more