Xmas Song Blog

Goodbye last year, hello new year. Here's where xmassongblog ends for the year but lets go out with the very best alternative new years songs including an Auld Lang Syne for all tastes. The market for New Year songs isn't as big as that for Christmas songs so give me a nudge if you know of others either in the comments or @xmassongblog on the twitter. Right lets begin with Beach House and New Year from the massive critical success of an album that was Bloom. Next let's have the first of a few versions of Auld Lang Syne. I was a right little punk kid so I'm always partial the pop punk of Washington's MxPx. Blast this out at midnight to wake any neighbours who have tried to sleep through the new year. Nottingham band Six by Seven were always threatening to be a big deal during my teens but never really broke out of the pages of NME to anywhere approaching the mainstream. The songs not got a great dealing with the New year beyond the title and some backing...

I've been meaning to do this post for a while but with yesterdays sad news of George Michaels passing this seemed like the time. I appreciate most people will want to listen to the original, it's just not my style of music. So here are our favourite alternative covers of this most ubiquitous of Christmas classics. Let's get things rolling with The Manic Street Preachers. Apparently this was one of Richie Edward's favourite songs before the guitarist and lyricist disappeared. It's recorded live, just lead singer James Dean Bradfield and an acoustic guitar. Next we have Florence and the Machine, originally recorded for BBC radio 1's Christmas party there is a fair bit of chatter in the background but the harp and Florence Welch's voice make this truly special thing. Now have a proper studio recorded version. Summer Camp have been one of my favourite new bands too long to called that anymore but they don't half make great Christmas music. This is...

This is where we run down the two coolest Christmas songs in the world each year as new artists appear and old artist become less exciting. It's all my opinion but it's my blog so yeah, deal with it. Check out last years post to see how things have changed. 10. They released a great album this year, so at 10 it's S cottish miserabl ists Frightened Rabbit. 9 . No new music from them this year but consensus album of the year contenders with their past two . 8 Low - Just Like Christmas Still the best Christmas song ever if you ask me. They re leased a new Christmas song this year but nothing to match this majesty. Wikipedia   Amazon   7 CHVRCHES were number 1 last year but with no new music they drift down to 7 this year. 6 The Su n Kil Moon singer has been a shoe in for end of year lists for a few years now. For a Christmas song f an however this is the p iancle. 5 This was released after we compiled last years list. Whilst we still await the first new...

Ok so it's the 12th December and I've not put a single post on for the month, I'll admit that it's just not good enough for a Christmas music blog.... but I have a very valid excuse. I spent the first week of December in Iceland with Miss xmassongblog where she agreed to sometime soon become Mrs xmassongblog. So since then I have been busy with family cooing over a ring, you know the sort of the thing. Anyways tonight I have an evening off whilst she meets family so here we go. Firstly Amazon updated their Indie for the Holidays playlist with a bunch of new songs. There's a Dandy Warhols cover of Silver Bells which is rather good but the stand out track is Tennis doing a cover of the National Lampoon's vacation song "Holiday Road" Tennis are probably a bit for this blog we usually leave the properly alternative stuff to the excellent Christmas Underground and Cutting Edge of Christmas . Check them out after checking out the cover below. Then the...

I'm off to Iceland for a holiday for the next fortnight. So whilst I usually wait until December has started to send off my playlist, this year I'm going early.  20 of the coolest Christmas songs. If you don't already know it's not necessarily the best Christmas songs from this year, it's just a CDs worth of music for me to share with my friends in preference to a boring Christmas card. Let me know what you like and what you don't in the comment section or by the twitters @xmassongblog Of course if there's another song you think we might like then drop us a line about that too. Anyways onto this years selections. Xmas Time Of the Year - Green Day I Don’t Wanna Wait Til Christmas - Summer Camp Xmas for the Jews - Rogue Wave Angels We Have Heard On High - Sufjan Stevens Christmas Will Break Your Heart - LCD Soundsystem The Christmas Waltz -Lisa Hannigan Do You Hear What I Hear - Mark Kozelek Dirt Sledding - The Killers Alone on C...

Aside from a few efforts it's been a slow start few indie Christmas tunes this year but the good stuff is starting to trickle through. We've already blogged our disappointment at She and Him's effort and the Killers released a compilation album with only one extra track and it was a spoken word one at that. A shame but at least it's for a very worth cause so get that here when it's released on CD December 9th. We've had a Best Coast song on our playlists before albeit with Wavves that time. This year they have provided an original song for an Amazon Prime exclusive. I'll pass on the Christmas TV but the songs a rather bouncy indie affair. It's like they were deliberately trying to get on this blog to be honest because it's right up our street. Check it out below, I do believe it's available now. Also on our radar and soon to be released is Marika Hackman's Christmas ep. She's graced our playlists with her versions of O Come, O Co...

It's the first big Christmas Album release for 2016 and it's out in October! Of course we've been here before with Zooey and Matt with 2011's a very She & Him Christmas and I must admit I didn't really expect a follow up but here we are. Even for She & Him this is very standard fare. They fill in some of the gaps on their repertoire of Christmas standards but everything is done in that very classic style. It's a lovely collection but it's predictably so. It's just not gonna blow your Christmas stockings off and it's hard to escape the feeling that it really wasn't necessary to do this follow up given the quality of the original. Anyway check out the track Happy Holidays and you'll get the gist. The albums out now from all the usual pl aces . Let us know what you think in the comments or on Twitter @xmassongblog