Category: altrock

Useta believe is akin to not believing. As again: Jeremy Walker reminds us in shambling country that we used to believe but now we’re “Not So Wise Men Anymore.” So there.

Or like when Clint Black remembers being “The Kid” and with slow country aw-shucks condescends all over innocence. Not ‘cuz he knows better now, but MIRACLES… or something.

MNEK croons R+B over the loss of innocence (and love) via “Stopped Believing in Santa.” A broken soul who can really hold a note.

FullMoonPoet slurs up an indie storm with “I Used to Believe in Christmas” and bunches of other myth. But, you know, older/wiser.

Also again: Checklist decides this whole believing schtick is too much for right now. “Next Year for Sure” they indie out so they’ll get presents anyway.

“Is Santa Real??….” is BLUE ALERT practice time from ƒucĸvɪlle & Lil Dookie. This supposed comedy is masturbatory garage experimentalism. Erm.

HorrorScene rehaunts our blog with the echoic indie “Believing in Santa.” It’ll keep you up nights.

Aspiga will do anything–out of a broken heart–and “I’ll Make You Believe” apparently in love. But comparing your heart to the North Pole connects us to the holidays. Reverb indie.

Insistently Make Like Monkeys figures The Jig is Up when they retro pop as cool as Big Daddio when they attack in the mall. “Mr. Santa Claus, I Know Who You Are” results in an humbling melee, but belief is maintained. Groovy.

Jaime Adler, Ilan Galkoff, & Harriet Turnbull also wrestle with misidentification (wrong as wrong gifts!), but apply reconciliatory pop with “Santa, You’re Still My Friend.” Despite snitching, this letter ends in a kick line. Weee!

Will you still “Believe in Me” Cassie McMullin chants to a toy piano. This oddly underdeveloped indie shares vulnerability, but inspires little hope. The season’ll do that to a body.

Trying again, The Hooves caution against proving Santa with peeking; instead go with it and BELIEVE you had a “Hoof on the Roof.” Good ol’ Rock’n’Roll.

Others need something more tactile. Loop Line claims “We Know Santa’s Real” bc they rode in the sleigh. To the North Pole. And to the mall. Okay, they just KNOW. Swing and sway pop.

Ben Rendall takes some R+B pop moves to prove “Santa is Real.” Don’t care how you feel…. (The Chipmunk Version surprisingly undermines the whole process.)

Bug-eyed Jerry Colonna returns with proof of Santa. It’s “Sleigh Bells In The Sky,” a 1953 jazz band wack-as-doody of silliness. That’s Paul Sells leading the orchestra, not Spike Jones. Not that i can tell.

“If There is a Santa,” begins Nooshi… then itemize all the good you’d see in the world as a result. Like in Quantum Mechanics and stuff. Electronic indie leaning into kidsong.

Fountain Dew keeps on waking up in the middle of the night with “That Christmas Feeling.” Shredding punk that suddenly stops. Who knows why.

“Wake Me Up When Christmas Comes” is New Age voice tricks by CHEMICAL ROMANCE LOUIS EARN LUMBER. It’s dream in a coma.

Exceptional melding of genres occurs in Noodle Noggin’s “Ding Dong, Wake Me Up.” From Barney Gumble to The Wiggles to Korn: it’s a boisterous buffet that’s Advent adjacent. (It’s little better than the Wham! mashup “Wake Me Up on the Rooftop.”)

Reindeer Tribe telescopes the focus to a singularity with “Wake Up Jacob.” Made it rhyme there, you see. Time to shake those chains, goes the alt rock lyrics.

Reprising “It’s Christmas Time Again,” Harley Poe rocks us down the rabbit hole of chainsaw terror about a Santa you Do Not Want to See.

He saw/she saw in “If I Saw Santa Claus” by Billy Mancini, Enzo Mancini, & Miah Whitmore. They all want love, and know who they have to see and pop sing to to get some. Rap bridge!

Usually a solitary event, “The Night We Saw Santa Claus” becomes a folk pop moment for father and son Ken and Patrick Simpson. Sweet stuff, but you can tell a five-year-old helped out here.

“I Saw Santa Claus in a Bar” ululates Grandma Gnaw w/Sofia tambourini. The beat is on in this carnival indie. What was Santa doing there?

Forest Blakk romanticizes that the kids can’t sleep at least they’re trying when he’s “Coming Home for Christmas“–that magical moment of hope and fantasy before you get home and the parents want to know if you made any money as a singer. Soaring pop.

“I Think It’s Christmas” warbles Lucy Ellis with show tune earnestness. But amid all the beauty, she’s cold and alone: Somehow, I still can’t find sleep. It’s that bad.

Hans Pucket indies “I Don’t Know What To Get You For Christmas (Do I Really Love You​?​)” with woo-woo-ing passion. It keeps him up, really. (I know–gift card!)

Tinkling rap that survives more than celebrates “Winter Christmas” complains Can’t wake up from sweet dream (possibly bc it’s just so cold). IFAC SIVAN freestyles this bad news prettily.

Ulrikke wants what she can’t have: It’s the magical season, where she can’t sleep for a reason. But “Christmas All Around” turns gospel from its teasing pop. The message? Santa’s into Grammie.

In Excelsis Deo brings down the party singing the dread and despair of the past year with death as the punctuation in the jangly alt rock of “There Will be Fireworks.” I still can’t sleep on Christmas Eve. Or ever. Not peacefully.

Pyramid Paradise’s “Can’t Sleep” is a banging garage lullaby. Seriously, it lulls me despite the decibel level. Or is it just me?

Judd Bloke conceived of “Can’t Sleep on Christmas Eve” but AI wrote and sang it. Yes, even that cultural tarnish has infected the blog. Easy listening ordinariness.

Erin Vadala and Her Brothers Charles Vadala and Their Band so very gently indie out “I Can’t Fall Asleep on Christmas Eve.” It’s that tired diva number at the end of a great piano lounge set… time to go home.

Welcome back to Big Little Lions and their charming indie “Waiting for Christmas Day.” Can’t sleep a wink….

Paisley Manger takes a page out of the frivolity of Flight of the Conchords with “Christmith 222” wherein a bouncy child won’t sleep. Turn down that sound machine and see what happens.

Raleigh Long pounds the piano to get across how he can’t get to sleep anymore, what with it being “Christmas Eve” and all. Dreamlike and soothing, so–ironic?

“My Dreams of Christmas” are The Boxmasters’ regrets of young poverty. Why’s Mommy always bumping into the door with her face, Daddy? Swing ‘billy.

“Can’t Stop Dreaming” by Santa Cloud is what happens to me when i listen to this experimental blundering of sounds and noises. I wouldn’t’ve brought it up, but it’s from a decent Xmas song compilation.

Molly Burch’s psychedelic pop “Holiday Dreaming” tips and bops into and out of the subconscious. It’s about a missed romantic connection.

Hip lyrics like: Christmas is a time for screaming / into the pillow that nothing has meaning punch up the tinker toy clunk of “Christmas is a Time for Dreaming” by L’Resorts. Takes me back to the rando wit of the ’80s like Timbuk3.