We may have blasphemed before on the blog. God Damn for a holy epithet came up a couple times.
This Christmas, Is the year of the damned begins Pretty Little Fake’s “This Year Santa’s Coming for You.” Sure, it’s the Pandemic, but it’s worse than this pop ditty lets on.
“Damn ChristmasSs” by The Legendary snakeSNAKEsnake is rousing yet earthy blues that expresses itself. Everyone: don’t give a damn together!
When it’s Splitsville in Texas, then “God-Damn This Christmas” according to Here Holy Spain. Garage pain of the jealous type.
Demographics like standard deviations, but the reality is weirdos consume as well. So there’s gotta be a market for basement dwelling pals who grapple with talent to be funny. Probably they crack each other up with their naughtiness and iconoclasm, but Pirate Party the Band is just bloody awful. Their parody album Xmas Marks the Spot plays with traditional carols in a piratical way. Sexiness is of the porn kind, minimalist. Wit is of the sophomoric kind, swear words. Seems largely improvised. The only track i Might recommend–out of Dadaist sentimentality–would be “Ninja Fisherman’s Christmas Bash.” Rambling lyrics and story (I don’t have a fuckin’ idea what I’m singin’ about) about times of olde. ‘Slike i always say: too many drugs (or not enough).
Starting out, Chris Walker takes us on a “Christmas Train” ride that is saccharine enough to keep the children bouncing in their seats.
Wobbling a bit, Proletariats Are Making Pizza Book Club And Rock And Roll Band garage pop their “Christmas Train” about holiday cheer. But the vocal tones creep me out.
Savak brings out a drunken Santa to helm the “Christmas Train.” Dreamy reggae pop that poses the question: Is Christmas a lie? Keep your heads down, kids!
Suffering from sickness, being drafted, and the girl taking a break, The New Omelettes celebrate the “Christmas Train” as much as they are able. Power garage, so not so much with the enjoyment. Cool tune, though.
Milo Murphy’s Law (the cartoon series) takes a moment out of exploding boilers, mischief and mayhem to sing “The Toboggan of Love” for a young couple. Sweetly short pop.
More EDM from MAU, industrializing the pop of their “Toboggan.” Bumpy ride.
Club grunge from Jett Brando may be about a “Toboggan,” or it may not. I dig the whistling and call it good.
“Midnight Sled Ride” seems like a bad idea, and Yosh & Yimmy have less planning than impetus–but this alt rock runner builds to an exciting musical moment or two.
Terribly upbeat but not super annoying, Seth Bunting pops country to celebrate “Holiday Spirit.” Pretty, tinkly, sleddy.
“Get Here” by Johan Norberg and Nils Landgren is just romantic jazz about how to rendezvous, including sledding into my arms. Lounge-tastic.
The Dead Milkmen spin a yarn of adventure in “Somewhere Over Antarctica.” Some may live, some may sled. They’ll all be cold, however, in this garage epic.
You got to ask the right question! Fayetteville Ska Alliance samples the notable days on the calendar, then wonders “Why Can’t Every Holiday Just Be Christmas?” You know, there’s cocoa–and sledding!
Seahoneys rehearse their New Age kidsong about slipping down the snow into the ocean and following whales in “Sled In.” Trippy.
Picking and grinning, Bill Klemm lets us in on “The Best Sledding Song.” Loves me some gentle bluegrass, but the excitement of downhillin’ may not be in verisimilitude here.
Fine garage from Tuktu recounts the time they got saved by a mysterious stranger on the ice. “Sled Song” is moving.
Frozen Factory rocks the drum bangly, with their mystical “Christmas Crazy.” In this nail-biter, he wants to get home in time, but the airways are clogged. Will that old feller with the white hair and glasses help? These heaven seas will take me To yuletide; I surf beyond the skies…
The Slotcars mix in some punk garage to remind us of the big musical world with “Surfin’ for Christmas.” Pretty insistent for under a minute and a half.
ALBUM ALERT Surf Party, USA was a joke band that made good–well, at the college radio level. But their 2018 beginnings have resulted in THREE holiday albums (one’s for Thanksgiving, another’s for Halloween). Let’s get wet with Surf Party, Yule S.A.
Not every cut is Christmas AND surf related, so let’s start with “Santa Claus Sunk My Surfboard.” Garage anger for a half a minute.
Then “I Hate Christmas” only mentions the surf culture. Hand clapping fun folk.
TWxWKS (‘two weeks’ i guess) get all meta singing about their rapping in “14 Days of Christmas.” They list what they want and BLUE ALERT tease each other, but they do admit December 14th is not Christmas day–Bazinga! It’s rude AND gay.
I get to be quarantined–it’s at my expense!–fourteen days… Ya gettin’ the picture? COVID-19 brings us Indiego North!’s accented pop “Flying to You at Christmas.” Hope you’re not expecting an air fryer on top of all that.
I guess the old saying goes: if you love Christmas so much why don’t you “Marry Christmas“? Salem Ilese cheesy pops the question/answer delightedly: Fourteen carats for the reindeer, Eighteen carats on my finger, Pumpkin pie for every dinner–Oh, wouldn’t it be nice?
Ray Stevens gives us yet another jelly-rolling country stomper “I Won’t be Home for Christmas.” The extended family [fourteen kids from 7 marriages… and I’m just talking’ ’bout my sister Rose] does drive him to song. Revival jump!
Even more country is when “Christmas is Homemade.” The Drop Shadows bemoan the ridiculousity of the season (the bird cooks down from 14 to just 4 pounds) with a post-modern garage effervescence that infects everywhere. Love it, especially the off-key trumpet solo.
