Barely keeping it together, 4 Star Review (feat. Rintryp) folk Indies “Christmas Worlds Apart” about an emptiness. Then the elder backup starts in…. Fair song; fairly bad recording.
About the bleakest i’ve ever heard Rudy Casoni, “Ain’t Christmas Without You” plumbs the depths of Christmas cliches, breaks them apart, then croons over the cheap lounge music. Fantastic.
Winterval returns us to the thrilling days of New Age syncopation with “A Long Day“. It does have some verisimilitude, cuz i’m sad too now.
Desperation reeks off “Merry Christmas I Missed You So Much“, an indie of breaking vocals from Taking Back Sunday. Now, there may be reconciliation in here, so let’s keep the swearing to a minimum.
Dennis van Aarssen sings “Christmas When You’re Here” because he has trouble with the alternative. Jazz band lightheartedness.
Love some big band swing, so let’s find out who first wanted separation in the classic “Little Jack Frost Get Lost“. Why, it was author Seger Ellis with Dixie Dons and Orchestra. I’ll keep it to this 78 and skip the other 87 versions of it.
The Blind Eyes cover Rough Shop’s “Christmas AM Gold” with a careless rocking depression. They ask Santa to bring her back. Desperate. But, guitar solo!
Big Dave–and his pony–are alone as can be when it’s “Christmas on the Prairie“. Plaintive cowboy country.
Preempting the breakup, Aradia Faire uses garage punk to demand “All I Want For Christmas Is For You To Go Away“–so, BLUE ALERT. Great giving a piece of mind to… Not the ending i was hoping for….
Mike & Brian (feat. Marlee Perez) are really splitsville (thousands of miles!) when indie rocking “Missing You This Christmas Time (2012)“. The attempt is upbeat.
We’re only scratched the surface of psychological problems. One of the BIG motivators for therapy, as well as singing, is breaking up with the one you smash. Throw in a little Merry Merry, and we have ourselves a subgenre.
Granted this opens the door for easy listening and power pop (ugh), so you may have to wait a month for real crackups in our little sourced musical choices. But i’m here for you, X-philes. I’m gonna give it my all to find you some funny in all this misery. Or else we can call it quits.
Jazzy swing from Dennis van Aarssen, “[Will You Be] Gone By Christmas Night” classes up the dating jitters so you might be less inclined to take out a restraining order.
Bunnygrunt’s “Season Freaklings” proudly percusses retro pop rock over how it’s not Christmas without you. We’re going to here that a lot during this month, so–Later, Jesus.
Buck Owens complains of anhedonia in “Christmas Ain’t Christmas“. Plodding country, now with more twang.
Bouncing back Tom Brusky (feat. Jay Isaacson) milk toasts the country with “Angel of Christmas“, a tribute to a dead spouse. At Christmas.
Specifically, “Christmas Won’t be the Same Without Johnny” warbles Dr. Elmo in country easy listening about Johnny Carson who left the airwaves in ’92 and left us in ’05. That’s some sentimental novelty there.
How do we know when we’ve achieved mental equilibrium during the holidays? Admittedly, it’s an ongoing business balancing the id, ego, and superego so as to register the fewest complaints with HR, but just listen to these songs and check off your symptoms.
You do your Christmas your way, counsels Santa’s Little Helper in the rockfest “The War On Christmas“. Not sure the sides taken here, but i suspect it’s inner turmoil.
The Apoplectics tutor us on holiday coping mechanisms in “Snuggie All the Way“, a lite pop tune with side effects advisory. Smart.
We’re not manic when we’re “Psyched For Christmas (2023 Version)”. David Prince rocks pop music to tell us how happy he is… and you can too.
Also super psyched, The Little Rockers Band share “This Is How It Feels At Christmas” with uplifting kidsong pop. Just a hair’s breadth from saccharine.
Lofi ambience from The Apples in Stereo croon out “Holiday Mood” is a blissful trance. I’m succumbing….
We haven’t always been understanding or sympathetic to retards.
In fact sleepy (anti-woke) Larry the Cable Guy goes for simpleton laffs with “Donny the Retard” from long enough ago that no one thought it was about Trump back then.
Death metal sets up ONE MAN ARMY AND THE UNDEAD QUARTET’s “Christmas for the Lobotomizer“. More than that, i canna tell ye.
Mike Spencer (Onionmaster)’s “Lobotomy Christmas” plays fun with synched vocals and rambling word salad. Weee!
The Rockhogs think it’s amusing to try an Eastern European accent for their “Christmas Lobotomy“. The danceable pop is more disturbing, but it can’t keep my feet still. ‘Ware the step-by-step instructions for your own operation.
Homegrown “I Want a Lobotomy for Christmas” features poor recording quality and slurred diction from Willy Sochko. Spot on garage.
Big Top Heartbreak overproduces “Christmas In The Asylum” so that simple punk explodes into unbalanced easy listening. Colorful characters. Heartbreaking story.
Liam Carlin & The Kegs get proper punk with “Christmas in the Madhouse“. Adult supervision recommended.
The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, naturally, has “Away in a Madhouse” as a standard carol.
Santa in the sanitarium? The Therapy Sisters jump blues “Santa’s Got the Blues” with moxie. It’s not your fault, Nick.
Matt Roach applies social commentary to the shelter skelter of the holidays in “Christmas in the Nuthouse“. No jackets were straited in this rocker.
“Christmas in the Loony Bin” sounds as if it were recorded there. Daniel Johnston’s folk rager offers no solutions, only walls. Osaka Popstar‘s rocking cover makes more sense. Not that that’s a good thing. Faniel makes a funeral march out of it. Ye gods.
Arlen Rundvall opts for detailed storytelling with his “Christmas in the Psych Ward“. It’s indie punk grisly reality, wards and all.
Sophie Gault maintains she’s doing all right spending “Christmas In The Psych Ward“. Is it what’s true or is it what she wants? Country rocking the psyche.
The actual help for psychological problems doesn’t always help in time for Xmas.
Mike Nichols and Elaine May do the situational stand up “Merry Christmas, Doctor” that flips the script and makes the psychologist more disturbed than the patient. Hilarious contraposition for 1962. Perhaps doesn’t age well.
In “Christmas Freud” Yulenog & Nathan Kuruna mumble through an emerging parody. They get better in their novelty career.
Advising Joseph, David Wood’s ‘ROCK NATIVITY’ includes the tune “Don’t Be Afraid“, nudging the old man into nuptials with the preggo teen. Angelic advice.
Therapy can be gras roots, too. A Harris & Hart Holiday propose a cure for what troubles us with “Christmas Hands“. Folk anthem. And pretty damn funny.
Evoking ’70s easy listening perfection, The Free Design advise “Close Your Mouth (It’s Christmas)“. Put your feelings in a jar, kiddo.
For all the expectations you could never meet, here’s a “Gift Receipt” warble The New Anxiety. Not so much Freudianism as it is Retail Therapy. In metaphor at least. Personable easy listening.
If you follow Endiamonds simple indie song steps you may “Lose Every Inch of Your Sorrow“. This weighty loss program is not for every one. Consult your doctor if despair persists.
Garrison Bailey’s cure when determining that “No One Should Cry on Christmas” is the original Nativity tale. Read ’em and don’t weep. Sanctimonious pop.
L’Resorts exhorts Just Don’t in their layered “No Tears“. Carib pop reminiscent (for me) of Timbuk3. Which means i like it.
Tigger from Pooh helps Noodle Noggin’s prescription for “Santa’s Mental Altiitude“. It seems merely clapping hands does the trick. It’s the Tinkerbell Effect for this kidsong.
Also bossy, “Wintrvention” seems to be a will power recommendation from The Classic Brown. Matter over mind comes in the form of military march pop here.
Back to the professionals! The Therapy Sisters round up “The Twelve Days of Analysis” with a lightning round of courses. Hope it helps.
The first step is admitting you have a problem. No, wait, the first step is rock bottom. No, hang on, the first step is being obviously out of sorts…. Hell, to each his own.
Asking for peace and love, Aaron Varble folk-pops “Merry Christmas, Sanity“. There’s actual pleading here. Anything like that in your boxes, magi?
“All I Want for Christmas Is My Sanity” is Future_Music’s long laundry list of all the stressors of the holiday. Would a silent night actually help? Harsh pop.
