For this week’s edition of “Best Releases”, we’ve compiled an overview of the best holiday music out this year. The biggest news of the week is Carpark Records’ limited edition 12-inch vinyl compilation, which they’re giving away as a free gift to fans! Also getting into the holiday spirit are She & Him (@sheandhim), who deliver a vintage-inspired block of classics, and Emmy The Great (@emmy_the_great) and Tim Wheeler who take Christmas in the opposite direction by creating their own carols based on off-kilter and sometimes unsettling ideas. Both Jmo (@jmomoneymoprobs) and Woods (@woodsist) take on individual tracks, one original and one heartbreakingly familiar.
It’s easy to feel a little guilty if you “treat yo self” a bit while you are out doing your holiday shopping, but here’s a gift you can give yourself without feeling any buyer’s remorse — it’s totally free. This season, indie label Carpark Records is giving away a 12-inch compilation record featuring both holiday and non-holiday music. The limited edition release is only available in physical form, so the best way to get your hands on one is to visit your local record shop on December 6th and hope they still have a copy. Including one cut each from Carpark artists Toro Y Moi, Cloud Nothings, Class Actress, Young Magic, Dan Deacon, Light Pollution, Signer, and Memory Tapes, this record is worth venturing out for, even if it is getting colder outside.
The Christmas Waltz – She & Him // Buy
Certainly the most twee album on this list (or anywhere really), the She & Him holiday record, A Very She & Him Christmas, marks the third full-length release for Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward. The duo tackle twelve songs here, ranging from the sugary sweetness of original tune “Christmas Day” to the jubilant bounce of modern standard “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree”. Like all She & Him albums, A Very She & Him Christmas serves to highlight Deschanel’s love-it-or-hate-it vocal style intertwined with the expert precision of M. Ward’s guitar. The album has a retro feel throughout, something Deschanel and Ward are able to pull off so authentically that the bulk of these recordings sound like they’ve been classics for years.
In-real-life couple Emmy The Great and Tim Wheeler (of Ash) could have given She & Him stiff competition for the “most twee” award with their holiday album, but instead they decided to include a song about a zombie attack on Christmas day. The UK pair started writing original Christmas music while snow-stranded in Sussex last December and built their collection of songs over the next year into what eventually became This Is Christmas. Unlike other seasonal albums, This Is Christmas features mostly original material. The songs here are all a bit offbeat. In addition to the zombie track, there’s another about a dejected and fed up Mrs. Claus and a 1:45 ode to a reindeer named Jesus that changes in the last 7 seconds into a song about Asshole The Snowman. Despite the holiday-related subject matter and the occasional inclusion of sleigh bells, the majority of these tunes sound relatively non-holiday and lean toward a more indie pop boy/girl duo aesthetic. This, paired with the non-traditional holiday themes, definitely make This Is Christmas one of the more unique releases this year.
Christmas Time is Here – Vince Guaraldi
No song better captures the emotional contradiction of the holidays than Vince Guaraldi’s Peanuts classic “Christmas Time Is Here.” The lyrics are cheerful and even hopeful, but the minor key and lackadaisical rhythm that the song usually adheres to immediately evoke a depressing vibe. It’s still one of the best-loved Christmas carols out there, though, and Woods does it justice by emphasizing the song’s musical tension. The guitars are slightly out of tune and the vocals are “pitchy”, but these less-than-perfect elements seem to fit right at home in a motif that is often used to accompany moments of misery. The psychedelic synth swirl present in the background makes the recording more sonically vast, and when the swirl eventually turns into bleeps and bloops like those of a ’50s spaceship, the song gets even creepier. An excellent new take on an old favorite.
Jmo, or Jeremy Coleman from Brooklyn (also a member of the band Murder Mystery) has released his own Christmas song “Santa, If You Do Exist”. The track is a catchy jingle about still believing in Santa Claus, and by extension all the things that the holiday season is supposed to represent — like hope, love, and faith. Jmo uses a jovial, fast tempo and clever yet simple rhymes to give “Santa, If You Do Exist” a cheerful, holiday-appropriate point of view. Stream the track here.