10. Pesky! “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”
Pesky! is a band comprised of seven kids from Ulverston all under the age of 13. The band’s wall-of-guitar take on “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” would make Phil Spector proud.
09. Dirty Sidewalks “It’s Xmas (and Everyone is Miserable)”
Seattle band, Dirty Sidewalks dropped an original Christmas track called “It’s Xmas (and Everyone is Miserable).” With vocals reminiscent of Jawbreaker and its melancholic lyrics, Dirty Sidewalks have done a nice job creating the post-punk holiday song for the disaffected.
08. Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings “White Christmas”
Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings released their album, It’s A Holiday Soul Party. Their take on the holiday classic “White Christmas” is just as funky as you would imagine.
07. The Cave Singers “Christmas Night”
The Cave Singers are preparing to release their new album crowdfunded album Banshee on February 19th 2016. The album has produced the Christmas related single “Christmas Night,” which final solves the age old question of what it would sound like if the Velvet Underground recorded a holiday song.
06. Freedom Fry “Oh Santa (Bad World)”
To celebrate the holiday, Freedom Fry dropped “Oh Santa (Bad World).” The dueling male/female vocals allows Freedom Fries to have a discussion with Bruce Driscoll playing a Bob Dylan-sounding Santa Claus.
05. Bill Botting & The Two Drink Minimums “It’s Not Christmas Anymore”
Bill Botting is perhaps best known for his work with Allo Darlin’ but for the holiday season, he rounded up a superground to record “It’s Not Christmas Anymore.” Joined by little sister Hannah Botting of Owl & Mouse, Paul Rains of Allo Darlin’ and Tigercats, Darren Hayman and two thirds of The Wave Pictures (Jonny Helm and Dave Tattersall), the track is a post-Christmas carol about drinking and an impending new year.
04. Detail “Rudolph”
Earlier this year, Detail won a Grammy for producing Beyonce‘s “Drunk in Love.” Now to cap off the year, he released a Christmas album called Noel. The basic concept was to give classic Christmas carols a new twist. No where is that more apparent than in his James Brown-esque take on “Rudolph.”
03. Red Sleeping Beauty “Merry Christmas, Marie”
Red Sleeping Beauty‘s second single of 2015 is “Merry Christmas, Marie.” The track features all the twee pop goodness you would expect out of the legendary Swedish band.
02. A Colorful Christmas featuring Jet Watling “Reindeer Romp & Roll”
Who would’ve thought the best original Christmas song of the year would’ve been sung by a six year old? Jet Watling helms the 1960’s exotica sounding Christmas theme track and it could not be more enjoyable.
01. Phoenix “Alone on Christmas Day”
A Very Murray Christmas delivered a lot of great moments including Phoenix covering “Alone on Christmas Day”, a long-lost Beach Boys holiday track from 1979 that was never formally released. Phoenix’s version features a little help from Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, former “Letterman” musical director Paul Shaffer, and New York Dolls’ David Johansen.