A bit tired of hearing Bruce babbling on about Clarence getting a new sax for Christmas? Us too. Here’s a holly jolly roundup of some little-known originals and some well-known classics done by some of our favorite modern (mostly indie) artists. Have a favorite tune you wish to share? Just Post a Comment (bottom of page) and let us know. Merry Merry!

Boy Least Likely To – “Christmas Isn’t Christmas” -  MP3

The Mynabirds - “All I Want is Truth (For Christmas)” – MP3

Duvall – “Do You Hear What I Hear” – MP3

Sufjan Stevens – “Only at Christmas Time” – MP3
and “That Was the Worst Christmas Ever” – MP3

The Dismemberment Plan – “This Christmas” – MP3

Dream Diary – “Christmas All Over” -  MP3

Mogwai - “Christmas Song” – MP3

Alexi Murdoch – “Silent Night” – MP3

Andrew Dost – “Yeah, I Know, It’s Christmastime” - MP3

Long Winters - “Sometimes You Have to Work on Christmas (Sometimes)” – MP3

Cliff Hillis - “On A Day Like Christmas” – MP3

Belle And Sebastian – “Are You Coming Over For Christmas?” – MP3

Death Cab For Cutie – Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home) – MP3

Centro-Matic – “Fuselage (It’s Starting to Look Like Christmas Once Again)” – MP3

Descendents - “Christmas Vacation” – MP3

The Swimmers – “A Christmas Sound” – MP3

Adam Arcuragi – “The Christmas Song” – MP3

The Flaming Lips – “A Change At Christmas (Say It Isn’t So)” – MP3

Adventures of Jet – “Waiting for Christmas” – MP3

Pearl Jam – “Let Me Sleep” and “Someday at Christmas” – MP3

Snow Patrol – “When I Get Home For Christmas” – MP3

The Pogues & Kirsty MacColl – “Fairytale Of New York” – MP3 – Video

Chomsky – “Christmas Time Is Here” – MP3

The Soft Lightes – The Last Christmas On Earth – Listen here

The Hives & Cyndi Lauper - “A Christmas Duel” – Video

Harvey Danger - “Sometimes You Have to Work on Christmas (Sometimes)” – Video

Aimee Mann – “Calling on Mary” – Video

The Ramones – “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want to Fight Tonight)” – Video

Low – “Just Like Christmas” – Video

Matt Pond PA – “Snow Day”

Huffamoose – “Hanukkah And Christmas Hand In Hand”

Chris Stamey & Cathy Harrington – “You’re What I Want For Christmas”

Coldplay – “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”

Man or Astroman – “Frosty the Snowman”

Blink 182 – “It’s Christmas Time Again”

More Holiday Cheer!

• Holiday Shopping Tips 2010
• Holiday Shopping Tips 2009
• Holiday Shopping Tips 2008

If you enjoy the silence, DO NOT watch this. Because it’s not silent. It’s filled with lots of singing and music playing.

If you have little to no problem with silence, then go right ahead and enjoy Nada Surf’s lovely version of this Depeche Mode classic. You can find this track on their 2010 covers album “If I Had a Hi-Fi.” This snazzy video was filmed and directed by Jan-Ole Gerster during last summer’s (2010) European Tour.

I also really liked the Bill Fox cover from the record.

Download Free Mp3: “Electrocution”

Remember kids, no matter how hard you try, your band will never be as effortlessly cool as The Thermals. But don’t stop trying, second place is totally up for grabs.

The Thermals‘ clip for Personal Life single “Never Listen to Me”, directed by Lance Bangs, was one of the last films shot on Kodak’s Kodachrome film, which the company is no longer producing or developing. Fittingly, the video has a hazy, idyllic look that’s pleasurable to the eyes. Check it out below, or over at Pitchfork.tv. – More on Pitchfork>

Download Free MP3: “Never Listen to Me”

More: www.thethermals.com

When I heard the name “The Corin Tucker Band” I pictured a dusty old Southern-fried band with a triple guitar threat all wearing Ronnie Van Zant hats and smelly vests playing endless masturbatory solos at state fairs. Forgive me indie rock, I did not realize Corin Tucker was the singer and guitarist for Sleater-Kinney, a band I enjoyed and admired for years. I am old and no longer have the brain juice to remember the names of all the member of all the bands I like. But, if you need someone to name all the members of Dag Nasty in chronological order, I’m your man.

Anywho, this song is super! Great band too, Corin is joined by Unwound’s Sara Lund and Golden Bears’ Seth Lorinczi. Want more?

Free MP3 Download: Doubt

CD: 1,000 Years

Website: www.killrockstars.com

Remember that great song you heard at that bar a while back but you didn’t have the app to tell you who the band was, plus you were pretty drunk? You said it kinda sounded like Julianna Hatfield if she was British and hung out with Los Campesinos! and was a bit more sonic and into tempo shifting and… so close. It was Sky Larkin, sillypants! These kids are brilliant.

Free MP3: “Kaleide”

Website: www.weareskylarkin.com

Make your Friday better with this super fun song and video starring former Sleater-Kinney member Carrie Brownstein. It’s the first single from their forthcoming record Personal Life on Kill Rock Stars. (via pitchfork)

Download MP3: I Don’t Believe You

Release Date: September 7

Order: www.buyolympia.com

• Thanks for the tip Facebook Recommended Pages, “Many who like Barack Obama like Vin Diesel and Mafia Wars.
• Enjoying “Goodbye, Killer” by Pernice Brothers. Streaming here: http://www.spinner.com/new-releases#/11
• Catching up on “Little People Big World” because it’s the first night of vacay and my family is away. I’m a maniac. I am unstoppable.
• 2-week vacation starts now! Look out nothing, I’m coming to do ya.
• I’m running http://www.20in24.com to raise funds for @backonmyfeet. Donate a few bucks & you’ll get a big sweaty hug
• I take care of my kids! 12 Impressively Active Animal Fathers
• “Blind In One Eye” by Coliseum. Get MP3 via @magnetmagazine FFO: Black Cross, Young Widows
• “Sink / Let It Sway” by Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin. Get MP3 via @spinnertweet FFO: sunshiney pop
• Was Video Mailbox The First Movies-By-Mail Rental Company? via neatorama

Keep in Touch:

• Against Me! Wins World’s Least Coveted Endorsement: http://bit.ly/9UXCW0 via @videogum #LenoCore #
• This site is collects logos for cities all over the world: http://www.citid.net #
• The judges on Cupcake Wars speak with the seriousness of those handing down war crimes tribunal verdicts. #theyrejustcupcakes #
• My cheeks are never bloodshot because that’s where my eye drops always end up. I should know how to do this by now. #blinky #
• I like the Mega Church has 3 jumbotrons for those all important homily replays re: http://jalopnik.com/5563890/ #
• “Steven” by Bonedome. Get MP3: http://bit.ly/bj8J2E via @magnetmagazine Think: Bowie meets Shudder to Think
• “Jacqueline Susann” by Pernice Brothers. Get MP3: http://bit.ly/aHx70e More: www.pernicebrothers.com FFO: GBV, Mountain Goats

I like the idea of May 4th being Star Wars Day, “May the Fourth be with you.” Cute. But I just discovered today is also “International Jawbreaker Appreciation Day” and that is much more important in my little galaxy of geekdom. Parsecs upon parsecs more important. Next to Husker Du, Blake and the boys speak to me like no other band.

I’m guessing this date was selected based on the title of following classic from Dear You. It’s a cleverly-worded, rage-filled sendoff to an ex. (Warning to you ladies, don’t break up with poets who have record deals). The ending is explosive and cathartic and just plain awesome. “This is a story you won’t tell the kids we’ll never have. / If you hear this song a hundred times it still won’t be enough. (repeat for emphasis)”

Download MP3: “Sluttering (May 4)”

24 Hour Revenge Therapy tops my list of most-loved records and my favorite Jawbreaker song always changes, so much treasure in the trove. Currently, it’s this little ditty from Etc.

Download MP3: “Sea Foam Green”

Lyrics? You got ‘em:

Sluttering (May 4)

Flattered that you think I warrant ugliness.
Gutters drain west, mud made a mess of us.
It’s time to leave this place.
I’d saw through your wrist to find a better trap that fits.
I’d saw through your traps to find a better you.
A part of you that lasts.
I saw through your trap and into my own wrists.
Saw we were through, red ribbons spill to blue:
A sight to sore your eyes.

I got this dress.
I’m hiking it around this waste of laughter.
Slow dance alone with no one to the sound of four hands clapping.
Congratulations to you both, I hope somewhere you’re happy.
If there’s a moral to this story then I wish you’d show me.

Hair in the blood, fly in the disappointment.
Rubber, I’m glue.
I’ll write the book on you.
It’s sticking to my face.
You need a little less than what you take for granted.
This is the sip that’s drinking back from you,
Blacking out your eyes.
You need a little more suppression of you appetites.
This is your honeymoon, in separate rooms,
It’s neither sweet nor bright.

I got this dress.
I’m hiking it around this waste of laughter.
Slow dance alone with no one to the sound of four hands clapping.
Congratulations to you both, I hope somewhere you’re happy.
If there’s a moral to this story then I wish you’d show me.

I made a word to give this state a name, this game a guess.
I call it “sluttering.”
It means as little as your little test.
You are your worst revenge.
Your very means, they have no ends.
This is a story you won’t tell the kids we’ll never have.
If you hear this song a hundred times it still won’t be enough.

Sea Foam Green

A ’63, 10,000 miles.
What was I thinking?
I drove myself insane.
No small getaway.
Asleep with both hands on the wheel.
White knuckle weekend.
Chewing ephedrine.
Going to an unnamed end.
Unending…

We met in rain, you asked me in.
Seemed like a good sign.
Now I need a guillotine
to get you off my mind.
I brush my teeth until they break.
Until I start bleeding.
So when I smile I’ll know
I’m almost good enough for you.
And would you…

Follow me to the end of the dare.
Raise your eyes, return the stare.
Become your words. Your words so becoming.
On any Sunday I’ll be there.

I tried to drink you off my mind.
I just got wasted.
It only made the pain
that much more acute.
But cute isn’t strong enough a word.
Unintentionally gorgeous.
An accidental charm.
A graceful drinking arm.
Disarming…

Follow me to the end of the dare.
Raise your eyes, return the stare.
Become your words. Your words so becoming.
On any Sunday I’ll be there.

More

• Jawbreaker Discography
• History

Inventive, intricate and booming post punk that conjures up the good ol’ days of Quicksand, Paw and Seaweed. Love the groove and swagger of this song and the no-nonsense “let’s just rock the eff out” video is a nice touch.

Download MP3: Regular Nights

FFO: These Arms Are Snakes, Goes Cube, Converge

More: www.myspace.com/prizecountry | With Love