Christmas, It's Not a Biggie: KEXP's 2018 Holiday Music Guide

It’s an understatement to say the past couple of years have been difficult. Perhaps that’s why a larger-than-typical number of artists in 2018 have turned to the comfort of the holidays by creating or covering Christmas tunes. This year, everyone from long-running rockers Queens of the Stone Age to instrumental soul-funk outfit Khruangbin have contributed to the holiday music landscape. Here’s to one less opportunity of hearing the incredibly rapey “Baby, It’s Cold Outside!” Happy Holidays, everyone!

The Beths - “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”

Last month, New Zealand guitar pop quartet The Beths shared a cover of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” Their rendition of the holiday favorite starts out fairly straightforward with just the strum of an electric guitar and Elizabeth Stokes’ soft vocals before the drums crash in, a multi-part Beach Boys-esque harmony is added as well as strings and a killer guitar solo. The song was released as the A-side of a 7-inch that includes a demo version of Future Me Hates Me track “Happy Unhappy” on the B-side. All proceeds of the 7-inch go to benefit the Girls Rock Camp Foundation. 

Say Sue Me - “Christmas, It’s Not a Biggie”

Busan, South Korea band Say Sue Me released a holiday EP, Christmas, It’s Not A Biggie on Dec. 7 via Damnably. The original song is explained like this: “It is a carol song in surf and rockabilly style of the 50s ~ 60s. You can expect someone might have a hard time during this period because of the coldness of winter, and be sad and depressed about the passing of another year. Yet strangely most people during Christmas seem happy and warm. I want to think that Christmas is not a biggie, but for some reason I feel like I can be a better person during this time.”

Phoebe Bridgers - “Christmas Song”

A few weeks ago, Los Angeles singer/songwriter Phoebe Bridgers unveiled a stirring cover of Omaha country rock band McCarthy Trenching’s straightforwardly-named “Christmas Song.” The holiday tune features vocals from Jackson Browne as well as some festive sleigh bells. The song originally appeared on McCarthy Trenching’s 2008 record Calamity Drenching.

Bridgers explained the origin of the cover in a lengthy statement: “It’s not that often that I hear a Christmas song that doesn’t make me want to quit music. I played a show in L.A. around the holidays last year where I covered it for the first time. Jackson Browne was there, and he came up to me after the show to tell me how much he loved the song. A couple days later, Dan got a Bandcamp notification on his desktop computer that someone paid 50 bucks for his record and wrote a nice note and signed it Jackson Browne. He thought someone was fucking with him. So when I decided to record a version of the song, I knew who I wanted to sing on it. Plus, I have wanted to make music with Jackson as long as I’ve wanted to make music.”

This isn’t Bridgers’ first foray into Christmas music. Last year, she covered the holiday classic “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”

Mud On My Bra - “Allergic to Christmas”

Local two-piece Mud On My Bra make fun, energetic punk and have brought that energy to their original Christmas tune “Allergic to Christmas.” Myla and Aria Mud bring all the snark expected of a punk Christmas tune. The lyrics focus on some of the downsides of the holiday. Who can’t relate to “My relatives! Politics will clash / I’m getting a psychosomatic rash / ‘Cause my father is treating me like trash / I guess he doesn’t like my hair”? The song was Tuesday’s KEXP Song of the Day, chosen by Brian Foss.

Khruangbin - “Christmastime Is Here”

Houston trio Khruangbin had a big year with the release of their breakthrough instrumental surf record Con Todo El Mundo at the beginning of 2018. In November, they followed it up with a 7-inch cover of Christmas classic “Christmas Time Is Here." The band explains their choice of cover like this: "Growing up the three of us all had very different Christmases. But we recently discovered we all had the exact same favourite Christmas song. When we realized it, we sat down to play it and it came together instantly. In 15 minutes we had this recorded. It was like the best Christmas present ever.”

DIE NASTY - “It’s Christmas (My Family’s All Dead)”

The rollicking “It’s Christmas (My Family’s All Dead)” by Seattle band DIE NASTY is high-energy from start to finish. The song is so catchy that you could play it in front of your grandma and she might not notice the morbid subject matter. The Christmas song is the lead track on the 3-song EP It’s Christmas (My Family’s All Dead). The EP follows their first proper record L.P., released in early 2018. Brian Foss chose the song for Monday’s KEXP Song of the Day. 

Josh Homme and C.W. Stoneking - “Silent Night” / Josh Homme, Brody Dalle, and their kids - “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas”

Queens of the Stone Age joined the yuletide fun by releasing a pair of quirky Christmas songs. The A-side is cover of “Silent Night” by Queens frontman Josh Homme and Australian musician C.W. Stoneking. The B-side isn’t really a song at all but a reading of “Twas the Night Before Christmas” by Homme, his wife Brody Dalle, and their children. The band released the songs with a statement of intention of “spreading year-end tidings of comfort and joy whether you want [them] to or not.” Proceeds from the holiday tunes go partially to the Sweet Stuff Foundation, a non-profit founded by Homme which provides assistance to musicians and recording engineers facing illness and disability, and partially to Support Act, who has a similar mission of providing “financial assistance we are able to give as a grant, awarded in acknowledgment of an artist or music worker’s contribution to Australian music.”