Christmas Music Doesn't Have to Mean Mariah and Wham!

Cher at Christmas

Indie artists are recording holiday music with the same charms as the music they make the rest of the year.

In 2022, hit producer David Foster told The New York Times’ Ben Sisario that where Christmas music is concerned, “people want to hear the old songs.” Where the industry is concerned, that’s probably true. That’s the conventional wisdom, but the biggest new Christmas album this holiday season is Cher’s Christmas, which had the new “DJ Play a Christmas Song” as its lead track and the focus of its marketing.

In the indie world, more and more acts are finding ways to express themselves in the Christmas arena with songs that, in the case of most of the bands worth listening to, have dynamic relationships with a number of musical traditions, holiday music being just one.

New Orleans’ Haunted House Party, for example released its second album of seasonal sound this year with The Spirit of Christmas, and Christmas music traditions are front and center on it. The lo-fi-esque tracks sample beautiful music versions of holiday classics to create new, fractured versions that bring Andy Williams, Perry Como and the singers of their ilk to mind without sounding anything like them. It also works as part of Christmas celebrations, rewarding attention but not demanding it. If you can still find one, The Spirit of Christmas is best heard on vinyl, where the side breaks cut the album down to shorter lengths that keep the tracks from blurring together.

Christmas in New Orleans features emcees on the new Krewe label including producers 504icygrl and PoppyH along with Raj Smoove, and it’s a credible, entertaining Christmas hip-hop EP. At six tracks—five songs and a skit—Christmas in New Orleans is easy to connect to. For me, 504icygrl’s “Saint Nick Where Y’at” and her duet with the Spanish-language, reggaeton-leaning Corzo 504, “Gimme Gumbo,” feel like contemporary expressions of New Orleans at Christmas time.  At the same time, there’s an old school quality to the album, from the skit to the strong sense of community. The EP’s not a big statement, but that only adds to the sense that it’s real product of New Orleans and its neighborhoods.

Tarriona “Tank” Ball contributes the spoken word “Memories of Mama” to Robert Grasper’s In December, and it works the way many of her spoken pieces do. Her details make her Christmases tangible, even for those whose Christmases were nothing like hers. I wish Glasper’s accompaniment gave the song something her words didn’t—a little darkness, a little joy, a little humor—to round out Ball elegy to Black Christmases in New Orleans before Katrina, but that’s a missed opportunity and not a flaw.

Cher’s label and team have pushed “DJ Play a Christmas Song” from her holiday album, Christmas. It has the “Believe” Auto-Tune warble and house beat, but the clear winner is “Drop Top Sleigh Ride,” which has been most loved song this season in my house. It asks “Hey / are you / ready to roll / from L.A. to the North Pole?” but the answer is yes when the question is asked in such a pop, nutty track that Cher signs on to 100 percent. Her voice sounds uncanny at times, so perfect that it’s hard to believe it’s real, but when she hits certain low signature low notes, the question’s a curiosity not a problem.

In other non-New Orleans’ Christmas music, I’ve enjoyed Sara Noelle’s yearly journey in ambient folk holiday music. Her melodies seem light but not weightless, and on this year’s “Winter’s Glow,” the vocal processing gives her voice the character of the wind at night blowing snow around outside. On first listens, the melody is her most ambient, but its shape becomes clearer and more definitive with repeated listenings. Her “I’ll Sleep ’Til Christmas” was one of my favorite songs from last year’s holiday season, and “Winter’s Glow” is becoming one of my favorites this year.

Another of my 2023 favorites is Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard’s “Christmas is Coming (We All Know the Score),” which dirties up a Slade-like song with garage glam, and it’s on Have Yourself a Merry Indie Christmas Vol. 3. The series is the brainchild of British music journalist Kevin McGrath, who has now pulled together three collections of indie rock Christmas music, each at least 35 songs’ long. At that length, there’s some dross in each one, but there are also plenty of finds that you can afford to hunt for since it’s around $6.50 on Bandcamp. This year’s comp transparently owes a lot to the first generation of punk with two songs that directly reference the Ramones and a few more that sonically reference the heyday of British punk, but it’s long enough to cover a lot of ground.

In 2018, producer Amerigo Gazaway released A Christmas album, an instrumental beat tape that worked in much the same way as Haunted House Party. This year he dropped Another Christmas album, which streamlines the beats that still draw in part from Christmas music’s beautiful music roots, but Gazaway adds vocals by rappers he has collaborated with including Dillon, Napoleon Da Legend and Awon. Gazaway’s album doesn’t have the same sense of place that Christmas in New Orleans does, but the productive Gazaway is a relentless grinder who has logged the hours and made the music to hone his craft. He and his collaborators are also smart enough to find ways to make Christmas hip-hop that isn’t corny.

Want to know more? On my Twelve Songs of Christmas podcast, I have interviewed Sara Noelle, Kevin McGrath, and Amerigo Gazaway, and this week my interview with Raj Smoove and 504icygrl will drop.

Want more Christmas music for the holidays? Hip-hop archivist Bill Adler is also a Christmas music collector, and his Xmas Jollies seasonal music compilations are legendary. This year’s Xmas Jollies is up and streaming, as is this year’s compilation from Jim Goodwin, whose ChristmasUnderground.com is an indispensable site for indie rock Christmas recommendations. I have also interviewed Bill and Jim on the podcast. My own playlist is up as well and can be streamed now.

If you’re listening to Mariah Carey, Brenda Lee and Burl Ives this holiday season, that’s on you.