You’ve seen Arcade Fire do their awesomely weird version of Little Drummer Boy, parupupumpumming their way through an appearance on Zach Galifinakis‘ holiday edition of Between Two Ferns. But it doesn’t stop there – plenty of other acts have put out Christmas songs this year, and we’ve put together a list of our 2013 favourites. Because what is the true meaning of Christmas, if not cashing in on the fact that most Christmas Carols have been out of copyright for decades? Update your Christmas playlist with these.
Bad Religion – Hark The Herald Angels Sing
Veteran punks Bad Religion (who are almost older than Christmas itself) have briefly forgone the anti-piety stance that their name fervently denotes, allowing themselves some Oh Come All Ye Faithful-ing, Angels We Have Heard On High-ing, even a little Hark The Herald Angels Sing-ing, among other religious Christmas imagery on their recent EP Christmas Songs. 20% of the proceeds from sales of the album are going to SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, so they’re still stickin’ it to the man, in a way. Listen to the full album on RDIO.
DJ Snake – Bird Machine (Jingle Bells Version)
Deck the halls with wub wub wubs as electronic music pioneer Diplo and his Mad Decent label buddies contribute to A Very Decent Christmas, a collection of turnt up Christmas-themed remixes of some of their roster’s biggest tracks. DJ Snake’s Bird Machine was all over the airwaves this year, and his Jingle Bells remix will make you wish you were spending Christmas in the club, rather than at your nan’s.
Thrashing Through The Snow: A Very Megadeth Christmas
Not just one, but a whole collection of Megadeth‘s metal as f*ck Christm/as covers were featured in this skit on Jimmy Kimmel this week – ugly Christmas sweaters and all.
The XX – Last Christmas
Ok, so this one isn’t quite as current as the rest, but it’s called Last Christmas, and it came out Last Christmas, and it’s great so we’re counting it anyway. BBC1’s Live Lounge played host to The xx doing their awesome cover of Wham‘s yuletide-themed pop classic, and accidentally forgot to refer to them as The xxMas.
Kim Wilde – Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
Kim “Kids In America and nothing else that immediately springs to mind” Wilde is still making music (I know, right???) and has has put out a Christmas album this year called Wilde Winter Songbook. Her version of Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas is pretty standard Christmas music fare, but we couldn’t resist including it because of the unbelievably weird (and a bit shit) 3D animated video that their lighting director appears to have put together in 3D Movie Maker for Windows 95.
Merry Christmas!
