The holidays are upon us, and whether you’re feeling festive or not, musicians are climbing aboard the tinsel bandwagon with new songs for the season. We offer to you a week’s worth of them, nestled in one place, like gifts under a tree.We already posted dozens of new holiday songs this year so far. Here are more that came out this week.
BIG FREEDIA - SMOKIN' SANTA CHRISTMAS EP
Twerk the night before Christmas and Big Freedia is here to put some bounce into the holidays with this new EP. "We are Heating up the Holidays with a trip to My Boy Toy Shop, Bustin Heads like a Nutcracker, and Smokin out Santa," says Freedia. "Better Be listening to Big Freedia this Christmas, ya heard me?!" Single "Better Be" features Flo Milli and you can watch the video for that in addition to the EP.
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THE AISLERS SET - "COLD CHRISTMAS"
'90s/'00s era indie band The Aislers Set went dormant in the mid-'90s and this track dates from 2010. How could they have kept this wonderful, warm holiday song from the world for 10 years?
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CHILLY GONZALES - "SNOW IS FALLING IN MANHATTAN" (FEAT JARVIS COCKER AND FEIST) VIDEO
Chilly Gonzales released A very chilly christmas a few weeks back and the standout cut is this gorgeous cover of David Berman's Purple Mountains wintery song "Snow is Falling in Manhattan" that's sung by Jarvis Cocker with backup vocals by Feist. They've just made a video for it, which was directed and animated by Paul Arne Meyer.
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CHILLY GONZALES & TODDLA T - A VERY CHILLY MIXTAPE: THE COLDEST CRIMBO
Meanwhile, Chilly has also released a holiday mixtape, featuring Toddla T. Chilly calls it "the perfect balance of festivity and fun, featuring the most unique interpretations of traditional songs such as 'Silent Night,' 'We Three Kings' and 'Auld Lang Minor.'" As for the title, "I didn't know the Brits called Christmas 'Crimbo' but now I've fallen in love with the word, just as I fell in love with Toddla's playful and massive production skills."
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TERRACE MARTIN - VILLAGE DAYS
The multitalented multi-instrumentalist Terrace Martin just released this holiday EP, Village Days, which features appearances by Kent Jamz & Nick Grant, Alex Isley, Rexx Life Raj and more, and finishes with a cover of Mel Torme's classic "The Christmas Song."
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CHANCE THE RAPPER - "THE RETURN" & "WHO'S TO SAY"
Chance the Rapper and Jeremih (who was recently released from the hospital following his COVID-19 diagnosis) have released Merry Christmas Lil Mama: The Gift That Keeps on Giving which features two new original songs by Chance – “The Return” and “Who’s To Say” – as well as re-gifted tracks from the two volumes of their Merry Christmas: Lil Mama mixtapes.
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PORRIDGE RADIO - "THE LAST TIME I SAW YOU (O CHRISTMAS)"
For those who don't like the holidays, you might like Porridge Radio's new holiday song. "It’s a song about having a miserable time every Christmas and the same cycles of heartbreak and depression endlessly repeating themselves," says singer/guitarist Dana Margolin. "We had a lot of fun with it - enjoy.”
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JULIA JACKLIN - "BABY JESUS IS NOBODY'S BABY NOW"
"2019 was a pretty rough one for my family," Julia Jacklin says. "I was touring the whole year carrying a lot of guilt for not being able to be at home. Singing super sad songs every night was a blessing and a curse depending on the day. I was imagining Christmas as being this time where we all came together again and took a collective breath but then the bushfires hit and my family live in the country so it was a direct threat. I was living in Melbourne, still pretty new to it, and wasn’t able to go home, the roads were blocked and my family were being evacuated periodically for a month. At one point Melbourne was blanketed in smoke from the fires, the sun was this menacing red, it felt apocalyptic and pretty hopeless. I wrote this in my room looking forward to 2020, hoping it would be a reset of some kind lol."
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THE INFAMOUS STRINGDUSTERS - "HANUKKAH, O HANUKKAH" & "MAOZ TZUR"
Bluegrass quintet The Infamous Stringdusters have released two songs celebrating the Festival of Lights, and come hot on the heels of their other holiday album, Dust the Halls; An Acoustic Christmas Holiday!
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THE JUST JOANS - "CARD FROM A MULTIPACK"
UK indiepop vets The Just Joans have revisited some of their holiday classics for a new EP. ": “There’s a famous quote by T. S. Eliot about the world ending with a whimper rather than a bang," says the band's David Pope. "Similarly, relationships can finish, not with a bang, but an underwhelming Christmas card. Considering the year we've all had, we thought it would be fun to re-record this ode to lost love and mass-produced salutations as a full band with a string section in the hope that it can bring a little festive cheer.”
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Looking for even more new songs? Browse the ‘New Songs’ archive and our “Holiday Music” category.