holiday music roundup: Best Coast, Kevin Morby, Phoebe Bridgers, Marching Church & more

Thanksgiving has passed, it’s now December, and that ringing in your ears may be tinnitus but it’s also sleighbells. It’s time for holiday music whether you’re ready or not. Amazon has just released its 2017 Indie for The Holidays compilation of new covers and originals. It includes Kevin Morby (“Blue Christmas”), Best Coast (doing The Beach Boys’ “Little Saint Nick”), The Lemon Twigs (“Coventry Carol”), Dean & Britta with Sonic Boom (“Little Altar Boy”), plus Jessica Lea Mayfield (who plays Brooklyn tonight), Albert Hammond Jr, and more. You can listen to Kevin Morby, Best Coast and Albert Hammond’s contributions and check out the tracklist below and listen to the whole thing at Amazon Music.

Amazon’s Acoustic Christmas is also out today, including Courtney Marie Andrews’ take on “I’ll Be Home For Christmas.”

Speaking of the digital retail giant, Amazon has a new family holiday special, Click Clack Moo: Christmas at the Farm, and Okkervil River wrote the theme song for it, titled “What Friends Do.” Will Shef says his inspiration was Harry Nilsson and Sesame Street songwriter Joe Raposo. You can listen to that below. The special itself was written by Pete & Pete creator Will McRobb and features the voice talents of Rachel Bloom (My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend), Pete Davidson (Saturday Night Live) and Patton Oswalt.

If you like your holiday music more star-studded, Spotify has enlisted Kelly Clarkson, Sam Smith, Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, Josh Groban, Wyclef Jean, Wolf Alice, Norah Jones and more for its “Spotify Singles: Holiday” playlist which also has DMX’s version of “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.” Stream that below too.

What else? Dude York, who are currently on tour with Alex Lahey, have released Halftime for the Holidays, a whole album of jock jam riff rock fun for the indie ugly sweater set. You can watch the videos for “Break Up Holiday” and the BTO-inspired “Takin’ Care of Christmas” below.

Phoebe Bridgers, who released Stranger in the Alps earlier this year, has covered yuletide classic “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” giving it a spare, gorgeous and melancholy spin:

Finally, if you aren’t into the jolly side of the holidays at all, you might be interested in “Christmas on Earth,” which is a new 7″ single from Marching Church (aka Elias of Iceage). Elias says:

“Christmas On Earth” is a carol about parental kidnapping. Offering no background story to clarify the motives, we journey through the racing mind of a father in the midst of the disquieting act of having abducted his own children.

Draped in the melancholic backdrop of December, “Christmas On Earth” is an ode and a contribution to the great tradition of Christmas song. Bereft of sarcasm, we shine an adult and intricate light on the sad beauty which stands as the natural backside to the sometimes one-dimensional notions of joy integrated into the season.

Embracing the trivial and banal customs that go with its territory, this is a eulogy to the benevolence of Christmas time. Now deck the halls with boughs of holly!

You can listen to “Christmas on Earth” below.

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Indie for the Holidays 2017 tracklist:
1. “Blue Christmas,” Kevin Morby
2. “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” Charly Bliss
3. “Coventry Carol,” Lemon Twigs
4. “Little Saint Nick,” Best Coast
5. “Oh Winter,” Eisley
6. “(There Won’t Be) One More Christmas,” Coco Hames
7. “Merry Christmas Baby,” Blond Ambition
8. “Brighid’s Flame,” Jeff The Brotherhood
9. “Anything Helps,” Matt Costa
10. “Christmas with Bandini,” Korey Dane
11. “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),” Great Grandpa
12. “The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot,” Albert Hammond, Jr.
13. “Little Altar Boy,” Dean & Britta (with Sonic Boom)
14. “When The Snowflakes Fall,” Freedom Fry
15. “To Heck With Ole Santa Claus,” Jessica Lea Mayfield
16. “Feliz Navidad,” SUSTO
17. “Christmas in Latinoamerica,” Mexican Institute of Sound
18. “Wonderful Christmastime,” Slow Dancer