OK, WITH less than two weeks to go until Christmas, it’s basically now or never for anyone who has thus far been on the fence about embracing ‘the spirit of the season’.
For those who’ve finally decided to make an attempt at feeling vaguely festive, Noise Annoys has put together suitably seasonally-appropriate soundtrack to help foster good cheer - one that doesn’t involve the usual suspects (sorry Slade, Elton, Shaky et all).
Yours truly will be cooking Christmas dinner again this year, which means a good couple of hours stood in a hot, steamy kitchen attempting to safely shepherd turkey, spuds and vegetables from fridge to table without disaster.
In anticipation of this cranberry sauce and gravy splattered culinary stressfest, I decided to compile an alternative Christmas playlist to cook along to - and, Noise Annoys being what it is, obviously this incorporated a healthy dose of locally-sourced festive tunes.
Happily, in recent times there have been quite a few Irish artists of the ‘alternative’ persuasion who have bravely grasped the nettle of The Christmas Song and managed to come away smelling of roses.
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There have been quite a few Irish artists of the ‘alternative’ persuasion who have bravely grasped the nettle of The Christmas Song and managed to come away smelling of roses
This year has been no exception: for example, this month has already seen Belfast indiepop specialist Neil Brogan dropping another couple of charming C-bombs - that’s ‘C’ as in ‘Christmas’, naturally - to add to his already bulging sack of festive-themed tunes.
His latest release, Christmas 2024, is a two track affair comprising Last Minute Christmas List and Shirley Hughes Christmas. The former is an up-tempo jangle fuelled by very relatable anti-commerce angst (“if I could ask for anything: peace on Earth and goodwill to all human beings”), while the latter finds Neil turning in a pretty, softly sung acoustic guitar-based ode to Christmas Day which namechecks the famous children’s author.
The former Sea Pinks man has been treating us to quality new Christmas songs every year since 2020, which he marked with the pandemic-informed lament It’s Christmas (With A Difference), many of which have been compiled as the handy and descriptively titled Christmas EP - a tasteful, lyrically thoughtful and musically eclectic exercise in ‘seasonal’ songwriting that’s almost entirely free from from sleigh bells and children’s choirs.
Last year’s offering, Our First Christmas, was also top drawer stuff which saw Neil embracing the true spirit of Christmas by donating his Bandcamp Friday sales to the Unicef Gaza Emergency Fund.
This year, he again puts your money where his mouth is by staying true to the humanitarian sentiment of Last Minute Christmas List: all proceeds from Christmas 2024 via neilbrogan.bandcamp.com this month are being donated to Oxfam’s Gaza-Lebanon Appeal and the Simon Community, divided equally between the two charities.
Up with this sort of thing.
Indeed, Newry-spawned thrash merchants Gama Bomb have also come up with a Christmas charity single of a rather louder, faster, but no less tasteful kind in the form of A Coffin For Christmas.
Having given us the superb album Bats last year and just recently blown re-animated pop punkers Alien Ant Farm off the stage in Dublin and Belfast, the Bomb have now delivered an amusing, headbanging-friendly early Christmas gift which keeps on giving - literally.
All proceeds from the Bandcamp downloads of this naughty list anthem will be donated to international medical aid charity Médecins Sans Frontières - cough up the €5 minimum purchase price now at gamabomb.bandcamp.com and maybe Santa Claus will even spare your worthless existence with a stay of execution.
“Looking at the world in 2024, it can feel like a few big, powerful and morally corrupt people are having their ‘fun’ with nobody willing to stop them,“ explained their esteemed frontman, Philly Byrne, to rock bible Kerrang!.
“With this song, I was imagining that Santa might use his powers to deliver a bit of justice to those world leaders.
“It’s an empowering feeling, I just wish it would come true. Maybe next year.
“I feel like metal has very few good Christmas songs, so we wanted to take our shot with something catchy and fun.”
They shoots, they scores.
Sticking with the festive theme but shifting genres yet again, Stray Planets' new just-in-time-for-a-white-Christmas tune Please Don’t Hurt the Snow is described as having a dreamy and wistful ‘Last Christmas-meets-Grandaddy vibe‘.
I’d go along with that, and you can add ‘with unexpected nods to Kate Bush’s Cloudbusting' for good measure when listening to this one, which will surely make you think twice before engaging in any snowball fights should the clouds actually take a big white dump all over us during the next few weeks.
Stray Planets is the brainchild of Dublin-based musician John Butler, working with producer Rian Trench, engineer Robert Watson and vocalists Dara Kiely and Sinead McConville.
They have been threatening to release a debut album since 2023, teased via a series of intriguing singles including the recent psychedelic indie rock gem, Messed Up - perhaps 2025 will be the year that their LP finally arrives?
Next up, we have Christmas Once Again from Derry’s Roe. Yet another great example of how to do a Christmas song without resorting to seasonal cliches, this one is a jangly ode to absent friends that may have you sniffling into your mulled wine if it catches you at the wrong/right moment.
She explains: “It’s a song about festive shadows. It’s about missing the people you love that aren’t around to hear that you love them anymore.
“And it was written for the empty chairs that sit at the kitchen table.”
I’m not crying - you’re crying. Brace yourself before listening on Spotify and other digital streaming platforms.
Finally, sliding under the deadline wire for the online version of this piece comes Belfast indie kids Buí with a cover of a slow and sweet favourite from A Charlie Brown Christmas.
Christmas Time is Here, originally a twinkly, jazzy, piano-based number by Vince Guaraldi, has been interpreted by Buí mainman Josh on his acoustic guitar in a manner which takes this 50-year-old festive fave into new sonic territory without losing the easy-going yet oddly melancholic charm of the beloved original.
Enjoy it now at bui43.bandcamp.com, and check out the superlative slackercore thrills on offer from their most recent non-seasonal release, Are You Listening b/w Ruminate, while you’re there.
Almost all of the above Christmas songs are included on the mammoth Noise Annoys This Christmas playlist on Spotify (just search ‘Noise Annoys This Christmas’): three-and-a-half hours of alternative festive favourites featuring everyone from Half Man Half Biscuit, Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine and Frank Sidebottom to Lemmy, Spinal Tap and Bob Dylan.
Happy listening, and indeed, happy Christmas - see you on the other side...
Noise Annoys This Christmas: 10 Locally-Sourced Festive Favourites
- Christmas Medley - McKowski
- Christmas Number One - Problem Patterns
- Christmas Once Again - Roe
- Last Minute Christmas - Neil Brogan
- Midwinter Festival - Rory Nellis
- Zombie Christmas - Tim Wheeler & Emmy The Great
- Please Don’t Hurt The Snow - Stray Planets
- Song For a Future Love - The Frank and Walters
- We’re Gonna Rock This Christmas - Trucker Diablo
- A Coffin For Christmas - Gama Bomb
