The Lenny Kaye and Cedar Sparks Christmas single

Lenny Kaye / Cedar Sparks: Santa’s Knee / Gathering Song
(La Société Expéditionnaire, LSE 050, US, 2023)

You see them everywhere around Christmas time, especially in shopping malls in the United States. A few songs have been written about people like them. But if you listen to songs like 'Father Christmas' by The Kinks or 'Department Store Santa Claus' by Howard Morris, their lives are not as jolly as the man they impersonate. In the songs by The Kinks and Howard Morris, it is the children who make the department store Santa's life difficult. Lenny Kaye's 'Santa's Knee', released this year on a 7", is more thoughtful. Kaye's Santa does his job with determination, promising the children who sit on his knee that Santa will get them the present they want: "I'll try to make all your wishes come true / That's the spirit of Christmas that I give to you". But this Santa is not judgmental: "If they're good or bad it's not for me to say / I believe all God's creatures should have their own way". Then, when his day's work is done, he returns to "a quiet room where no one is around". No mistletoe to kiss, no presents. On Christmas Eve, he drinks too much, hangs up his stocking, "and hope St. Nick arrives / Bringing magic and wonder to brighten my life".

Lenny Kaye's song hits all the right notes when it comes to expressing the sadness of Christmas loneliness. A loneliness that can affect anyone, even that jolly Santa Claus you meet on the street. Kaye, best known as the guitarist in the Patti Smith Group and as the man behind the original and very influential Nuggets compilation of 1960s American garage rock, sings the song like a storyteller, accompanied by Tim Carbone (Railroad Earth) on a melancholy sounding violin and keyboards, Julian Rogai on double bass and Lou Rogai (Lewis & Clarke) on drums and organ, while Brian Curry of the Cold Weather Company yodels in the background.

Carbone and the Rogais are also featured on the B-side, Cedar Spark's 'Gathering Song'. 'Gathering Song' was originally recorded in 2018 and also features Regina Sayles on vocals, Damian Calgagne on organ, keyboards and glockenspiel, and Jeff Barg on drums. Pennsylvania's Cedar Sparks describe their music as dark folk or gothic folk, but I also hear some country rock in 'Gathering Song', which has the same melancholy feel as the A-side: it sounds sad but hopeful at the same time. Cedar Sparks cite the movie 'It's A Wonderful Life' as an inspiration for their song, and it shows. 'Gathering Song' points out that even if you feel like a failure sometimes, you should remember that "each man's life touches so many lives / It's the love in the hand that he lends". Beautiful words, and singing along with the chorus, alone or with your friends, will make you feel alive and optimistic again. Even if you are a lonely department store Santa Claus.

The eleven and a half minute single was released by Lou Rogai's label La Société Expéditionnaire for Record Store Black Friday in three variants: clear red vinyl, clear red with swirl and the Rough Trade exclusive on green vinyl. A total of 1000 copies were pressed and due to the length of the songs the single is played at 33 rpm.

Listen to both songs on Bandcamp:

And buy the 7” from your local record store.

Etiénne Daho: Noël Avec Toi

Etiénne Daho: Noël Avec Toi / Noël Avec Toi (Instrumental)
(Barclay / Universal Music France, 586 868 3, France, 2023)

Etiénne Daho's big break came in 1985 with his French #13 synthpop hit "Tombé Pour La France" ("Fallen for France"). Daho went on to become one of France's most successful pop singers, drawing influences from across the musical spectrum, from France Gall to the Velvet Underground, from Serge Gainsbourg to Syd Barrett, and working with artists as diverse as Marianne Faithful, OMD and St. Etienne. He has had three Top 10 hits in France ('Mon Manège À Moi' in 1993, 'Comme Un Boomerang', a duet with Dani, in 2001 and 'Les Flocons De L'Été' in 2017) and most of his albums have been certified gold or platinum.

His latest album 'Tirer La Nuit Sur Les Étoiles' was released in May 2023 and reached the top of the French album charts. In December, Daho released a follow-up album containing remixes and leftover songs from the 'Tirer La Nuit Sur Les Étoiles' sessions. One of these songs was a Christmas song, 'Noël Avec Toi' ('Christmas With You'). Noël Avec Toi' was also released on a red vinyl 7" with a slightly longer instrumental version of the song on the B-side.

Daho co-wrote the song with vocalist and songwriter Jade Vincent and keyboardist, pianist, composer and producer Keefus Ciancia. Together with David Holmes, Vincent and Ciancia form the Los Angeles-born, London-based trio Unloved. Unloved are inspired by classic film scores, electro-acoustic music, and smoky jazz chanteuses, and all of these influences come together on 'Noël Avec Toi'. Daho's voice is the male equivalent of a smoky jazz chanteuse. The music is very atmospheric, at times minimal, just background humming and a bass. A little further into the song, keyboards, electronica and bells create a full cinematic sound.

Noël Avec Toi" is a song of longing, a longing to be with your love. Daho sings about the longing you feel when you are on your way to her (or him), to spend Christmas together, and to know that even if things don't always go smoothly, love is still burning brightly in both of you. A truly beautiful Christmas song.

You can listen to the song on Youtube:

And buy it at Etiénne Daho’s webstore.

Sam Russo: Mistletoe Pier

Sam Russo
Mistletoe Pier: Christmas Under The Pier / Merry Christmas (Baby, I’m Sorry)
(Red Scare, CCCP 253-7, US, 2023)

Sam Russo, from the small English market town of Haverhill, came from the hardcore punk scene, but like other punk rock musicians before him (like Chuck Ragan, Frank Turner and Brian Fallon), he turned to acoustic music. Russo played in the hardcore punk band Tear Down The Cockpit Door (a perfect name for a hardcore punk band, by the way) and started playing acoustic songs on the side. Sam released two demos (one in 2008 and another in 2009), a four-way split album with Chuck Ragan, Jimmy Islip and Helen Chambers, and three full-length albums, all of which were very well received. In 2012, Sam released a one-track Christmas cassette single, "Merry Christmas, Baby I'm Sorry," limited to 50 copies.

And now, eleven years later, after two split 7"'s (an American Tour 7" with Masked Intruder and Elway and a 4-song 7" with Brendan Kelly), Sam releases his first regular two-track 7", and it is a Christmas single called 'Mistletoe Pier'. The A-side is a new song, 'Christmas Under The Pier', the B-side is a reprise of 'Merry Christmas (Baby, I'm Sorry)'. Although I just described Sam as an acoustic singer and songwriter, it is not just one guy with a voice and a guitar that you hear on the single. It sounds like Sam invited some friends to the Christmas party. Although, considering the subject matter of both songs, the single is not the best choice to cheer up your Christmas party.

In "Christmas Under The Pier", Sam turns to his lover, or rather his former lover, after he wakes up on Christmas morning feeling lonely. He takes a drive to the pier and relives all the memories of the beautiful times he spent there with her in the summer. And he wonders where his former lover is now, hoping that she is somewhere under the palm trees, basking in the sun. In Haverhill, the snow is still falling. With a sultry saxophone and a surf guitar, 'Christmas Under The Pier' sounds like a summer song disguised as a Christmas song. Sam's slightly cracked vocals make the song sound extra melancholy.

Although 'Merry Christmas (Baby, I'm Sorry)' was written more than 10 years earlier, it goes very well with 'Christmas Under The Pier'. It sounds like another part of the same story. And it even starts with the sound of waves. Sam sings about how his former lover called him back the day before Christmas, upset because Sam had beaten up her new boyfriend, damaged his car with her high heels, broken into his garage and stolen all his tools. Why? "Because he don't love you like I do." Later, on Christmas Day, Sam admits that he disappointed his girlfriend and made her feel blue, feels sorry and hopes that she forgives him. All he can do is wish her a "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year". The single was released by Chicago's Red Scare, a label with deep roots in the punk scene, in a sleeve that, like the songs on the single, combines summer and Christmas.

There is a seasonal lyric video for ‘Christmas Under The Pier’ on Youtube:

And you can also listen to ‘Merry Christmas (Baby, I’m Sorry)’ on Youtube:

You can get the 7" from the Red Scare website or order it at your local recordshop.

Shoegazer Christmas

Deary / Three Quarter Skies
Shoegazer Christmas: 2000 Miles / Holy Water
(Sonic Cathedral Recordings, SCR289, UK, 2023)

If ever there was a record label that you would expect to put out a release called "Shoegazer Christmas", it would be Sonic Cathedral Recordings. In 2004, Nathaniel Cramp organized the first Sonic Cathedral club night in London. The so-called 'The Night That Celebrated Itself', was a night entirely dedicated to shoegaze. Shoegaze, the music style pioneered in the 1980s by bands such as The Jesus & Mary Chain, My Blood Valentine, Slowdive and Ride, is a combination of a sonic assault of very loud guitars with lots of effects and feedback, distant vocals, sixties psychedelic pop melodies and musicians who look at their effects pedals on the floor as they play. Which explains the genre's name. In 2006, Nathaniel turned Sonic Cathedral into a record label, releasing singles by The Tamborines, Mark Gardener (frontman of Ride), and Sarabeth Tucek. Later, Sonic Cathedral released records by, among many others, School of Seven Bells, Andy Bell (another Ride member), Dean And Britta, Sad Day For Puppets, The Early Years, Younghusband, bdrmm, Lorelle Meets The Obsolete, and the label even released a live 7" by Slowdive.

Two of the label's latest signings are Deary and Three Quarter Skies. Deary is the London-based duo of Ben Easton and Rebecca 'Dottie' Cockram. Ben and Rebecca describe their music as dream pop. Deary debuted in March of this year with the 10" EP 'Fairground', which featured the title track in three different versions, including a remix by Saint Etienne. In November, they followed up with an untitled six-song 12" EP. Three Quarter Skies released their debut, a 7" song EP, on cassette. Three Quarter Skies is the solo project of Cambridge-based Simon Scott, best known as the drummer of Slowdive, who also released a new album in 2023, the critically acclaimed 'Everything Is Alive'. Deary and Three Quarter Skies both recorded a seasonal song this year, and Sonic Cathedral decided to put them on a 7" and call it 'Shoegazer Christmas'. The half red half white 7" was limited to 300 copies and is long sold out.

Deary do a cover and Three Quarter Skies do an original. Deary take on The Pretenders' '2000 Miles' and prove that they really deserve the label dreampop. The song sounds like it was recorded in another dimension, a dimension you travel to when you sleep. Rebecca's vocals are drenched in echo and the bass, the main instrument in the song, floats in a space filled with ethereal sounds. Three Quarter Skies' original 'Holy Water' is also a Christmas song and features backing vocals by Rachael Swinton, who forms the Glasgow-based Cloth with her twin brother Paul. Holy Water' has the same atmosphere as the Deary song, with subtle rhythms, a guitar and bass that bring to mind the more psychedelic influenced early 80s post-punk bands like Echo & The Bunnymen and The Cure, and again those ethereal sounds that are everywhere.

Listening to the songs, maybe 'Dreampop Christmas' would have been a better title for the single, because if you expect loud and distorted guitars buried in effects and feedback, you will be disappointed. Instead, you can listen to Boris' version of 'Last Christmas', which was released last year (but is even more expensive than this 7", if you want to get a copy). But I think most people who love shoegaze will also like dreampop, so they will love this single. Shoegaze Christmas' comes with a Christmas card signed by Ben, Dottie and Simon. Without a doubt one of my personal favorites of the 2023 Christmas 7" season.

Listen to Deary on Bandcamp:

Listen to Three Quarter Skies on Bandcamp:

The Delines: Christmas In Atlantic 3-song 7"

The Delines:
Christmas In Atlantis / Waiting On A Bus Out Of Dallas / San Leandro Lament
(Decor Records / El Cortez Records, DECOR65, USA, 2023)

Family holiday gatherings are the highlight of the season for some, and a horror for others. It all depends on your family members and how well you get along with them. If you're the kind of person who tries to avoid the family Christmas gathering because you don't like your family that much, it's good to know that there are always people who have it worse than you. Just listen to The Delines' 'Christmas In Atlantis'. 'Christmas In Atlantis' was written by the band's guitarist, Willy Vlautin. Before Vlautin formed Portland, Oregon-based The Delines in 2012, he was the singer, guitarist, and primary songwriter for Portland alternative country band Richmond Fontaine. Vlautin is also a critically acclaimed author, having published his first novel, "The Motel Life," in 2007 and five more novels to date. A film adaptation of 'The Motel Life' was released in 2013 to critical acclaim.

In his books and lyrics, Vlautin focuses on the underbelly of America. Most of his stories take place in western states like Nevada (where he is originally from), Oregon and New Mexico. 'Christmas In Atlantis' fits right into this theme. In the song, singer Amy Boone describes how she and her partner take a taxi to the house where the family holiday party is being held. 'Little Drummer Boy' plays in the background as they exit the taxi. The first thing they see when they enter is an uncle yelling at the TV because his favorite baseball team is losing the game. Wait until you meet the rest of the family. The niece who proudly shows XXX-rated pictures of herself and prefers a porn career to college because she can make a lot more money that way. The cousin who talks about the merits of the KKK and how fascism is misunderstood. Spouses, with in-laws joining in. Sisters arguing over who gets to inherit their mother's jewelry and Tiffany lamp. A nephew who wants to score some drugs, but can't get into town on his moped because of the snow, and asks his grandmother to take him there, but she can't because both of her legs were amputated just last week. Boone talks more than she sings, with a subdued voice, while the music in the background, which includes trumpets and organ, sounds relaxed, in contrast to all the chaos going on at the family reunion.

As soon as UFOs come up, Boone and her partner decide they've had enough and flee to the Atlantis Casino, where they check in for three days. The mood of the song changes as well. The band's country soul sounds more powerful, and Boone trades in her chatty vocals to sing about all the glitz and glamour that surrounds them at the casino. The Delines recorded the track in 2022 for BBC Radio's Gideon Coe Show and have now released it on a 3-track 33 rpm single.

The first track on the B-side is also Christmas-related. 'Waiting On A Bus Out Of Dallas', written by Vlautin, is a vinyl-only track, and it's another little story set to music, as so many of The Delines' songs are. It's about a man waiting for a bus to take him out of Dallas around Christmas time, with only a few clothes for luggage. 'San Landrea Lament', written by the band's keyboardist and trumpeter Cory Gray, is an instrumental track, a nostalgic piano melody that sounds almost neoclassical. The trumpet that joins in halfway through the song gives it a bit of a brass band feel. If Gray had given it a Christmas-related name, like 'Santa Claus Lament', you would have thought it was written as a Christmas song.

The Delines debuted in 2014 with their album "Colfax", an album that received good reviews, with critics praising Vlautin's lyrics and Boone's vulnerable vocals, which very well expressed all the hardships the characters in Vlautin's lyrics had to endure. The band followed up with "Scenic Sessions" (2015, an album they released themselves to sell on their 2015 tour), "The Imperial" (2019), "The Night Always Comes" (2021, a CD that came with one of Vlautin's novels as a soundtrack and was re-released on LP in 2023 as part of Record Store Day), and "The Sea Drift," their most recent effort from last year. Joining Boone and Vlautin on the three tracks on the 7" are the other three current members of The Delines: Cory Gray (keyboards and trumpet), Sean Oldham (percussion) and Freddy Trujillo (bass). The 7" was released on black and green vinyl. The green vinyl version was only available from the band and the label, but is now sold out.

Listen to ‘Christmas In Atlantis’ through the band’s Bandcamp site: You can order the single through your local record store. It is available everywhere.

April Set seasonal single: Snow

April Set: 雪 / 海の低でうたう唄
(Unchantable Records, UCT-050, Japan, 2023)

In 2003, April Set released their debut album 'Les Classiques' on the Japanese label New World Records. The album was a compilation of two 12" EPs that April Set had released in 2000 and 2003 on the strangely named Afters Or Records, 'Baile Eterno' in 2000 and 'Bossa Presso' in 2003. April Set was the alias of Japanese producer Masanori Suzuki. Suzuki was a very active producer since the late 1990s. He had also released several 12"'s under the name The Fairbanks and had recorded as part of the DJ collective Blue Café and the duo Peanut Butter Workshop. Suzuki's music was influenced by jazz, soul, funk, easy listening and especially bossa nova. This was evident on the April Set releases. One of the four songs on April Set's debut EP, "Baile Eterno," was called 雪, which is pronounced yuki and means 'snow'. It featured a number of guest musicians: Torahiko Yukawa on guitar, Noboru Abe (of the house duo Studio Apartment) on keyboards, Keiko Saito (of the future jazz group Acoustic Dub Messengers) on flute and Blue, i.e. singer Yae (Fujumoto) on vocals. Yae also recorded as a solo artist and released her debut album "New Aeon" in 2001.

雪 was written by Takuro Yoshida, a Japanese folk singer and songwriter. The original performance of Snow was on Yoshida's debut album, 青春の詩, released in 1970. Yoshida had a long career as a singer, composer and arranger. Many other artists recorded his songs (such as April Set). He also composed theme songs for television shows. 雪tells the story of a chance encounter between two people who meet in a small town in a snowy country. The man feels the urge to follow the woman. Then she turns around and they look at each other for a moment. For both of them, the memory of this special encounter returns every time it snows. And the man longs for a winter with snow again, so that he can follow the woman in her footsteps through the snow.

This year, Japanese label Unchantable Records re-released 雪 and another track from the 2003 album, 海の低でうたう唄 ("Songs To Be Sung At The Bottom Of The Sea") on a 7", packaged in a sleeve with a wintry landscape full of snow on the front. Both songs appear in a new 7" mix. At first glance, snow, winter scenes and bossa nova don't seem to go well together, but April Set's ‘Snow’ proves otherwise. Backed by sleigh bells and Yae's relaxed vocals, the song quickly immerses you in a beautiful winter wonderland. It soon becomes clear that Bossa Nova is not only at home on the sunny beaches of Rio de Janeiro, but also on the snowy streets of Tokyo. It's a modern interpretation of bossa nova, though, because the fact that no drummer or percussionist participated in the recording means that all the rhythms come from an electronic device. But you can hardly hear it. The flute adds extra authenticity to the song. The B-side is more uptempo, a real dancefloor filler.

Listen to the full length version of 'Snow' on Youtube:

It is always difficult to get your hands on Japanese releases, if you are not living in Japan. CD Japan ships internationally, and has a site in English. Unfortunately, at the moment, the record is sold out. Hopefully they will get new copies in.

The Yuletime Lifters Christmas single

The Yuletime Lifters: Time For Love / Time For Love (Instrumental)
(Daptone Recording Co., DAP-1156, USA, 2023)

The Yuletime Lifters are Ron Preyer (of Los Angeles soul group The Younghearts), Torrénce Brannon (member of the Delfonics) and Clarence Matheney (multi-instrumentalist of Los Yesterday), backed by a group of Daptone session musicians. Then you know you can expect a song with soul that will groove. They have injected some Latin vibes into their Christmas offering, 'Time For Love'. The song begins with a piano that imitates the sound of a church bell telling the time. And what is the time? It doesn't matter, because any time is time for love. The Yuletime Lifters point out that Christmas comes and Christmas goes, but the pursuit of love, peace and understanding remains. And that is the true message of Christmas. The song has lots of soulful harmonies from Ron, Torrénce and Clarence, whose voices work well together, and it also features an organ solo in the instrumental break. One of those songs that touches on Christmas, but can easily be played all year round.

Listen to 'Time For Love' on Bandcamp:


And you can order it too through the label's Bandcamp