Spun: Alternative Rock Xmas

By Ryan Pike

Making a great Christmas album is tough, especially when the greatest holiday album in history, Boney M’s Christmas Album, has already been made. That’s not stopping the creative juices from flowing, as the huddled masses at EMI have crafted a collection of alternative rock Christmas songs to create the appropriately-titled Alternative Rock Xmas.

The most difficult thing about a Christmas compilation is finding a novel approach, so it’s hard not to like an album that opens with a song entitled “Please Daddy (Don’t Get Drunk This Christmas).” The opener from the Decemberists sets a light-hearted tone that allows a listener to relax and enjoy other unique holiday fare like Reliant K’s “In Like A Lion (Always Winter)” and Marcy Playground’s “Keegan’s Christmas,” along with some old favourites performed by bands like Starflyer 59, The Thrills and Everclear.

Fans of alternative rock, rejoice, as finally there is a Christmas album that features your favourite bands playing slightly different music than usual. Jokes and misspellings aside, Alternative Rock Xmas is a refreshingly unique mix of old songs and new, performed by bands that people might actually listen to. This album is sure to get even the biggest Scrooge in the holiday spirit, so long as Scrooge enjoys listening to the Decemberists.

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