A very special indie Christmas
December 21, 2023 10:16 AM

I want to compile the ultimate indie Christmas playlist. Although I prefer the slower, really depressing stuff, I'll take what you've got.

I'm not proud--I'll even take a link to a spotify playlist. Thanks so much, this is the stuff that gets me through the holidays. I really like Sufjan Stevens and Elliot Smith, but again, feel free to push that narrow envelope of sad white boys.

[Note there is an early question about this, but a lot of good songs have come out since 2007].
posted by mecran01 to Media & Arts (25 answers total) 23 users marked this as a favorite
I love (most of) this playlist, esp when I can't hear Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree one more freakin time...enjoy!
posted by Molasses808 at 10:23 AM on December 21, 2023


You want the album A Very Lonely Solstice by Fleet Foxes.
posted by mekily at 10:26 AM on December 21, 2023


Wanted to add...Also check out the 'bittersweet Christmas playlist' question posted about two hours before yours...a lot of great suggestions there along the same vibes you seem to be looking for.

And here's to a better year ahead for you and for earlier poster Muhonnin!
posted by Molasses808 at 10:30 AM on December 21, 2023


I really like Ye Banished Privateers Ring the Bells. Combines a variation of Jingle Bells with pirate lyrics. Starts out slow, but speeds up.
posted by FencingGal at 10:30 AM on December 21, 2023


Merry Christmas Baby (Please Don't Die) - Crocodiles & Dum Dum Girls
Oh You (Christmas Blues) - LCD Soundsystem
It's Christmas So We'll Stop - Frightened Rabbit
posted by quadrilaterals at 10:39 AM on December 21, 2023


“Christmas,” an EP by Low.
posted by baseballpajamas at 11:03 AM on December 21, 2023


Twin Falls by Built to Spill should be on your list.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 11:22 AM on December 21, 2023


An 80s indie Christmas tune that is my personal fave - Things Fall Apart by Cristina
posted by misscleo3861 at 11:42 AM on December 21, 2023


Okkervil River - Listening to Otis Redding at Home During Christmas
Palace Songs - Christmastime In The Mountains
Caetano Veloso - In The Hot Sun Of A Christmas Day (some context)
Laura Nyro - Christmas In My Soul
posted by hydrophonic at 11:44 AM on December 21, 2023


Carbon Leaf's album "Christmas Child" (which I learned about in this very web site)
posted by wenestvedt at 11:59 AM on December 21, 2023


Do you take sad white women? Rilo Kiley's little-known song Xmas Cake is very depressing.
posted by likedoomsday at 12:32 PM on December 21, 2023




Green Grows the Holly by Calexico
Merry Something to You by Devo (okay, New Wave, not indie, but not mainstream, so maybe?)
posted by smirkette at 1:13 PM on December 21, 2023


Oh, and if you're looking for Holiday Melancholy AF, I had Tim Minchin's White Wine in the Sun on repeat when I was away from my family during Christmas the first few Covid years.
posted by smirkette at 1:15 PM on December 21, 2023


Projekt Records has a history of releasing this sort of thing.
posted by chocolatepeanutbuttercup at 1:29 PM on December 21, 2023


I was absolutely delighted to listen to David Byrne discussing his Christmas playlist with Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh Air the other day! The discussion is great, the songs are great, I learned about some musicians I didn't know before this...

https://www.npr.org/2023/12/20/1220324342/david-byrne-talking-heads-holiday-christmas-playlist
posted by erst at 1:38 PM on December 21, 2023


Big fan of Tori Amos' Midwinter Graces for somber, vaguely-Pagan solstice vibes.
posted by The demon that lives in the air at 2:31 PM on December 21, 2023


Guess they're hardly what would be considered 'indie' but I find John and Yoko's "Merry Christmas (War is Over)" incredibly depressing: the War is never Over, another year older, and what do you get; John sounds bummed out and listless, dunno why they play this every year. Also I hear Joni Mitchell's "River" included in holiday playlists sometimes nowadays; I suppose yeah, she's singing about during Christmastime but neither of these tunes are what I'd call jolly.
posted by Rash at 4:13 PM on December 21, 2023


Hallelujah by Cloverton. I adore this version.
posted by annieb at 5:21 PM on December 21, 2023




Hark! By Andrew Bird
It’s a whole album, but I like Glad.
posted by vunder at 10:12 PM on December 21, 2023


Here's a big Spotify playlist I made of less familiar Christmas songs. It's deliberately eclectic but I'd be surprised if there's nothing there you like.
posted by Paul Slade at 12:33 AM on December 22, 2023


Half Man Half Biscuit's "It’s Cliched to be Cynical at Christmas" ?
posted by vincebowdren at 8:45 AM on December 22, 2023


UK music blogger Sweeping the Nation has a downloadable Christmas box set with a whole lotta indie included (among other things). He also has a more recent 100 song Christmas playlist on Spotify.
posted by Pink Frost at 1:57 PM on December 22, 2023


"slower, really depressing stuff", is it?

Black Walls' dronecore version of "Gabriel's Message (2013) will do it for you. This abandoned media on Internet Archive is about the only extant copy of it: https://web.archive.org/web/20121228061511/http://silentshout.ca/2012/12/18/mp3-black-walls-gabriels-message/
posted by scruss at 2:12 PM on December 22, 2023


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