In our search for the best undiscovered indie gems we came across some new holiday hits that will fit just right on your coveted Xmas playlist.
Your rock and roll Christmas gets an indie update with the new song, The Flurries, by Transistor. This is just a feel good rock and roll classic all around, holiday song or not, this is the kind of jam you can enjoy any time of year. It has the subtle punk rockabilly throwback of bands like The Gaslight Anthem and Arcade Fire. There’s an influence of 80s Springsteen and Weezer.
It’s no wonder these fellas get into the holiday spirit. They’ve got miraculous roots, forming after two musicians who met on a music app realized they lived in the same building.
Transistor has been banging around Alabama and Tennessee. Like Kings of Leon, they can’t entirely shake their southern rock roots, but the influences are rich and expansive. They have an affinity for catchy pop hooks. The dirty guitars are melodic and colorful as the intersect leads around the songs chord arrangement.
Lyrically, this is a fun Holiday classic meant for the whole family, but especially fun for the adults. Hear The Flurries now on our Best New Rock playlist.
If you are someone who spent last Christmas alone, unable to visit loved ones out of caution and concern, then we have a Christmas song for you. Sourced. is UK based songwriter Fred Claridge. His new song All I Want Is A Christmas could be a tribute to everyone who stayed home for the holiday to keep someone else safe, as well as those who were ill with the virus, or had family members suffering that they could not see. It’s a song for anyone who has ever been away, or dealing with an illness during the holiday season.
Anyone who has ever spent the holiday in the hospital will tell you that it changes their perception of the Christmas season, especially when you know your neighbor in the room next to you might never be going home.
A story like this deserves a fitting tribute, and Sourced. delivers. All I Want for Christmas is a good song in its own right. Claridge provides an emotional, believable performance. The sentiment is genuine, and the meaning is heartfelt. The indie folk vibe is lifted by shuffling brushed drum sweeps, jangly acoustics, and atmospheric backing vocals. There’s a hint of early Bon Iver and Phoebe Bridgers in his writing.
“You don’t know what you’re missing, until it’s gone from you, when I dream we’re just sitting down eating, that’s all I’ve been looking forward to.” Claridge is eloquent in his simplicity, as he carefully crafts a picture of a regular Christmas Day. It feels so passe’ in the moment, but it’s the regularity that grounds us, helps us reset and regain our place in the world. That is the pause and reflection that holiday’s offer, they are place points in our year, a chance to work it all out knowing that mostly everyone else has taken that day for family as well. Claridge invites us into his home, he knows it feels familiar, it’s a reflection of what matters when it’s all said and done.
Hear All I Want Is A Christmas, now on our Best New Indie playlist
Get festive and celebrate the true meaning of Christmas on the new indie rock hit Jesus Victorious, by Station Worship.
This group of rock and roll worshipper’s celebrates their faith through the gift of creativity, and they do it well. Their music is anthemic and passionate. Christian rock gets a bad rap in the mainstream, not a lot of bands break through, but Station Worship is undeniable. They know how to craft a good song and their arrangements are full of catchy hooks and apt musicianship. Jesus Victorious really resonates with the indie rock of our times, a combination of punk rock and alternative rock, with a nostalgic sensibility in the chord writing. Think Gaslight Anthem meets The Killers.
Station Worship write about what they’re into, which is most importantly loving Jesus, and that gets some people bent out of shape. Yes, they totally want you to love Jesus too, but they put this song out into the stratosphere for us all to absorb, and their abilities are undeniable.
Full disclosure, when we were screening for our Best New Rock playlist, we totally missed that this was a Christian Rock release. We just lost ourselves in this killer vibe. Enjoy Jesus Victorious now on our Best New Rock playlist.
The Wild Is Calling 