christmas music for people who don't like christmas music
I've never liked Christmas music very much--the holiday musical canon fails me on pretty much every conceivable level and leaves me on edge for most of the season. But while I could spend a great deal of time and energy delving into that, I would like to instead put forward an alternative: there is some Christmas music out there that I think is good actually. And with Bandcamp Friday coming up this week, what better time than to write about my favorite of these?
Merry Christmas, Anyway is a short 2003 album by the band Love Hotel, which I believe also went by Silver Bells at the time. I discovered Love Hotel because the late great Aaron Huffman, bassist for the locally beloved indie rock icons Harvey Danger, also played bass on this album; as far as I know, they only ever released this album and an EP called Masculine Feminine (which I also enjoy a great deal), and never got picked up for a label release.
This album is the sort of music I would listen to on purpose even if it weren't Christmas (and indeed, often do). It captures a lot of little Christmas moments: lost love, Christmas flings, awkward family reunions, ill-advised hookups at the office Christmas party, and, in my personal favorite track "Give Us a Smile, January," that wistful post-holiday feeling as we put all the decorations away, put the holidays behind us, and get ready to face another year. It is an album which dares to ask the question: what if Christmas music was honest? And all of that with some of that classic early 2000s indie rock vibes; particular shout outs to Sarah Paul Ocampo's vocals.
Give this album a listen. Whether you feel the same way I do about Christmas music or think I and those like me are joyless husks who hate fun, I think you'll find at least a track or two that you'll really enjoy.