It’s the time of the year, where apparently nothing has changed in music for the last 50 years. No matter where you go or what you do these few weeks, you’re being persecuted by ‘Silent Night’, ‘Winter Wonderland’ or ‘The Little Drummer Boy’. Only the interpreters slightly vary here and there. Finally most of the people have come to terms with the fact that there is no other sound between mid-november and the end of december. So you might enjoy these three christmassy sound alternatives. Merry Christmas!

“That Fuzzy Feeling” and is a compilation made by LOaF Recordings and the Arctic Circle. 15 tracks from artists like Isan, Peter Broderick, Hauschka, Rothko and the Sleeping Years or the North Sea Radio Orchestra look into this particular mood, and this certain melancholy that’s wafting all around this time of the year. All tracks tend towards electronic music or/and contemporary classic, but without avoiding typical christmas sounds. And all the songs on the album prove, that you don’t have to reinterpret the same old classics again and again. There is a fair amount of space in this musical universe to add some new christmas sounds.

“Christmas Gift” is a compilation made by Rainboot. And since christmas should be about giving, 100% of the sales will be donated to “Save The Children” and fourteen various artists contributed a song. The Animal Beat, Junkboy, Trev Gibb, Ben Holland and many more will bring you a serene and beautiful folk-pop christmas. Listening to these songs, you wish for snow and long cold winter.

“Christmas Special” from The Boy Least Likely To sounds like The Beach Boys meets Sesame Street. Pete Hobbs and Jof Owen created an album that is so joyful and lovely with a twist of christmas melancholy, you wish to be a child again and be able to experience this particular excitement most of us adults seem to have forgotten. I love it and  “I still believe in Santa Clause, even if no one else does.” Thank you for this motto.

According to their website, Pete Hobbs and Jof Owen aka The Boy Least Likely To, make “disco music with a country heart”. I think it’s quite hard to classify their music, all I know is: they make quirky and charming songs with an unmistakable childlike soul, some sort of twee pop, maybe? Anyway, they have already released two albums on their own label Too Young To Die called “The Best Party Ever” in 2005 and “Law Of The Playground” in 2009. Enjoy the fiddles, banjo, glockenspiel and the good mood.

Tags: Arctic Circle, Ben Holland, Christmas Special, Hauschka, ISAN, Junkboy, Law Of The Playground, LOAF Recordings, North Sea Radio Orchestra, Peter Broderick, Rainboot Label, Rothko, Save The Children, That Fuzzy Feeling, The Animal Beat, The Best Party Ever, The Boy Least Likely To, The Sleeping Years, Too Young To Die, Trev Gibb