I have a particular dislike of the Christmas holiday. It wasn’t due to some childhood holiday gift request never received. It just mainly stems from the double barrel attack of stunning bad traffic around the nearby mall and the inevitable, craptacular Christmas music. The traffic situation will stop only when the shopping feeding frenzy stops. However, when I find good exceptions to the musical offerings, it almost redeems the holiday. The Vandals did a great punk version of “Dance of the Sugerplum Faries,” which is a favorite cover of mine.
This year, the Austin-based Invincible Czars released their take on Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite. It kind of sounds like the Secret Chiefs 3 doing Christmas music, which would be a good thing. I may be hunting for this when I go buy the missus some gifts. I really should buy her something.
Some live performances of this release can be heard on a lengthy interview with the band. A short and entertaining video of the band performing can be seen here.
Free MP3s at Christmas music blog FaLaLaLaLa
Amazon.com: Christmas with the Vandals: Oi to the World!: Music: The Vandals
Neon Poisoning 