Top 5 (or 7) Alternative Christmas Songs

There is a (quite unscientific) scale of Christmas excitement. It ranges from the Yuletide joy that little children feel from the day they break ajar the first door of their advent calendar, to the urge one gets to spring out of your bed every time a rooftop clatter is heard, right down to the misery that one assumes Santa Claus experiences. "Father Christmas?" you say. Yes, because, if anything, this festive season is a bit of a busman's holiday for old Saint Nick.

I fall somewhere toward the lower end of that spectrum. I'm not full on bah humbug but neither am I the type to yell at young boys to buy me the finest turkey they can. Clearly then, I’m the perfect choice to DJ the Student Punch Christmas party. So here are a few tracks I'd spin that stand as a nice alternative to whatever X-Factor dreck decks the halls this year.




1. F**ked Up - Do they Know It's Christmas?



Featuring Andrew W.K, Bob Mould (Husker Du), Ezra Koenig (Vampire Weekend), GZA, Tegan and Sara, Kyp Malone (TV on the Radio) and David Cross (aka Dr. Tobias Funke from Arrested Development) this is a great twist on this "classic" Christmas guilt fest.

2. The Knife - Christmas Reindeer



3. My Morning Jacket - Christmas Must be Tonight



Originally by the band The Band (confused?), this is a beautiful, warm and low-key cover. Check out their iTunes Christmas EP for more Christmas favourites.

4. White Stripes - Candy Cane Children



A not so interesting fact: many die-hard White Stripes fans call themselves Candy Cane Children.

5. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - All I want for Christmas



Featuring a heavy dose of sleigh bells.

6. Sufjan Stevens - Did I Make You Cry on Christmas Day (Well, You Deserve It)



Check out his Christmas EP, helpfully entitled Songs for Christmas for more … well you get the idea.

7. Camera Obscura - The Blizzard



Another cover, this time of the 1964 Jim Reeves classic, with the Glasgow band capturing a real sense of sheltering from the winter cold.

Daniel W Raper
@danielwraper