Kevin Bronson on December 4th, 2020

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What we have here is a perfect accompaniment to your online shopping spree. You know, when you’re ordering stocking-stuffers like a Nick Cave Red Right Hand Keychain.

“The Wholly Holiday Music Mix, 2020” is Buzz Bands LA’s annual sortie into seasonal tunes of all genres, from artists big and small, young and old, sincere and not-so. As in recent years, this playlist is dominated by new original songs. We think they all sleigh.

Enjoy tracks from new holiday albums or EPs by Calexico, Tori Amos, the Bird and the Bee, Gwen Stefani, Goo Goo Dolls, Black Violin, Grant-Lee Phillips, Andrew Bird, Tori Kelly and Office Romance, plus selections from new compilation albums released by Father/Daughter Records, Nettwerk, Memphis Industries, Motown Records and Colemine Records. Pile on with some choice new original songs from the Dears, Carly Rae Jepsen, Liam Gallagher, Finneas, Grizfolk and U.S. Girls, and sprinkle in some covers by Joel Jerome, Black Pumas, Phoebe Bridgers and Dashboard Confessional. And don’t miss the introduction to Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard.

Queen’s Brian May appears not once but twice on this playlist.

And we would have been remiss not to include L.A.’s Sara Noelle.

Where’s the mistletoe again?

■ Need more? Our 2019 mix was pretty cool. And 2018, too.

||| Stream: The Wholly Holiday Music Mix, 2020

The Bird and the Bee, “You and I at Christmas Time” — The duo of Inara George and Greg Kurstin check in with a new holiday album, “Put Up the Lights,” which features originals (including this one) and covers.

Phoebe Bridgers, “If We Make It Through December” — Bridgers teams up with the “Punisher” production team of Tony Berg and Ethan Gruska to cover Merle Haggard’s song, a benefit for the Downtown Women’s Center.

The Dears, “Christmas Love” — The Canadian indie-rockers, whose latest album “Lovers Rock” came out this summer, unwrap a gem of an original.

Joel Jerome, “Feliz Navidad” — José Feliciano’s classic is in good hands with Jerome, who has a long history of doing wondrous covers. It arrives as José Feliciano’s original celebrates its 50th anniversary with a guest-filled new version of the song (exclusive to Amazon Music).

Gwen Stefani, “Here This Christmas” — A new original from the artist’s holiday album “You Make It Feel Like Christmas,” originally released in 2017 and now getting a deluxe reissue.

Jacklen Ro, “C U Christmas Day” — Duo working on new music for Lolipop Records and working on putting smiles on faces.

Grizfolk, “All I Want for Christmas Is a Rock Show” (feat. Kyle Gass of Tenacious D) — It’s one of the originals on Nettwerk Records’ new 18-song compilation “Christmas Together (Wherever We Are),” which also features tunes from Didirri, the Ballroom Thieves and Jon Bryant, along with covers by Together Pangea, WILD, Brandon Jenner and more.

Meghan Trainor, “Holidays” (feat. Earth, Wind & Fire) — “A Very Trainor Christmas” is the name of the new holiday album from the Grammy-nominated artist.

Black Pumas, “Christmas Will Really Be Christmas” — The Grammy-nominated duo cover Lou Rawls for the Spotify Singles program.

Nicole Atkins, “Every Single Christmas” — Inspired by holiday punk-rock songs, the Nashville singer-songwriter chimes in with this energetic original, a version of which appeared of JD McPherson’s holiday album “Socks.” Fun fact: The socially distanced recording session included Nicholas Aurson of the Hives contributing guitar and organ from Sweden.

Grant-Lee Phillips, “Yuletide” — An original from the veteran songwriter’s holiday EP, “Yuletide.”

Carly Rae Jepsen, “It’s Not Christmas Until Somebody Cries” — The Grammy-nominated artist waxes cute on vegan boyfriends, political uncles and grandpas on edibles on this new original.

Andrew Bird, “Night’s Falling” — Bird has released a holiday album, “HARK!,” a mix of stellar originals and covers unveiled in lieu of his annual “Gezelligheid” series of holiday concerts at Chicago’s Fourth Presbyterian Church. He will do one performance live online Dec. 13, and ticket holders will be able to stream an archive of his 2013 holiday show prior to that. (Also: Watch the video for this one.)

MomTalk & Alex Lilly, “Christmas High” — Production duo MomTalk has released the EP “The Holidays With MomTalk & Friends,” featuring original songs written in collaboration with some local luminaries.

MomTalk & Clara-Nova, “Together Again” — See above.

Finneas, “Another Year” — The 23-year-old singer-songwriter-producer strikes a hopeful note. “I wrote this song last Christmas,” Finneas says. “With a year of uncertainty ahead of us, had I known, anything I know now about how 2020 would go, I don’t think I would have changed a word. I hope wherever this song finds you, it brings you some small dose of comfort. The horizon is bright, I think.”

The Go! Team, “Look Outside (A New Year’s Coming) — From U.K. record label Memphis Industries’ compilation “Lost Christmas” (a charity affair), out Dec. 4, which also features tracks from Jesca Hoop, Field Music, the Phoenix Foundation and more.

Black Violin, “Toy Soldiers” — The Fort Lauderdale, Fla., duo of Kev Marcus and Wil Baptiste, merge string arrangements with modern vocals and beats. They just released the holiday album “Give Thanks,” and like the singles we’ve chosen, it’s a high-spirited wild ride.

Pearl Charles & Michael Rault, “Christmas Must Be Tonight” — Charles, whose new album “Magic Mirror” comes out Jan. 15, teams up with Canadian singer-songwriter Rault to cover the Band.

Dashboard Confessional, “Blue Christmas” — Chris Carrabba’s cover from the Spotify Singles collection.

Lindsey Stirling & Darius Rucker, “What Child Is This” — Stirling released this ahead of her “Home for the Holidays” live-stream show on Dec. 12.

Calexico, “Hear the Bells” — The Arizona luminaries on Dec. 4 release “Seasonal Shift,” which they call less of a Christmas album and more of a cross-cultural season celebration. The original “Hear the Bells” is the magical lead track.

Tori Kelly, “25th” — From the new album “A Tori Kelly Christmas.”

Kelly Finnigan, “Santa’s Watching You” — The lead singer of Bay Area golden-age-of-soul band Monophonics, Finnigan just released the holiday album “A Joyful Sound” via Colemine Records, featuring collaborators including Durand Jones & the Indications, the Dap-Kings, Ghost Funk Orchestra, Thee Sinseers, Orgone, Neal Francis, Jungle Fire, Rudy De Anda and a slew more.

Willow Stephens & Matthew Grant, “This Christmas” — Stephens, who released her debut album “All That Glitters” back in pre-pandemic times, teams up with emerging soul singer Grant for an original from her forthcoming holiday EP.

Liam Gallagher, “All You’re Dreaming Of” — “Considering the year that we’ve all had,” Gallagher says of his new original, “I hope this brings back some much needed love and hope. Bing Crosby would have been proud.”

Asiahn, “All I Want” — Asia Bryant’s original is the lead track on Motown Records’ new EP, “A Motown Christmas.”

Prima Donna, “Mistletoe Blues” — The L.A. rockers released this (with “Gimme Christmas”) as a 7-inch via Little Steven Van Zandt’s Wicked Cool Records.

Girl in Red, “Two Queens in a King Sized Bed” — The Norwegian sensation — aka Marie Ulven — sings about “reminiscing about a Christmas I had with a person I love. When laying in bed glued to their body didn’t feel close enough. When we wanted every second to last forever.”

U.S. Girls, “Santa Stay Home” — You can have the holiday spirit and not buy lots of stuff. Here, songwriter Meg Remy teams up with Rich Morel to pen an anti-consumerism anthem. Says Remy: “When one stops to really think about it, Santa is creepy and Christmas makes no damn sense.” (Also, see U.S. Girls’ album from this year, “Heavy Light.”)

Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard, “Christmas Is Coming (We All Know The Score)” — First, yes, that’s the Welsh indie-rock band’s name. Second, this original is another pointed song about consumerism and we like it.

Office Romance, “Magic in the Air” — The trio of Seth Jabour (Les Savy Fav, the “Late Night with Seth Myers” band), Syd Butler (Les Savy Fav, Frenchkiss Records) and his wife Amy Carlson (actor [“Blue Bloods”], singer and lyricist) have released the full-length “Holidays of Love.” It’s a true family affair, as the kids are involved.

Tori Amos, “Better Angels” — Amos will release a four-song EP of originals, “Christmastide,” on Dec. 4.

Suzi Quatro, “My Heart and Soul (I Need You Home for Christmas)” — The veteran rocker, who last year released her 16th album, “No Control,” had an inspired moment during lockdown. “My son was in the studio working on ideas every day for our next album. … I was sitting on the patio, relaxing, and heard this absolutely beautiful track coming out of the open studio door. It was a bass line, with a sparse guitar chord and drums. It was immediate for me. I ran into the studio (mask on of course), and told my son to set up a microphone, and without thinking, without writing anything down, I sang the first four lines of the song exactly as they ended up.”

Jonas Brothers, “I Need You Christmas” — Have yourself a merry little original from the guys.

Z Berg, “The Bad List” (feat. Ryan Ross) — A sweet, sad tune tune from Berg’s album “Get Z to a Nunnery.”

The Goo Goo Dolls, “This Is Christmas” — One of two originals on the band’s holiday album “It’s Christmas All Over.”

Illuminati Hotties, “Xmas Wish List (What We All Asked For)” — This original appears on the new, 13-artist holiday album “Simply Having a Wonderful Compilation” from Father/Daughter Records.

Cory Marks, “Jingle My Bells” — The country artist takes on the Tractors’ song from 1995. Just add fiddle.

Poppy, “I Like Presents” — Who doesn’t? From her EP “A Very Poppy Christmas.”

Senses Fail, “I Wish It Was Christmas Today” — Originally written for a “Saturday Night Live” episode 20 years ago, this song keeps morphing. It’s part of Sense Fail’s “Christmas Has Been Canceled Due to Lack of Hustle.”

Izzy Spring, “Home for the Holidays” — The L.A. pop singer checks in with a sneaky-smart seasonal ballad, the follow-up to her EP “Nostalgia.”

Justy, “Blues on the Crosley” — It’s like watching a gentle snowfall: The rising Brooklyn soul singer slows it down for the holidays.

Flor de Toloache, “Let It Snow” (Spanish version) — The acclaimed female band puts a mariachi spin on two holiday songs, this and “Jingle Bell Rock,” recording each in English and Spanish.

Sara Noelle, “Christmas at Sea” — The L.A. singer-songwriter, who earlier this year released the album “Cover the Blue,” follows with this new original. She’s got a name made for Christmas, after all.

Love Renaissance & Summer Walker, “Santa Baby” — From Love Renaissance’s “Home for the Holidays” album, which features collabs with 6LACK, Shelley (fka DRAM), Westside Boogie, Eli Dram and more.

Kerry Ellis & Brian May, “One Beautiful Christmas Day” — The British actress-singer teams up with the Queen guitarist for an original.

Van Scott, “Thank God It’s Christmas” — Speaking of May, he co-wrote this Queen rarity with Roger Taylor, and it was originally released in 1984. “The phrase ‘Thank God it’s Christmas’ carries so much more weight right now because of what 2020 has been like for the world,” Scott says. “I think all of us are ready to turn the page into the New Year and this seemed like the perfect song to go out with.”  

Honne, “Warm on a Christmas Night” — The U.K. duo have reworked their 2016 single “Warm on a Cold Night” to fit the season.

Jordin Sparks, “Trapmas Medley” — Someone was bound to do it. Christmas faves with trap beats, from her holiday album “Cider & Hennessy.”

Sharon Van Etten, “Silent Night” — A minimal take on the holiday classic.