For this week’s edition of “Best Releases”, we’ve compiled an overview of the best holiday music out this year. The biggest news of the week is Carpark Records’ limited edition 12-inch vinyl compilation, which they’re giving away as a free gift to fans! Also getting into the holiday spirit are She & Him (@sheandhim), who deliver a vintage-inspired block of classics, and Emmy The Great (@emmy_the_great) and Tim Wheeler who take Christmas in the opposite direction by creating their own carols based on off-kilter and sometimes unsettling ideas. Both Jmo (@jmomoneymoprobs) and Woods (@woodsist) take on individual tracks, one original and one heartbreakingly familiar.

Update (12/6): Added the My Morning Jacket iTunes Session
Update (12/14): Added The Barr Brothers, Shark?
Update (12/19): Added Bethesda, Kisses/Keep Shelly in Athens
Update (12/20): Added Candy Claws, The Kills, Tristen, Blizten Trapper
Update (12/23): Added Branches, Parenthetical Girls

Indie country songstress Tristen has recently released a get-it-for-free holiday EP titled Deck The Halls. Included are a traditional, simple interpretation of the country classic “Blue Christmas,” a guitar-heavy, slighty fuzzy version of “Frosty The Snowman,” and a cover of folk veteran Vashti Bunyan’s “Winter Is Blue.”  Download the entire EP here.

Silent Night – The Kills

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Not necessarily known for their soft, quiet songs, The Kills have recorded an unlikely version of “Silent Night” for BBC Radio 6. Here, Allison Mosshart’s voice is rough but sweet next to Jamie Hince’s minimalistic guitar.

Christmas Is Coming Soon – Blitzen Trapper

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Blitzen Trapper dare to enter the often shaky market of original Christmas songs by offering up their own “Christmas Is Coming Soon” for free this week. The tune is a perfect combination of all the instruments really necessary for a good holiday track: vocals, melodic guitar, and of course, sleigh bells.

Snow Face – Candy Claws

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A brand new Winter-themed tune from Fort Collins, Colorado band Candy Claws has arrived just in time for the holidays.  Right-click the link below for the free download.

Kisses and Keep Shelly in Athens have teamed up to make a killer Christmas mixtape that you can download in its entirety below.  Tracklisting:

1. Sleigh Ride – Zigo
2. Silent Sigh – Badly Drawn Boy
3. Destino – Nacho Sotomayor
4. The Holly and The Ivy – Billy Paul Williams Featuring Nicole Henry
5. Caribbean Blue – Enya
6. God Bless – Andy Votel
7. Bent – Kisses
8. Epoca – Gotan Project
9. White Christmas – Love Colony Featuring Six
10. Bridge – Amon Tobin
11. My Favourite Things – Panaphonic

Santa won’t be the only one staying busy on Christmas Eve if The Barr Brothers have anything to say about it. The band has recorded and released a holiday tune dedicated to the oft forgotten Mrs. Claus. “Dear Mrs. Claus” is a 1950s throwback tune, characterized by Sarah Page’s signature harp and arpeggiated chords. It’s written from the point of view of an admirer of Santa’s better half. Implying that Santa is getting more than milk and cookies during his flight across the world, the song suggests that in the spirit of the togetherness of the season, Mrs. Claus should throw caution to the wintry wind and let the singer “turn on your Christmas lights.” Christmas Eve just got a lot hotter.

There’s no way that Brooklyn-based post-punk garage band Shark? would put out a traditional Christmas release. The two-song Official Christmas Record starts off with a fuzzed-out cover of Beat Happening’s ode to sexually disappointing holidays, “Christmas.” While a repetition of the words “disappointment,” “heartache,” and “pain” may not be the normal sentiments present in your conventional Christmas carol, Shark? will at least inject a little rough variety into your holiday playlist. The tinny, happy guitars and singsong melody on the second song “My Electric Elf” are a bit more in tune with the jovial nature of the season, but the lyrics are spacey and disenchanted. A perfect complement to the too-sweet music that occupies most stereo systems during this time of year.

It’s easy to feel a little guilty if you “treat yo self” a bit while you are out doing your holiday shopping, but here’s a gift you can give yourself without feeling any buyer’s remorse — it’s totally free. This season, indie label Carpark Records is giving away a 12-inch compilation record featuring both holiday and non-holiday music. The limited edition release is only available in physical form, so the best way to get your hands on one is to visit your local record shop on December 6^th and hope they still have a copy. Including one cut each from Carpark artists Toro Y Moi, Cloud Nothings, Class Actress, Young Magic, Dan Deacon, Light Pollution, Signer, and Memory Tapes, this record is worth venturing out for, even if it is getting colder outside.

When the Bells Start Ringing (feat. The Head and the Heart) – My Morning Jacket // Buy

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Lucky us: My Morning Jacket teamed up with Washingtonian group The Head and The Heart for a very magical/cozy iTunes Session released today.  Buy the entire 7 song release (plus interview) for only $4.99!

The Christmas Waltz – She & Him // Buy

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Certainly the most twee album on this list (or anywhere really), the She & Him holiday record, A Very She & Him Christmas, marks the third full-length release for Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward. The duo tackle twelve songs here, ranging from the sugary sweetness of original tune “Christmas Day” to the jubilant bounce of modern standard “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree”. Like all She & Him albums, A Very She & Him Christmas serves to highlight Deschanel’s love-it-or-hate-it vocal style intertwined with the expert precision of M. Ward’s guitar. The album has a retro feel throughout, something Deschanel and Ward are able to pull off so authentically that the bulk of these recordings sound like they’ve been classics for years.

In-real-life couple Emmy The Great and Tim Wheeler (of Ash) could have given She & Him stiff competition for the “most twee” award with their holiday album, but instead they decided to include a song about a zombie attack on Christmas day. The UK pair started writing original Christmas music while snow-stranded in Sussex last December and built their collection of songs over the next year into what eventually became This Is Christmas. Unlike other seasonal albums, This Is Christmas features mostly original material. The songs here are all a bit offbeat. In addition to the zombie track, there’s another about a dejected and fed up Mrs. Claus and a 1:45 ode to a reindeer named Jesus that changes in the last 7 seconds into a song about Asshole The Snowman. Despite the holiday-related subject matter and the occasional inclusion of sleigh bells, the majority of these tunes sound relatively non-holiday and lean toward a more indie pop boy/girl duo aesthetic. This, paired with the non-traditional holiday themes, definitely make This Is Christmas one of the more unique releases this year.

Christmas Time is Here – Vince Guaraldi

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No song better captures the emotional contradiction of the holidays than Vince Guaraldi’s Peanuts classic “Christmas Time Is Here.” The lyrics are cheerful and even hopeful, but the minor key and lackadaisical rhythm that the song usually adheres to immediately evoke a depressing vibe. It’s still one of the best-loved Christmas carols out there, though, and Woods does it justice by emphasizing the song’s musical tension. The guitars are slightly out of tune and the vocals are “pitchy”, but these less-than-perfect elements seem to fit right at home in a motif that is often used to accompany moments of misery. The psychedelic synth swirl present in the background makes the recording more sonically vast, and when the swirl eventually turns into bleeps and bloops like those of a ’50s spaceship, the song gets even creepier. An excellent new take on an old favorite.

Jmo, or Jeremy Coleman from Brooklyn (also a member of the band Murder Mystery) has released his own Christmas song “Santa, If You Do Exist”. The track is a catchy jingle about still believing in Santa Claus, and by extension all the things that the holiday season is supposed to represent — like hope, love, and faith. Jmo uses a jovial, fast tempo and clever yet simple rhymes to give “Santa, If You Do Exist” a cheerful, holiday-appropriate point of view.  Stream the track here.