Cherryade Records' Twelve Songs of Christmas

Cherryade Records was founded in Lancaster in 2005 by Rachel Neiman, then a student radio DJ on Bailrigg FM. Inspired by a trip to the Norwich Pop Underground Convention and her love of the eclectic tastes of John Peel, and driven by a desire to make her favourite unsigned bands heard, the label's first release was Popular Music in Theory, by Bristol-based DIY outfit (and Peel favourites) Steveless.

Several years later, the label relocated to Manchester, and went on to release the first albums by indie luminaries The Lovely Eggs, as well as Manchester DIY scene favourites Hotpants Romance and Ste McCabe. 11 years on, the label is less prolific, but still releases its annual series of A Very Cherry Christmas compilations. Following the release of the latest volume, we asked Cherryade to provide us with a playlist of lesser-heard curios: one for each of the twelve days of Christmas. Over to you, Rachael...

Christmas has always been my favourite time of year – it was inevitable that I would become obsessed with festive music. I've been collecting offbeat Christmas records for years, and I will listen to almost anything with a festive theme!

When we started our tiny DIY label Cherryade, I knew that one of the very first releases had to be a Christmas compilation. Our second ever release, which appeared in December 2005, was A Very Cherry Christmas, a 13-track compilation including seasonal songs from assorted indiepop artists including Das Wanderlust and Misty's Big Adventure. I mainly compiled it for my own gratification and so was very pleasantly surprised by the positive reaction it received. It turned out that there are lots of other Christmas music obsessives, just like me, all over the world who ardently collect any seasonal music they can lay their hands on.

A Very Cherry Christmas – Volume 11 has just been released and it's wonderful to hear from fans all over the world for whom it has become an essential part of Christmas celebrations. I think that Christmas songs are often considered to be novelties or more ephemeral, and less important than songs on other topics. I'd like to prove in this list that the festive season has inspired some of the greatest songs ever recorded – after all, a good Christmas song is for life, not just for Christmas!

1. The School – Let Me Be The Fairy On Your Christmas Tree

The first song I've chosen is by marvellous Cardiff-based supergroup The School. Fans of the band will be unsurprised to hear that Let Me Be The Fairy On Your Christmas Tree is a pitch perfect 60s-tinged indiepop delight, filled with their trademark charm and sparkling with Christmas magic.

2. Thee Headcoatees – Santa Claus

On the second day of Christmas I'm bringing you a fantastically catchy and fun Christmas song by girl group Thee Headcoatees, who began life as the backing band for Billy Childish and Thee Headcoats. Thee Headcoatees are probably best known for the gloriously silly and catchy Davy Crockett, to which their Christmas single Santa Claus bears an uncanny resemblance – something which Billy Childish cheekily points out in the spoken word intro. 

3. The Bird And The Bee – Carol Of The Bells

On the third day of Christmas I bring you a possibly unfamiliar recording of a more familiar Christmas song: Carol Of The Bells. Although the title of this beautiful carol may not be familiar to you, you are very likely to recognise it when you hear it. The Bird And The Bee's classy recording of this haunting carol is a real treat.

4. Homescience – (Drive A...) Snowplough Through Your Heart

On the fourth day of Christmas I'm bringing you a wonderful festive track from one of my favourite Christmas compilations of all time: A Christmas Gift from Fortuna Pop! Volume 2. Fortuna Pop! has been one of the most important indiepop labels of the last 20 years, releasing records by such luminaries as Allo Darlin', Bearsuit, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Spook School and Martha.

In the early 2000s the label released two sublime Christmas compilations which I bought at the time and which have remained a huge influence on my Christmas music tastes ever since. I don't think I would have been inspired to release Christmas compilations had it not been for these works of art. I've chosen (Drive A...) Snowplough Through Your Heart by Homescience, a glorious Beach Boys-esque song guaranteed to bring a smile to the most committed Grinch!

5. Standard Fare – Tinsel Politics

One of the most important British bands of the last decade bring their own fresh perspective to the noble art of the Christmas song: the utterly captivating and now sadly defunct Standard Fare. 

Tinsel Poltics deals with negotiating the Christmas holidays when you're not a Christian. I relate to this because, like Standard Fare's main singer and songwriter Emma Kupa, I am also Jewish. This seems to surprise people given my intense love of all things Christmas, but it's not as incompatible as it might seem; I just stick to celebrating the secular side of Christmas, which I think is how many people celebrate it now anyway.

6. Pullover – Last Christmas

While I am primarily interested in alternative Christmas music, I do have a great appreciation for many Christmas pop songs – I'm still yet to meet anyone, even the most hardened music snob, who doesn't love Christmas Wrapping by The Waitresses. So, in celebration of the best of chart Christmas music, I've chosen a wonderful cover of a festive pop favourite; one of relatively few songs that my husband, who is not as keen on Christmas music as I am, really loves.

The song in question is Pullover's cover of Wham!'s Last Christmas, a song which still sounds wonderful over 30 years later. Pullover's cover is a gorgeous, melodic indie rock interpretation which brings out all the pathos and pop hooks of the original while adding a completely new dimension.

7. Bearsuit – What, You've Never Seen Snow Before?

My favourite band in the world came from Norwich and my all-consuming love for them led me to discover the magical and wonderful world of a city which has probably produced more of my favourite bands than any other. It's the unutterably perfect Bearsuit with What, You've Never Seen Snow Before?, which was the B-side to their 2006 single Chargr. It features many of the elements that make a Bearsuit song so special with some extra hand-bells thrown in for good measure!

8. The Long Blondes – Christmas Is Cancelled

A song about a bitter break-ups, by the marvellous Sheffield-based pop band The Long Blondes. Kate Jackson recounts an experience of heartbreak at Christmas and the aftermath of that betrayal. Despite the heavy subject matter, the song is infused with all of The Long Blondes' trademark arch wit and charm: another modern classic.

9. The Knife – Christmas Reindeer

On the ninth day of Christmas I am bringing you an absolutely stunning electropop song by celebrated Swedish electropop band The Knife. Christmas Reindeer is a strangely beautiful but quite dark and haunting track that I can't recommend highly enough.

10. The Lovely Eggs – Tyrannosaurus Rex For Christmas

An exuberantly noisy Christmas cracker that should make any Christmas party go with a bang, by one of the greatest musical acts performing at the moment: the Lancastrian husband and wife duo The Lovely Eggs. Tyrannosaurus Rex for Christmas is a delightfully noisy track, a must for all Lovely Eggs fans and anyone who's keen on dinosaurs! 

11. Zombina And The Skeletones – Transylvanian Christmas

Here's an unseasonably Halloween-inspired Christmas song by Liverpool-based horror-pop band Zombina And The Skeletones. As their name would suggest, this band almost exclusively write horror-themed songs so it is no surprise that their Christmas song is entitled Transylvanian Christmas. It's surprisingly perky and cheerful for a song about vampires!

12. Helen Love – Merry Christmas (I Don't Wanna Fight)

Legendary indiepop band Helen Love have recorded a number of festive tunes but I have chosen their cover of the Ramones' seasonal ditty Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight), which I think is so much better than the original! 

Thanks for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

---

A Very Cherry Christmas – Volume 11 is available now via Bandcamp