A Ramblin Xmas Collection album cover.
Audio By Carbonatix
When you don’t have to shovel snow, there’s more time to create art.
Okay, so maybe our merry metropolis would be a death sentence for Frosty. And, sure, Santa may find himself feeling a little overdressed and woozy on all but those rare years when it’s cold enough for us to hang our frozen iguanas by the decorative chimney with care. But if anyone thinks that means our homegrown artists can’t hang with the best when it comes to creating a soundtrack for rockin’ around the Christmas tree, they’ve got — in the words of notable caroler and Yuletide authority Rob Halford — another thing coming.
Here are five rousing anthems for your holiday season, courtesy of the local Miami music scene.
This year, make your gift count –
Invest in local news that matters.
Our work is funded by readers like you who make voluntary gifts because they value our work and want to see it continue. Make a contribution today to help us reach our $30,000 goal!
Alexa Lash — “A Miami Holiday”
“How come there are no songs about a Miami Christmas?” a child’s asks at the opening of this Alexa & the Old Fashioneds’ new holiday track — and Magic City’s fast-rising alt-folk chanteuse Lash spends the next three minutes or so rectifying that oversight with this affecting, holiday song trope-free sonic chestnut that “speaks to Lash’s personal life evolving out of love…the holidays serve as an avenue to grow from childhood trauma, and to create new, loving memories with a wonderful partner.”
Elsten Torres (featuring Los Damn Ramblers) — “Santa Cross the Border”
Havana-born, two-time Grammy nominee Elsten Torres teams up with Latin fusionists Los Damn Ramblers for A Ramblin Xmas Collection, an infectious EP of holiday songs as diverse and exhilarating as the territory Santa covers every year. I could quote some lyrics from this fun and slyly subversive little number, but it’s better experienced in full, very Miami glory.
Ryan Cooper — “Christmas Song”
Among Miami’s finest purveyors of Americana, Ryan Cooper finds “reason for the season” in an Instagram cover of this searching and elegiac track, which appeared on both the self-released debut Dave Matthews Band full-length (Remember Two Things; 1993) as well as the album of reinterpretations Matthews recorded a few years later with Tim Reynolds Live at Luther College. And though both original versions are very well crafted and executed, Cooper manages to tease out new, deeper tones and pathos from this decades-old deep cut.
Sasha Saturn — “Naughty List”
Sasha Saturn sees your love for that cutesy little “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” and raises you (and Tommy Boyd, the Jackson 5, the Ronettes, Dolly Parton, etcetera) “Naughty List,” a decidedly friskier holiday offering that musically falls somewhere between electropop and the Cardigans, featuring true-to-its-title lyrics like: “All I want for Christmas is you/Light the candles for a table of two/I’ve got dessert for you. I hope you made room/And when we’re done, we have unwrapping to do/Let me sit on your lap and tell you what I want/Ride on your sleigh/I’ll be Mrs. Claus.” And if you think you may be misinterpreting her repurposing of the Grinch “three times in size” line…well, Saturn confirms you’re not here.
Teá Mox — “Frigid Christmas”
Mexican painter, musician, visual artist, and poet Teá Mox closes out a year of multimedia art around her stellar art pop EP triumph Sailors with this deft melding of modern bedroom DIY and classic female-fronted jazzy big band of yore. Which is to say, “Frigid Christmas” really does feel as akin to Peggy Lee as it does to, say, Gracie Abrams. Mox continues to broaden the possibilities of her own increasingly singular niche by finding and channeling the art in everything — up to and including Christmas.
