A Los Campesinos! Christmas Is a Great EP for the Holidays

So this Friday, I trudged into Manhattan for Black Friday. Mind you, I wasn't there to buy anything. For a couple years now, I've seen this strange holiday traditional as a sort of primal spectacle rarely witnessed on the day-to-day, and I just wanted to be in it. But there's one thing that always ruins my relaxing day of people watching—Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You."

Now I'm a little biased. I actively hate Christmas songs. Yeah, there are a few good ones—"Silent Night" is pretty chill—but whenever I hear Mariah Carey start up that familiar refrain, I just want to collapse in the fetal position in whatever store I'm in. A few artists have made valiant attempts to sway my opinion of yuletide music. Some have been successful. Others have really, really, really not been. Luckily Los Campesinos' A Los Campesinos! Christmas is a notch in the former category.

Releasing on December 8th (but you can stream at Pitchfork riiiiight now), the EP features six tracks, five originals and one cover, and are all better than Mariah Carey. Los Campesinos applies the same sonic wonder it has on all its albums with wonderful harmonies on "When Christmas Comes" and a "Doe to a Deer." We even get a great acoustic- and banjo-fueled number on "The Holly & The Ivy."

I can't think of any better way to shake off those lingering Thanksgiving thoughts and getting into the sans-Mariah Carey Christmas Spirit. [Pitchfork]

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