After Voodoo 2004, I started interviewing the Polyphonic Spree‘s Tim DeLaughter about one thing and ended up talking about Christmas music with him for an hour. The band plays a yearly Christmas concert in Dallas, and it has released one Christmas track—a cover of John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War is Over).” It has also just released a recording of an original Christmas song, “It’s Christmas,” that can be purchased from the Good Records website. Here’s the video:

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/32387866[/vimeo]

The beer Stella Artois claims that it was named for the holiday star, and at its website, it has a mini-LP, Under the Holiday Star, available as a free download. The tracks are contemporary efforts to recreate early ’60s jazz/lounge Christmas recordings by a band facelessly named Human. The results are fun and worth the download if you have any affection for the space-age bachelor-pad aesthetic, particularly its emphasis on texture and style.