Tired of the same old holiday music year after year? If you love Tiki tunes (surf, exotica, Hawaiian, et al.), there are plenty of options that are off the beaten path. Here are a few of The Atomic Grog’s favorites, courtesy of YouTube.
Those masked marvels, Los Straitjackets, have released tons of great holiday music over the years. Here’s a live video of Here Comes Santa Claus filmed in Portland in December 2009:
Another band I highly recommend seeking out for holiday music of a totally different type is Meshugga Beach Party. Here the band performs Dreidel, Dreidel in San Francisco in 2008:
For something a little more exotic and original, check out this new video of Jolly Jingle Madness performed by The Waitiki 7 with the Idaho State Civic Symphony on Dec. 9, 2011. It’s an original holiday exotica composition by Randy Wong, drawing influences from Les Baxter, Martin Denny, and others:
If you want something a little more rockin’ there’s always the Brian Setzer Orchestra‘s many holiday tunes, such as Jingle Bell Rock from a 2005 live perfomance:
And of course, the holidays wouldn’t be complete without the classic Mele Kalikimaka from Bing Crosby:
Looking for more cool tunes? Check out our review of the great podcasts available for streaming on download.