Get into the holiday spirit with Zorch, Little Lo, SPEAK and Kris Keyz

In case you aren't aware by all the Christmas lights around town, Christmas is coming (in exactly one week in fact)! And several Austin bands have released Christmas tunes to bring in that holiday cheer.

I haven't listened to that many Christmas tunes this year, because I, for one, am tired of Christmas music. It's a result when your former boss kept her radio on all day to whatever station plays Christmas tunes 24/7 from the Monday after Thanksgiving to Christmas day. There's only much Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston and Christina Aguilera trying to outdiva each other a girl can take, you know what I'm saying?

But these Christmas tunes prevent me from acting like Scrooge.

First up is Little Lo's "Toyland" as part of Skank Family Collective & Chinquapin Records Presents: A Holiday Charity Jungler). Vocalist/guitarist Ryan McGill takes a step back as vocalist/keyboardist Bailey Glover takes over lead vocal duties in this dreamy lullaby. Makes me want to break out the eggnog and yearn for snow.

I love this Zorch interpretation of "Last Christmas." This song, originally written and performed by '80s duo Wham!, is usually covered in the pop world (Glee, Ashley Tisdale, etc.), but Zorch brings in their interesting style. This may be the best version ever, at least in my opinion.

Kris Keyz, professional pianist (you can see him perform with Tje Austin), released "Kris KeyZ Productions Presents: This Christmas" with 10 tracks of traditional Christmas tunes sung by local musicians.
Edited: The album was free to stream and download for a limited time. Contact Kris if you would like a copy.

Speaking of Tje Austin, he will perform with Nakia at 8:30 p.m. on Dec. 22 at Zilker Park's Hillside Theatre. They will perform Christmas songs at this FREE show.

And SPEAK released an interactive SPEAKMAS card. So break out the artistic skills and doodle away here. It's in realtime too.

They are also selling a limited edition SPEAKMAS Singing Greeting Card which plays a SPEAK rendition of "O Holy Night," and the cover was drawn by guitarist Nick Hurt himself.

See? Isn't that cute?

I don't have a tune to share, but The Shears posted on Facebook on Dec. 11 that they are working on a Christmas tune. Come on guys and gal, stop the teasin' and get to releasin'. There's not much time left!

Added: A little bit after I posted this blog post, I got an email from Mobley with a Christmas tune of their own. Here's a video with 2/3 of the band, Anthony Watkins and Tim Shelburne, performing Wham!'s "Last Christmas." You can download a copy of the single here.