With Thanksgiving behind us, the holiday season is now in full swing. If you’ve been out on the town, sipping peppermint mochas and crossing presents off your shopping list, you’ve likely been inundated with the same old holiday tunes. (Yawn.)

If you’re tired of hearing the stand-by Christmas standards, consider creating an indie rock mix to help spruce up your holidays and give your parties a hip, contemporary spin. Here’s our holiday gift to you; a few free tracks to help get your mix started:

The Oceanauts – Wonderful Christmastime

The Leisure Society – Christmas Mistakes

Summer Fiction – Christmas Eve for Two

Join in on the holidays: As an indie artist, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, right? Have you considered recording a holiday track of your own? Ask fellow indie bands to get involved and put together a compilation. It’s great for marketing on several levels:

• New Fans: The more bands you have involved, the more your compilation will be shared outside of your typical circle of fans, exposing you to potential new supporters.
• Social Media: A holiday compilation gives you something timely to share on all of your social media outlets. Content, content, content!
• Media: A holiday mix gives you a reason to reach out to the media and blogs for possible coverage. If you’re hoping for media attention, however, be sure to reach out well in advance.
• Booking: Use your compilation to help you score paid holiday gigs – or, better yet, produce a holiday showcase of your own.

And let’s face it: many people are sick of the standard holiday songs. So this season, let the sights, sounds and smells of the holiday inspire your creativity. Record a holiday song or album and work with other indie artists to get the most out of your work. Create, collaborate and share. And enjoy.

Tell us what you think! Have you recorded a holiday song? Why or why not?

The SongCast Crew