Christmas with STAG

STAG is one of my favorite new bands, a Seattle power-pop combo featuring Ben London (Alcohol Funnycar, Sanford Arms) and Steve Mack (That Petrol Emotion). Their new video stars a trio of Emerald City rock luminaries, including Kurt Bloch ("the other Kurt B.") as "The Santa." Christmas starts at the 1:30 mark, but frankly, any video that features John Roderick as a hungover Valentine is a gift that keeps on giving.

She & Him "The Christmas Waltz" download

You can now stream or download "The Christmas Waltz," the lead track from the forthcoming She & Him Christmas album, here. While I applaud the duo for opening with a less-common Christmas song, and I'm very grateful a portion of album proceeds will go to one of my favorite charities, 826 National, I'm not sold on Zooey's laidback-to-the-point-of-comatose mewing. Seriously, she makes Perry Como sound animated.