Every blog does a Christmas mix, so here’s ours, with a small twist: All of these tracks are new for this year Xmas songs, not the classics or Sufjan leftovers. I’ve also included streams for charity singles, Christmas-related music videos, and other new holiday bits (with links, where applicable, to download the rest of the album or Christmas compilation). We’ve posted some of these earlier this month, but most are new. Enjoy:

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NAME: The Futureheads
PROGRESS REPORT: Recording the followup to 2008′s This Is Not The World in their studio in Sunderland, UK.

After Field Music’s David Brewis mentioned working with his friends and rehearsal roommates the Futureheads, it made sense to talk to them next. The bands have known each other since they began; Field Music’s Peter Brewis drummed for the Futureheads before starting his own band with brother David. But according to the Futureheads vocalist and guitarist Ross Millard, this is the first time the bands have recorded in the same space at the same time on the same equipment. Sharing hasn’t been a problem though, it’s everything outside the studio that’s made it difficult. “With so many distractions and temptations, there are many opportunities to just kinda go, ‘Oh well, that’s a great riff that we’ve come up with today, so lets take the afternoon off!’” he says. “It’s like when you’ve gone from being at school to going to University, and all of a sudden you have to study on your own there’s no one there with a gun to your head saying, ‘Right, you have to do this now otherwise everything’s going to go to shit.’”

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NAME: Field Music
PROGRESS REPORT: Recording their third full-length LP, working title Field Music III, at their studio/rehearsal space in Sunderland, UK.

Field Music released two records of quirky, smart, pop music, and a sound that separated them from friends like the Futureheads. And that was a problem. Brothers Peter and David Brewis resented having to write songs that fit the Field Music sound, though this constraint was self imposed: “It wasn’t like there was any pressure from outside to conform to what we’d already done. The plus side to not selling any records is that the pressure’s not there,” David says. “But it was enough to think, ‘I don’t want to write songs imagining how the three of us are going to play it. I want to write whatever I need to write right now.’” He couldn’t write on tour either. So in 2007 Field Music announced that they were finished. David released his first record as School Of Language, and Peter released his as The Week That Was in 2008. But David played drums on Peter’s tour, and he says they still worked or recorded together often. Even David’s month-long US tour wasn’t the break he thought it would be. “I was thinking, thank God, a whole month away from Peter. But then I got home and wanted to give him a big hug and talk about music,” David admits.

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The release of This Is Not the World this past May didn’t exactly (not at all) send shock waves (or ripples) around that aforementioned world. Maybe in an attempt to gain momentum for their current tour with Johnny Foreigner or simply to add additional sounds to the UK post-punk canon, the Futureheads have a forthcoming download-only single “I Wouldn’t Be Like This If You Were Here” currently streaming at their MySpace (via P4K). The actual download’s available 12/7 via the band’s own Nul.

“Walking Backwards” is probably a love song, or at least a song about love falling apart; “I can see your breath and feel your fingertips” isn’t the kind of line you drop in a song that’s anything but romantic (ok, a murder anthem maybe). That said, the video offers up an entirely different reading: here the Futureheads are fighting for control with the control booth dudes in the studio, having their hair placed just so in cheesily fabricated rooftop album cover shoots, and are generally, quite literally, puppets. So when Barry sings “We made a promise to keep our mouths shut / Stay out of the way / That promise went too far / That promise went too far away,” I think he’s saying starting Nul Records was the best thing he’s ever done. And on this single, it sounds like it, too.

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It’s nice to see Barry Hyde so excited about This Is Not The World standout “Radio Heart.” In fact, the Futureheads frontman puts so much effort into his one-man Black Cab Session of the tune that his teeth fell out (see accompanying photo for proof). We kid, he does have some teeth left, but he definitely puts his back into this one. Like he really is looking for a girl with a radio heart. And, for all that, his hair doesn’t budge. Which is maybe why he’s still looking.

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Having got “The Beginning Of The Twist” out of the way, the Mackems have pushed on to an exploration of radio waves with this new vid for the catchy “Radio Heart.” The band, and the lovebirds at the center of the story, dematerialize and float through the ether, finding a connection somewhere in the frequencies. “I want a girl who doesn’t like to dress to impress / A girl with a radio heart / We’ve never met but we’ve never been apart.” The track fades into static, the would be lovers still never having met … bummer. But at leas the new Futureheads stuff is sounding promising.

This Is Not The World is out in UK on 5/26, and 5/27 in the US, via Nul.

Our first listen of the Futureheads’ new single — the second from the Mackems’ (thanks Bender Bending Rodriguez, for the terminology) forthcoming This Is Not The World — left us wanting, for something. Guess that “something” was just seeing the band in a green-screened, making-of-the-video video. The quartet’s walking through animated storyboards, rocking in deserts, winking at the machinations of video-making. You don’t learn anything about the beginning of the twist, really, but Barry Hyde looking ridiculous in t-shirt and bow-tie is just compensation.

The Futureheads blast the web today with a new track, offered up for your consideration in streamable, downloadable, or viewable format. Here’s the version you watch — obviously not a “proper” vid, more “made up from clips filmed by the band in the studio.” It’s behind-the-scenes, a little home movie-ish ala the A’Monks recent “Teddy Picker” clip, all shaggy and loose like. The Monks’ version was a bit better, but that’s the difference between shooting it yourself and bringing in Roman Coppola.

Forget the DIY video — it’s a very good song … a nice breath of bouncy post-punk to get you through the onset of winter (though looks sorta rainy and depressing in the clip; then, it is the UK). “Broke Up The Time”‘s from their forthcoming third record, which we’re looking forward to, thank you. If you’re not the watching type, you can download the tune at the band’s official site after handing over your email and zip code (or postal code). Paranoid or afraid of commitment? Stream it at their MySpace.

UPDATE: Actually, now it’s just a free download. So here you go…

The Futureheads – “Broke Up The Time” (MP3)

Enjoy.

Stream NME‘s “CoolList” here.

1. Goldie Lookin’ Chain “21 Ounces”
2. Kaiser Chiefs “I Predict A Riot”
3. The Futureheads “First Day”
4. The Rakes “Strasbourg”
5. Nine Black Alps “Cosmopolitan”
6. Bloc Party “Helicopter”
7. The Dears “Lost In The Plot”
8. The Concretes “Chico”
9. Babyshambles “Babyshambles”
10. Selfish Cunt “I Love New York”
11. Art Brut “Bad Weekend”
12. Neil’s Children “I Hate Models”
13. The Others “Stan Bowles”
14. Joanna Newsom “Sprout And The Bean”
15. Willy Mason “Live It Up”