Episode 34: When the Year Slows Down – A Two-Hour Indie Christmas Special

December 19, 2025 – Special Xmas Edition (2 hours)

Happy Holidays. Joyeuses Fêtes.
Yes, here we are. That strange, suspended moment of the year where time slows down just enough for us to feel again. Where memories surface without asking permission. Where lights try to warm things that are sometimes much colder inside.

Every year, indie artists offer their own way of celebrating this season. Sometimes joyful, sometimes fragile, sometimes angry, sometimes hopeful, often all at once. And that’s exactly why this episode exists.

This special Christmas edition is also the longest show I’ve ever done. Two full hours. Completely unusual for me. But it felt right. The end of the year doesn’t fit into short formats.

Welcome to Episode 34 of Le Salon Indie de Mitxoda.

A slow beginning, like breathing again

We opened with Patience.
A word. A state of mind. A necessity.

Mitxoda – Patience
Bill Bechtel – I Remember Christmas Time

From there, the atmosphere gently settled. Snow imagined rather than seen. A chair you sink into. A moment where nothing else is expected from you.

Johanna Saint-Pierre reminded us that sometimes it is snowing everywhere, even when we don’t see it yet. Guillem Mitchel brought reverence, Boiler Beach brought tradition, not frozen in time, but alive.

Xmas songs are not all the same, thankfully

Christmas songs don’t need to sound identical. They shouldn’t.

Some are intimate.
Some are playful.
Some are strange.
Some are uncomfortable, and that matters too.

From My Xmas Tree to At Xmas Time, I’m Always High, from Deedra Patrick’s stunning voice calling us home, to instrumental journeys and wishes sent across borders, the show kept moving, emotionally and geographically.

I said it on Discord, and I’ll say it again here: being followed by Deedra Patrick – Christmas Is Calling You is never easy.

From Los Angeles, we returned to Europe. With J&M Band, with Nikola Zenko, whose upcoming album in January 2026 is something I warmly recommend keeping an eye (and an ear) on.

When music becomes memory, and memory becomes responsibility

Some stories are heavier.

For five years, every December, Richard from BROOMFILLER released a Punk Rock Christmas cover in honour of Sarah Hamby. Each year, the indie community gathered around those songs to help fund her medical care. Music as a lifeline. Literally.

This year, there is no new song.

Sarah passed away.

Instead of releasing another track, Richard invites us to keep sharing the songs that carried hope when it was most needed. Sarah even appears in one of the videos, a quiet, powerful reminder that music sometimes outlives us, but never leaves us.

This moment stayed with me.

Grief, gratitude, and fragile beauty

This episode also carried another deep emotion.

I paid tribute to Katja T,  the most Parisian of Finnish artists. I speak about her more extensively in this week’s Mitxoda Weekly, but playing Oi Tuntematon was… difficult. Necessary. Emotional.

Some voices don’t disappear. They transform.

From there, the show continued through darker humour, strange tales, after-Christmas blues, and twisted Santa stories, because yes, Christmas also has shadows. And indie music never pretends otherwise.

Voices that carry the season forward

Classic radio tones met night trains to Berlin. American Christmas songwriting crossed paths with European sensitivity. And once again, voices mattered.

Jay El Dee. Joyce. Cindy Lou.
Voices that don’t shout. Voices that stay.

And then came questions rather than answers:

This Is Christmas? (Where’s the Snow?)
What does this season even mean now?

Not all wars are visible

Later in the show, we reached something heavier.

KIER shared Trop Longtemps Maintenant, possibly his last song, on medical advice.
Eddie Keller sang Un Joyeux Noël même si, because sometimes joy exists despite everything.

There are wars we see.
And wars we don’t.

In this week’s Weekly, I reminded readers that in Brussels, in 2025, 10,000 people are living on the streets. Ten thousand. In the capital of Belgium. Of Europe.

During the holidays, this number feels even more unbearable.

This is not here to make you uncomfortable.
It’s here because silence doesn’t help either.

A soft landing

We closed the show with winter that doesn’t end easily. With songs about resilience, endings, and quiet strength.

And then… silence again.

The good kind.

And now, a call

This Christmas episode was two hours long. Completely out of the ordinary for me.

But if you enjoyed it, truly enjoyed it, then let’s talk.

If you’d like more themed episodes
If you have an idea
If you want to collaborate
If you think indie radio deserves more space, not less

Reach out. Contact me. Let’s do it again.

Because indie is still alive.
Because community still matters.
Because music still connects us, especially when the year is ending.

Thank you for listening.
Take care of each other.
Happy holidays, whatever that means to you.

Playlist — Episode 34 (Special Xmas)

• Mitxoda – Patience
• Bill Bechtel – I Remember Christmas Time
• Johanna Saint-Pierre – It’s Snowing Everywhere
• Guillem Mitchel – Oh Holy Night
• Boiler Beach – O Christmas Tree
• Bunch of Ace – My Xmas Tree
• Mitxoda – At Xmas Time, I’m Always High
• Deedra Patrick – Christmas Is Calling You
• J&M Band – Lonesoul Rider
• Nikola Zenko – Wish You The Best
• Katja T – Oi Tuntematon
• BROOMFILLER – 12 Days of Christmas (Punk Rock Christmas Cover 2023)
• Cintale – Lit Xmas
• Cam Patterson – Peony’s Promise (Recomposed)
• The Sanctity of Crows – After Christmas
• Xodanyaelox – Santa’s Dark Secret
• Grave Robber – I Want A Hippopotamus for Xmas
• Clark Ford – My Mrs Claus
• SFSF – Night Train
• Andrew Dean & Cindy Lou – Snowbird Wonderland
• Joyce – What Will He Bring Me?
• Jay El Dee – O Holy Night
• Freeze Time – This Is Christmas? (Where’s the Snow?)
• Rollin Jewett – Are You That Someone
• Brett Ryder – Countdown to Christmas
• KIER – Trop Longtemps Maintenant
• Eddie Keller – Un Joyeux Noël même si
• Breakaway NE – Divides
• Alan Fletcher – Holding My Girl (at Xmas)
• Crowsilver – Winter Never Ends
• Stolen from the Sky x Feminoise – The End of Me

Available on Mixcloud !