Move Along The Wiggles, Sia Has The Christmas Tunes Covered This Year

While your friendly local neighbourhood hypermarkets have been trying to flog you fruit puddings and candy canes pretty much since their Father's Day sales finished, it's not really Christmas time until the seasonal novelty songs and albums start appearing. But thankfully (or not…) there's a couple of things more than Mariah or Michael Buble topping up their retirement funds by adding another version of Little Drummer Boy to their back catalogue items. Now, presuming you're a bit past desiring The Wiggles' seasonal offering, it's probably Sia offering up an album of newly written yuletide tunes that might pique some interest. First sample is Santa's Coming For Us (Monkey Puzzle/Atlantic), which once you get past the perhaps threatening-sounding title shows Ms Furler just knows how to write a pop song. Here, there's some tropical flavourings as the sleigh bells echo in the distance, and things even get a bit jazzy at points ensuring she'll likely end up with more than a lump of coal in her stocking.

Meanwhile, back in the real world things are a seemingly continual shit volcano. And Gareth Liddiard is still the ideal voice to sneer at the abyss as we all stumble along the precipice. Politics and madness are overlapping just a bit much these days, and rather than The Drones' sound of you being run over by a backhoe, Liddiard's and Fiona Kitschen's newer conveyance Tropical Fuck Storm is an even more desperate lurching screech as Soft Power (TFS/Misteltone) casts a worried eye toward '…that Oompah Loompah with the nukes…' as the words tumble out, before things get really lysergic and nightmarish to creep you the fuck out even further.

But if that wide-eyed fevered panic isn't for you, how about some questioning resigned despair? That's often Bonnie Prince Billy's default setting anyway, but as he looks around the fractured heartland of his homeland the feeling becomes almost overwhelming on People Living (Drag City). Those of the title are on the outside and the wrong side as Mr Oldham observes as he sings Susanna Wallumrod's prescient words, and illustrating it with anger and then horror of the recent Charlottesville festival of angry mediocre white men carrying tiki torches and the flags of losing nations. He watches wearily, and the song becomes a sigh.

However, those (Dis)United States remain the land of some hopes and dreams, even to a band with a name as absolutely Australian as Kingswood. And while Big City (Dew Process) was recorded in Nashville, it's certainly not country as it glances toward New York and points north, while trying to still appear cool about it all. It's not rock and roll leather, or even that favourite flanno - although there might be a bit of Fanno – as in labelmate, Bernard Fanning - in its strolling shuffle. It's certainly not what you might expect, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Or, you can honour another's work without just slavishly copying them. Interestingly, the venerated Edmund Kuepper is actually doing just that as he reactivates The Aints to 'cover' his own work from The Saints' heyday, but Sydney's Mucho Sonar delve into that same back catalogue to put their own kinda punky, vaguely ska-ey spin on the ragged glory that is Know Your Product (Independent). It's a bit brave to try, but their take on The Saints' second best-known tune has the brass blurting manfully as it should, and perhaps more of a growl where Chris Bailey's snotty whine used to be. The feeling is similar but different, and due respect is paid.

Relocated former Pavement and Preston School Of Industry guy Scott Kannberg, for the purposes of this exercise in his Spiral Stairs guise, is also taking some inspiration from another of those bands that escaped from Brisbane three-quarters of the way through last century. Thus, Pig City (Coolin’ By Sound) isn't the song that gave the book its name, but an absolutely sincere tribute in style and manner to The Go-Betweens. Mr Stairs even managing that idiosyncratic melodic arrhythmia that marks The Go-B's best of times, with a confession that he'd happily punch Campbell Newman in the face only increasing his credentials as one of those more sensible Queenslanders.

But if you want something of the more modern Australian model of shouty, urgent, wiry, indie music with guitars, Good Boy should be on your shortlist. Fishing With A Shotgun (Barely Dressed) ticks a variety of boxes in what your after from the buzzy and bubbling end of the scale, right down to Mikey Young doing the technical stuff, and Spod making the 'artisanal' clip. It shouldn't even be required to tell you to play it loud. No, louder than that.