Joy to the world! It’s the return of our favourite festive tradition, the Joyzine Advent Calendar, back for its 22nd consecutive edition, which as far as we’re aware makes it the longest running on the net.
As always, every track is completely free to download and we don’t require you to sign up for a mailing list (though you can if you want to) or hand over your personal data – it’s our way of saying thank you to everyone who’s visited the site during 2025 and to hopefully bring a few more listeners to some very deserving artists.
However, if you do enjoy the tracks we would love you to consider making a donation to our chosen cause, which this year is HOPE not hate, and their stirling work researching, campaigning, and supporting communities to build HOPE and oppose far-right extremism. You can make a donation here.
Today’s Advent Calendar treat comes courtesy of a collaboration between two men who are no strangers to this calendar. Between them MJ Hibbett and CJ Thorpe-Tracey (know to many here by his solo moniker, Chris T-T) must have featured on almost every edition of this seasonal Joyzine tradition, and they have a slew of fantastic festive tracks in their respective back catalogues.
Both are long-term Joyzine favourites, featured within these pages many times over the years – a review of Chris’ Turck Festival set was even included in our first ever online edition all the way back in 2003, and both have graced the stage of Joyzine shows and appeared as guests on The Joyzine Radio Show in the past.
We recently learned of the exciting news that the pair would be working together on a new project and are absolutely ecstatic to bring you the first fruits of their collaboration – a beautiful, piano-led cover of Wings’ 1977 Christmas Number One ‘Mull of Kintyre’, recorded at One Cat Studio by Jon Clayton and at Chris’s house.
We caught up with them both for a festive q&a session:
Tell us a little bit about your track please
MARK: ‘Mull Of Kintyre’ doesn’t actually mention Christmas, but it was a Christmas hit when I was little and always feels festive to me. Also, it’s dead easy (and fun) to play, so when Chris and I had a bit of spare time in our first recording session this seemed like a great song to do.
CHRIS: Mark led this and I love it. Obviously I wanted to do ‘Frog Chorus’ but that’s much too complicated.
What have you been up to in 2025?
MARK: I’ve mostly been touring ‘Data and Doctor Doom’, which is a one-man musical adaptation of my PhD thesis, in the hope that if I do it often enough The Algorithm will recognise me as a world expert on Doctor Doom when the next Avengers movie comes out. I’ve also been secretly plotting a collaborative album with Chris, of which this track is the first fruits.
CHRIS: I’ve been trying to finish and sell a couple of non-fiction books. Also, I played piano on Jim Bob’s album Automatic and bass guitar on his other album Stick. I produced the new Tom Williams album, Out Of Nowhere. You already know I ‘reformed’ Chris T-T for a few months and reissued two old LPs on vinyl for the first time, London Is Sinking and 9 Red Songs. That all went great. Playing live as T-T again was a thrill, but also reminded me why I stopped.
And what are your plans for next year?
CHRIS: Jim Bob’s got a spring tour and some festivals. Mark and I will be recording our collaboration LP, mostly songs from the MJ Hibbett catalogue reworked for piano, with maybe brass and strings here and there. I have the first scaffolding of a new music project too, so I’ll keep working on that.
MARK: More Doctor Doom and more collaborative album with Chris.
What have been your musical highlights of the year from other bands/artists?
MARK: It’s been brilliant seeing lots of old pals return to doing gigs this year, so I’ve had a lovely time seeing the likes of Prolapse, Allo Darlin’ and this Chris T-T chap out and about again.
CHRIS: Rosalía’s orchestral masterpiece Lux showing up late in the year and blowing everything else away. I’m onboard the Geese / Cameron Winter train too, though I haven’t seen them yet. Live, I finally saw Chappell Roan in her pomp, was destroyed by CMAT, Floating Points, MJ Lenderman, Anohni & The Johnsons, Jasmine.4.t. loved Primavera Sound (after a dodgy 2024) and had the best Glastonbury I’ve ever been to, thanks to being hosted by the Science Futures Arena.
Christmas: The most wonderful time of the year or a big bag of humbug?
MARK: I am very much in the wonderful camp, not least because it’s a whole week and a bit off work. I especially love the middle of the week in between Christmas and New Year when I can finally catch up on telly!
CHRIS: We call that ‘the perineum’ in my house. Generally, I agree with Mark, I’m a big Christmas lover, adore oddball ritual and tradition. Also, generally, I’m exceptionally lucky in the life I have. But last Christmas was a uniquely difficult one personally for me. I’m not sure I ever fully recovered, so going into this Chrimbo I’m hopeful but at the same time tentative.
Stream and download ‘Mull of Kintyre’ below
Make a donation to HOPE not hate
MJ Hibbett: Website / Facebook / Bluesky / Bandcamp
Chris T-T: Substack / Website / Instagram / Bandcamp
More tracks from this year’s calendar:
1: Piney Gir & Parenthesis Dot Dot Dot
2: Syd Howells
3: The Happy Hollow
4: Stephen Evens
5: Ombudsmen
6: The Scaramanga Six
7: Dextro + Rubber Oh
8: Craig Fortnam
9: Salt The Snail
10: Cerys Hafana
11: bis x Art Brut
12: Gemma Rogers
13: The Joyzine Christmas Band, Gift Box, Skink + Adam & Elvis
14: DRIFT. + Annie Gardiner
15: Kat Five + Charley Stone
Check back tomorrow for another free festive download!
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