12/1/22

The 2022 Holiday Music That Doesn't Suck Playlist

Singing Santa says: it's playlist time!

Happy holiday times, friends and lovers of holiday music that doesn’t suck! It’s that time again. Time for me to down glass after glass of eggnog while I write clever annotations that no one will read for a playlist that I’ve put way too much time into, starting of course last December, with all the tracks that didn’t fit into last year’s playlist.

12/3/21

The 2021 Holiday Music That Doesn't Suck Playlist - Naughty & Nice Edition!


The 2021 Wired for Music Holiday Music That Doesn't Suck Playlist
Welcome back, fellow lovers of great Christmas music, happening Hanukkah tunes, and holiday music that doesn't suck. How was your year? I have mixed feelings about mine: while the world seems to be sliding ever faster into destruction and autocracy, it was actually a pretty good year for me personally. So today, I'm choosing to focus on the positive, because a little positivity can be really helpful when times get tough.

12/4/20

The 2020 Holiday Music That Doesn't Suck Playlist


Hello, fellow holiday music freaks. It's that time again... time for me to get drunk on my homemade eggnog, try to forget most of 2020, and post this year's Holiday Music that Doesn't Suck playlist. This was a... special year in many ways. Many horrible, horrible ways. But there were some silver linings: [Editor's note: fill in some silver linings here if you ever think of any], and of course the fact that this year you get not one but two 2020 holiday playlists from your old pal Jordan Claus! So pour yourself a glass of something warming, sit back, and relax as you enjoy a plethora of palatable painkillers in the form of a playlist. See you next year! 

4/6/20

A Very Quarantine Christmas!

Stay safe, Santa!
Hi, everybody! So, what's new with you? If you're like me, you're adjusting to life at home [Editor's note: I've been working from home and using videoconferencing for a portion of my social plans for years now, so I'm more adjusting to the rest of the world adjusting], and if you're like me, you could maybe use a pick-me-up right now. So rather than wait for the traditional Christmas-in-July (or the more traditional Christmas-in-December), I've decided to release an out-of-cycle playlist to help you get through the long days ahead. Welcome to A Very Quarantine Christmas.

I had to pull a lot of things that were going to be on this year's official playlist, which will make it a fun challenge later this year to start with fewer tracks in the tank. I don't know if anyone will want to listen to this in March, but it made me feel a whole lot better to have a project to throw myself into, so I hope you enjoy it too.

Also available on Spotify! 

12/8/19

The 2019 Holiday Music That Doesn't Suck Playlist



Hello friends. As you've no doubt noticed, it's that time of year again. Specifically, the day after Thanksgiving, and I've already eaten the traditional day-after-Thanksgiving-turkey-ham-and-sauerkraut omelette, so all that's left to do is start on this year's Wired for Music Holiday Music That Doesn't Suck Playlist. This year's list has some artists who've been featured here before but who have a lot more to offer in the holiday music arena, some classic rockers who have never cracked the list before, and as always some acts that are new to me but have something valuable to add to the overstuffed stocking that is holiday music.

It's always hard for me to edit these down to a reasonable size, so I've usually ended up redefining "reasonable" to be "however many tracks are left when I no longer feel like cutting" but this year was especially challenging - maybe because I really let myself go last year, or maybe because converging is harder than diverging, or maybe just because I get so excited about each song I come across that doesn't suck that I want to share it with everyone. I've already got more than enough in my holding pen for next year's playlist, and that's before I wade through all the stuff that's coming in the next few weeks. Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, this year's playlist...I've got a full glass of home-made eggnog (this year I finally learned that aging makes it good), my Yankee Candle "Christmas Cookie" housewarmer lit, and my headphones on, so let's get to it, shall we?