Ryan’s Music Picks 🎄Christmas 2018

Hey there. Thanks for subscribing. I love Christmas music, and it’s all I listen between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I’ll have a favorites of 2018 list at some point in January.

• Spotify

• Apple Music

• Buymusic.club (bandcamp playlist!)

 Joyful Noise Records – Holiday Party, Vol. 2 (Bandcamp)A nicely out-there compilation of Christmas classics. Some indelible performances on here and at least one track that will haunt you in the dark.

 Joyful Noise Records – Holiday Party, Vol. 1 (Bandcamp)Just as charming as Volume 2, but weirder. Includes a great Curtis Mayfield cover!

Jherek Bischoff – Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire Walk with Me (Bandcamp)Six Christmas classics, that get as close as possible to Angelo Badalamenti’s Twin Peaks score without losing their spooky seasonal spirit.

Delicate Steve – The Christmas Album (Bandcamp)Delicate Steve takes your traditional festive songs and gives them the “Sleepwalk by Santo & Johnny” vibe combined with his perfectly lyrical guitar playing. Ends with a psych jam and 15-minute noise rock freakout.

 Said Fantasy – Chorus Noel EP (Bandcamp)A wonderfully wistful original track followed by four switched-on seasonal favorites. Synthesizer carols played by a master.

xmas movie soundtrack (Bandcamp)One of my favorite Christmas traditions, this album of 5 original tracks all have that unmistakable feel of the holiday but are each wholly original. I  this album so much.

The Rosebuds – Christmas Tree Island (Bandcamp)A brand new classic–13 original songs that perfectly evoke the songwriting and instrumentation that tell your heart that it’s Christmastime. AND it has a song called Christmas Clown!

John Legend – A Legendary Christmas (Spotify)Mr. Legend lives up to his name by releasing an album that seems perfectly constructed to become a standard of the season.

Aloe Blacc – Christmas Funk (Spotify)Channeling Parliament/Funkadelic into a good mix of holiday originals and classics is a hell of a risk, but it pays off nicely on this album. Check out the rad reinterpretation of All I Want For Christmas Is You!

 The 8bits of Christmas (Download, archive.org, direct link)A 15-year old compilation of chiptune carols, created directly on consoles. Foundational and still great.