Camouflage and Christmas Lights

My Spilt Milk's 2013 Spotify Christmas soundtrack.

The Winter Olympics once included compulsory figures for skaters, and each figure skater had to execute the same skills. Christmas music has always seemed akin to that for me - a test of an artist or band's skills. Can you write a song in the tone of the genre? Can you cover a song in a way that adds something to the musical world? Can you suprise listeners who already know the songs? The things I want from any song are the things I want from a good Christmas song.

I have a lot of affection for Christmas music because I find so many songs that pass those tests, and I like to share that music. Here is this year's My Spilt Milk Spotify Christmas Soundtrack, a mere four-and-a-half hours of seasonal music - some serious, some goofy, some serious, some mocking. In general, I shy away from the overly ironic or clever songs since being a smartass about Christmas is easy; being open to the spirit of the holiday is harder, and even more challenging is to do so without being cloying. I hope this collection stays on the right side of that line more often than not. 

I programmed this year's collection for minimal coherence with the idea that if you don't like what you're hearing, wait three minutes and you'll hear something very different. Passages that include Kanye West, Baton Rouge's Bobby Powell, Toots and the Maytals, Ferrante & Teicher, Bobby Helms, The Ventures and The Polyphonic Spree, or Mike Dillon, She and Him, Horace Trahan, Detroit Junior, The Bellrays, Bad Religion, Bill Evans and William Bell may sound incoherent when listed, but I'm pretty happy with the way they coexist in the mix. Enjoy, and if you spot any egregious omissions or painful inclusions, let me know.