Are there only twenty good Christmas songs? I’m starting to get that idea.

Last year I made a Christmas mix for my friends that included all the tracks below. This year I’m trying to turn it into a tradition, but I’m having trouble finding good Christmas music that I haven’t already used. At least not without tapping further into Sufjan’s and Mindy Smith’s Christmas albums than I already have. That would be a bit lopsided a mix, don’t you think?

Maybe I should have saved a few for this year. Anyone know any good Christmas songs on par with these ones?

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Here’s the breakdown of what I listened to last month that made me happy. Songza made linking ridiculously easy.

Also, December is going to be a dead month for new music. Guess what that means? More meaningless end-of-year lists! Hooray! Expect several of these from me, just like last year.

1. Sigur Rós – “Í Gær” (Hvarf/Heim)
2. Ray Charles – “What’d I Say” (20 Golden Classics)
3. Bright Eyes – “If The Brakeman Turns My Way” (Cassadaga)
4. Neko Case – “Hold On, Hold On” (Fox Confessor Brings The Flood)
5. Alison Krauss & Union Station – “New Favorite” (New Favorite)
6. Jóhann Jóhannsson – “Part 1 – IBM 1401 Processing Unit” (IBM 1401, a User’s Manual)
7. Damien Rice – “Eskimo” (O)
8. Stars – “Your Ex-Lover Is Dead” (Set Yourself On Fire)
9. Stars – “Set Yourself On Fire” (Set Yourself On Fire)
10. The Dillinger Escape Plan – “Nong Eye Gong” (Ire Works)
11. Opeth – “Ghost Of Perdition” (Ghost Reveries)
12. Jakob – “Pneumonic” (Solace)
13. Daft Punk – “Around The World / Harder Better Faster Stronger” (Alive 2007)
14. Feist – “My Moon My Man” (The Reminder)
15. Burial – “Archangel” (Untrue)
16. Bright Eyes – “Lua” (I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning)
17. Regina Spektor – “Music Box” (Begin To Hope)
18. Ryan Adams – “Pearls On A String” (Easy Tiger)

I just got way too excited for Coachella this weekend when they posted the set time schedule.

Somehow they managed to keep conflicts to a minimum, as far as my own preferences go, anyway. There are a couple bands I might have to skip out early on to catch something else, but the only major conflict for me is Saturday evening. Kings Of Leon, The Decemberists, !!! and Andrew Bird all playing at the same time. I don’t even know where to start with that one. I’ve seen Andrew Bird, so I may have to sacrifice there, but even then, he puts on an amazing show.

Here’s how I plan to break it down:

Friday

• Nickel Creek
• Of Montreal
• Circa Survive
• Rufus Wainwright
• The Jesus And Mary Chain
• Peeping Tom
• Interpol
• Sonic Youth
• Bjork

Saturday

• Regina Spektor
• The New Pornographers
• Kings Of Leon vs. The Decemberists vs. !!! vs. Andrew Bird
• The Arcade Fire
• Girl Talk
• Red Hot Chili Peppers
• The Black Keys

Sunday

• Mika
• Anathallo
• Grizzly Bear
• Explosions In The Sky
• The Roots
• Willie Nelson
• Amos Lee
• Ratatat
• Damien Rice
• Rage Against The Machine

Meanwhile, I’m packing up my sunscreen and shorts (two things I don’t use that often; yeah, I’m a nerd) and expecting to have a very fun weekend. I’ll be lucky if I don’t come back deaf, malnourished, underslept and looking like Pigpen.

A while back my best friend started keeping a monthly playlist. Any particular song that she felt was a favorite or most-played item was added to this list. The idea is that, at some undefined point in the future, she’ll appreciate being able to go back and see what she was listening to at a particular era of time.

I took the idea and changed the rules to fit me a little better. I create a monthly playlist but it not only contains favorites of the time, but any song that caught my attention (in a good way) during the month, whether or not I really listened to it a huge amount.

So now I’m going to post these on my blog at the end of each month. For this introductory post I’ll post January’s because it’s the first playlist and I need to catch up. February is soon to follow. Oh, a little disclaimer: the songs aren’t sorted in any order other than whatever order they went on the list.

Monthly Playlist – January 2007

1. Band Of Horses – “The Funeral” (Everything All The Time)
2. The Black Keys – “Thickfreakness” (Thickfreakness)
3. Brand New – “Sowing Season (Yeah)” (The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me)
4. Calexico and Iron & Wine – “He Lays In The Reins” (In The Reins)
5. Calexico and Iron & Wine – “Sixteen, Maybe Less” (In The Reins)
6. DragonForce – “Through The Fire And Flames” (Inhuman Rampage)
7. Eluvium – “The Well-Meaning Professor” (An Accidental Memory In The Case Of Death)
8. Fujiya & Miyagi – “Ankle Injuries” (Transparent Things)
9. Fujiya & Miyagi – “Collarbone” (Transparent Things)
10. Gomez – “See The World” (How We Operate)
11. Jeremy Enigk – “Been Here Before” (World Waits)
12. John Mayer – “Slow Dancing In A Burning Room” (Continuum)
13. John Mayer – “Bold As Love” (Continuum)
14. Birdman & Lil Wayne – “Stuntin’ Like My Daddy (Street)” (Like Father Like Son)
15. Neko Case – “Star Witness” (Fox Confessor Brings The Flood)
16. Ratatat – “Wildcat” (Classics)
17. Ray LaMontagne – “Be Here Now” (Till The Sun Turns Black)
18. Regina Spektor – “Fidelity” (Begin To Hope)
19. Ryan Adams – “The Shadowlands” (Love Is Hell)
20. The Crystal Method – “High Roller” (Vegas)
21. The Decemberists – “The Perfect Crime #2″ (The Crane Wife)
22. The Shins – “Phantom Limb” (Wincing The Night Away)
23. Damien Rice – “9 Crimes” (9)
24. Caspian – “Quovis” (You Are The Conductor)
25. Caspian – “Further Up” (You Are The Conductor)
26. Portishead – “Glory Box” (Roseland NYC Live)
27. mewithoutYou – “Carousels” (Catch For Us The Foxes)
28. Explosions In The Sky – “The Only Moment We Were Alone” (The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place)

The final part of my four-part series. The list to end all lists. I present to you the best new albums in 2006.

1. mewithoutYou – Brother, Sister
2. This Will Destroy You – Young Mountain
3. Mew – And The Glass Handed Kites
4. Jeremy Enigk – World Waits
5. Joshua Radin – We Were Here
6. Malajube – Trompe-L’Oeil (US Release)
7. Band Of Horses – Everything All The Time
8. John Mayer – Continuum
9. P.O.S. – Audition
10. Norma Jean – Redeemer
11. Thom Yorke – The Eraser
12. Neko Case – Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
13. Sufjan Stevens – The Avalanche
14. The Decemberists – The Crane Wife
15. The Appleseed Cast – Peregrine
16. Damien Rice – 9
17. The Knife – Silent Shout
18. Underoath – Define The Great Line
19. Angels & Airwaves – We Don’t Need To Whisper
20. Muse – Black Holes And Revelations

Well, that’s all folks. I had fun making these lists and you probably hated reading them. Or maybe you found something new to love. If that’s the case, my goal has been met.

Have a merry Christmas and a happy new year. Keep on discovering.

Occasionally it’s nice to go through my music collection and highlight the new stuff I’ve discovered that I can’t stop listening to:

• Jeremy Enigk
  Enigk is best known as the front man for Sunny Day Real Estate, but his solo releases, especially his newest, World Waits, are phenomenal. I think I’ve listened to the track Been Here Before a thousand times in the last few weeks (you can download it here).
• …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead
  They’re not a new name to most, but their new album goes above and beyond all their previous work, in my opinion. This is probably why I’ll never work for Pitchfork, considering the somewhat negative review they gave So Divided. Check out Wasted State Of Mind on their PureVolume page.
• Dragonforce
  It’s embarrassing to admit how good these guys are, because they are definitely marketing on the irony of being serious about a long-deserted genre of wankeriffic metal rife with dual guitar solos (think The Darkness, but five years later). But those solos… they’re so good…
• Malajube
  This is one band I’m proud to admit I discovered before they were a twinkle in Pitchfork’s eye, thanks to a friend in Canada who gave me a heads-up. It’s almost syrupy sweet at times, and I can’t understand a word of French so I have no clue what they’re singing about, but they’re inexplicably irresistible.
• Mew
  They’re definitely a buzz band right now, but for good reason. Beautiful falsetto vocals with a satisfyingly complex rhythm section. And The Glass Handed Kites is one of my most-played albums of the last few months.
• Tom Waits
  I’ve just recently realized the value of his work. I picked up a copy of Nighthawks At The Diner at Amoeba Music a while back, which has been great for putting me in a happy and relaxed mood. His newest release, Orphans, is impressive, even in its excessive length.
• The Knife
  Dark, dramatic electronica with haunting vocals. I would almost say it borders on goth, but it’s not quite as pessimistic. Apparently their live show is a theatrical jaw-dropper.
• Oh, Sleeper
  I had to throw in some hardcore somewhere, right? The Armored March is a solid Norma Jean-esque metalcore release, and something about the overall sound keeps it from getting boring like so many bands in their genre.
• Ray LaMontagne
  If you like Damien Rice, LaMontagne will be your best friend. ‘Nuff said.
• Sparrows Swarm and Sing
  Mostly instrumental post rock in the vein of Godspeed You! Black Emperor. I actually just heard them for the first time today, but they’re definitely worth a mention.

And here’s a few older favorites that are still topping the charts:

• Explosions In The Sky
• This Will Destroy You
• Godspeed You! Black Emperor
• mewithoutYou
• Cloud Cult
• Sherwood
• P.O.S.
• Damien Rice