Our minds on media.

Generally speaking, holiday music drives me batty—not because I’m a scrooge or anything, but any music that I have to hear over and over again that’s “catchy” pretty much drives me batty. It’s why there are no radios in my life and haven’t been for years. But there’s no avoiding holiday music. So the least I could do is throw some holiday music out there that is distinctively un-holiday-music-like, or at very least interesting (and free!). My first choice is Dr. Octoroc’s 8-bit holiday tunes. Just think back to that Christmas that you got your first Nintendo and these square-wave songs will bring you Christmas cheer. Then, of course, there’s the scientifically created most annoying song in the world. Okay, so technically only some parts of the song are holiday oriented, but it doesn’t matter, because if you manage to listen to the whole thing, you’ll never listen to it again. Next, Podington Bear has done some decidedly holiday-y music; among those tracks are misfit toys. Finally, here’s a musician I just can never get enough of: Sufjan Stevens. He’s got some great Christmas tunes you can download from Cnet. Some of the titles alone are great, like “Get Behind Me, Santa!” and “That Was the Worst Christmas Ever.” Anyway, enjoy and Happy Chrismahanaquanzadan.¹