Cover art from Low's "Christmas", courtesy of Kranky
Open Thread is a daily feature where Waypoint staff talk about games and other things we find interesting. This is where you'll see us chat about movies, TV, and even sports, and welcome you to participate in the discussion.I love Christmas music. I know, a lot of it is grating and it’s been effectively weaponized by our Christmas, Inc. consumer culture, a sonic assault sent ahead of the credit card statements to force merriment and “Christmas Spirit” on people—of any and all beliefs—that find themselves in its path. If you’re feeling a bit blue this time of year, or if—like in my family—a lot of losses have attended this time of year, Christmas music can sound at best inappropriate and at worst positively mocking.And yet: starting around Thanksgiving I have an insatiable need to hear Frank Sinatra loving those J-I-N-G-L-E BELLS off an antique piece of vinyl with predictable, well-known scratches. John Denver and The Muppets? Sign me right the fuck up. I just submit myself to the Boomer cultural hegemony around the holiday season, unironically enjoying Perry Fucking Como’s sentimental Christmas dirges, or Dean Martin sounding genuinely delighted to find himself in a “Marshmallow World”.But my favorite music to listen to around this time of year is the music the leans all the way into the bittersweet nature of the holidays, and the sharp juxtapositions you get between personal struggle and public celebration. I’m the guy who, on Dec. 24th with the family gathered all around, is putting Low’s Christmas on the CD player so we can all listen to the Gothic menace of “Long Way Around the Sea”. Or if I really want to bring the eggnog and gift exchange to complete halt, I like to blast Stan Rogers’ “First Christmas” which always has a couple verses that leave me wrecked.The “non-traditional” song I probably look forward to the most is one of the hardest to find: Marcia Ball and Marian McPartland’s “Christmas Is Just Another Day”, which is just a great, sparse jazz song about feeling like you’re stuck on the outside looking in at rituals of the holidays. I’ve only ever found it on An NPR Jazz Christmas (which is way better than it sounds).What about you? What are your favorite holiday jams, ironic or unironic? Let me know in today's open thread!