Treason For the Season, various artists (Mistletunes, 2022)

This was a fairly grumpy year in my estimation, mostly driven by war and political posturing. Even social media failed to cut loose any fresh fun memes, though I think we know who to blame for that. Ergo, a playlist title that remains satirical but not exactly ha-ha funny. Fortunately, we have a playlist of modern Christmas tunes that will hopefully lighten the moods of listeners everywhere. Let's run it down.

"Groovy Xmas," The Linda Lindas -- Everybody's favorite middle-school pop-punk band dropped this gleeful blast of rhythm for the holiday, which should get everyone's attention.

"Christmas Time With You," The Dollyrots -- More pop-punk from this cool husband-wife duo listing every family's holiday to-do list with a callout to Clement Moore's famous Christmas poem.

"I Don't Know What Christmas Is (But Christmastime Is Here)," The Old 97s -- This classic Americana rock band got tapped to contribute to the "Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special," and they came through with this hilarious take on a space alien trying to explain to his off-planet pals what us crazy humans do this time of year.

"Cozy Christmas," Molly Burch -- A sweet midtempo original from this Austin singer-songwriter yearning for what we all want this time of year.

"Christmas Anyway," Stars -- A fine ballad from this Montreal group about star-crossed lovers trying to keep Christmas in their own way.

"Santa Baby," Sug Daniels -- There are so many diva takes on this song, all inspired by Eartha Kitt's original of course, so it's cool that this Philly singer broke out her ukulele and gave us a straight reading of what, at heart, is a funny song.

"December Back 2 June," Alicia Keys -- Some straight-up R'nB from this popular singer-pianist on a cool new original from her recent holiday album.

"Little Drummer Girl," The Yule Logs -- Not particularly related to the drummer boy song, this power-pop holiday tune is about checking out the title character's band.

"Drummer Boy," Titus Andronicus -- A cool companion piece to the previous song in which the famous carol is rejiggered to fit into a Billy Joel setlist.

"Merry Christmas Everybody," Norman Nardini -- Here's a little blues from a veteran of the Pittsburgh music scene, but with a punchy beat to keep the dance floor full.

"Violent Night (A Christmas Tale)," Chubby and the Gang -- Old school punk rock steals a title from a Christmas-themed horror movie and goes to town on the holiday.

"Christmas Harmony," Pep Rally -- Enjoy this Philly band's rocking take on holiday celebrations and singing.

"Reason For the Season," Modern Temple -- Nice midtempo pop-rocker covering the usual holiday verities. Also makes a half-baked title song to this collection.

"Mr. Scrooge," Cindy Lawson -- Cool oldie given a fresh coat of 60s girl-group paint by Cindy, in which a taciturn boyfriend gets compared to the grumpy antagonist of a favorite Christmas story.

"Daddy's Kissing Santa Claus," Havanna Winter -- Well, it could happen. Not that there's anything wrong with this, as George Costanza would say.

"Secret Santa," Salem Ilese -- Boisterous modern pop take on the holiday pumped full to the gills with up-to-the-minute cultural references.

"Must Be Santa," Bastard Bearded Irishmen -- An occasional Celtic take on the holiday is always welcome here, though in this case these Irishmen are coming to us via CBGB's.

"Hungover For the Holidays," Latewaves -- Because, yeah, some of us are going to end up that way.

"Happy New Year," Let's Eat Grandma -- Kinda synth-poppy, kinda wordy, but any excuse to not end the playlist with "Auld Lang Syne," I say.