December is typically the month where the music you hear coming out of shops, cars, radios or most public gatherings suddenly becomes a lot more familiar to the Fruit Tree Records ethos. That is to say, the air is filled with classic Christmas tracks that are pulled from an eclectic range of eras and styles. From pure nineties pop, to sixties wall of sound, crackly crooners from the 1940s, glam rock, indie-dance crossover sounds, electro eighties soul, warm fireside folk, feel good fifties rock n roll and even Bob Dylan, it all gets an equal billing in the soundtrack to the festive season.

I’ll admit to a gnawing sense of over familiarity to a lot of the ubiquitous Christmas songs we’re showered with but that’s not really the fault of the songs themselves. Only a deliberate contrarian would argue against the Pogues and Kirsty MacColl (like one of those buffoons who try and argue that the Beatles weren’t any good, cross them off the christmas card list) and even a murder conviction hasn’t shaken the essential status of the Phil Spector Christmas Album too far from the summit. But love them as I have, they are way too familiar now and even the sound of John Lennon asking “so this is Christmas and what have you done?” fails to lift in quite the same way as it used to. Of course, even the greatest of albums can diminish with over exposure, so don’t let me pour cold water over your enjoyment of the greatest festive recordings.

The one thing I can’t ignore is that the wide open, anything counts approach that the curators and listeners apply to music in December is exactly the same as my own philosophy with Fruit Tree Records all year round. That limitless ploughing through the recorded music of the last 100 years is a voyage that I’ve been on all my life and rewards me with audio surprise and delight every single day. Like everyone, my tastes have plenty of sweet spots and blind spots but overall, I’d say that genre and age are not limiting factors, essentially if something grabs me then I’m on it whether it was put out in the 1920s or last week, be it something deep and rootsy or groundbreaking and futuristic.

To quote Lou Reed, the posibilities are endless. So come on people, don’t just dive into the deep well of recorded music during the Christmas period, bathe in this endless river all year round, I guarantee you won’t regret it. Oh and just to be clear, the December playlist is not a Christmas selection in any way, just more superb sounds from across the ages to entertain and inspire! Happy Christmas.