Hey, there. I made you a mixtape. But first, I need you to know that playlist creation is a craft, actually.

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Playlisting as Craft

I've been watching my family do their hobbies lately and feeling weirdly inadequate about it. My wife crochets scarves and sweaters — actual things you can hold. My college kid knits in her dorm room between classes. My high school kid does weird drawings of robots and monsters that could pass as high fashion. They all make something. They have proof of their time spent. Meanwhile, I listen to music and read about bands that broke up thirty years ago, and at the end of the day there's nothing to show for it except maybe a playlist nobody asked for.

But then I get to this moment, right now — Sunday, November 30; the end of the month — and I’m banging my head against the wall to create something new this month and hahahahahahahaha oops, I just stumbled across how MY hobby also manifests as a creation, in a sense.

Here’s the thing: I often worry that being A Music Guy translates to a kind of gate-keepy-slash-eye-roll personality — that I assume my taste is relevant or that my choices are gospel. “Worry” maybe isn’t even a strong enough word; I often fear that I’m being pedantic or dismissive or overly eager when I talk about music or burn a CD or share a playlist or send you a link for a concert you might not ever actually watch. I fear that it is misrepresented — I am not a taste maker (laughable even at its most earnest) and I am definitely not a taste keeper.

I just really like talking about music, and I really like talking to people about it. That’s what we all do, isn’t it? We do things because we like to do them, but we also sometimes do things because we want to connect with other people ABOUT those things! It allows us a connection and shared experience without needing to be in the same place at the same time. Hobbies are for our own pacification, but also to help us find our own people.

Which puts those “playlists nobody asked for” in a new light. The ones I make for road trips or send to my kids with zero explanation except "trust me on this one." The way I'll put on an album at dinner and wait to see if anyone bites, if anyone asks who this is or what year it's from. That's something, right? Not a scarf, but something. I'm not making objects — I'm making connections, or trying to. Building a shared language out of other people's songs.

I’m thankful my family tolerates this. That they let me be the person who pauses mid-conversation to say "wait, listen to this part" or who derails a perfectly normal evening by needing everyone to understand why this particular Texas is the Reason song matters. They could roll their eyes more than they do. Instead they humor me, and sometimes — not always, but sometimes — they hear what I'm hearing. That's the thing I'm making, I guess. A space where music can matter out loud, where intake becomes conversation.

I’m thankful you all tolerate this as well. So, anyway — here’s a playlist. Technically, nobody asked for it, but it’s something I made.

This Month’s Mixtape

November 2025: Playlisting as Craft

Listen on Spotify. Listen on Apple Music.

• “The Man Comes Around” — Pulp
• “Jay Walk” — Leikeli47 (w/ Miss J Alexander)
• “So Good to Have You Home Again” — The Mystiques
• ”Queen St. Gang” — Arzachel
• “Peer Pressure” — Mobb Deep
• “Antique” — Texas is the Reason
• “Heaven’s Breath” — AVTT/PTTN (The Avett Brothers & Mike Patton)
• “Did You See Me?” — Ween
• “From Tidewater to Timberline” — Empress
• ”Baby, I’m Not (A Werewolf)” — Neko Case
• “X-French Tee Shirt” — Shudder To Think
• “Let ‘Em In” — Wings
• “E.B.I.T.D.A.” — Clipse, Pusha T & Malice (w/ Pharrell Williams)
• “Day in the Sun (Gettin’ Wit U)” — De La Soul (w/ Q-Tip & Yummy Bingham)
• “You’re All I Need” — Michael A. Dixon & J.O.Y.
• ”Crush” — Grace Jones

This post is saved for posterity at Corey Vilhauer Dot Com. Every typo has been hand-crafted.