A Very Bootie Christmas

Good X-Mas music? Thats unpossible!! As you can tell, I'm not a huge fan of most Christmas tunes, but this is definitely an exception. What we have here is a couple of mashup albums released back in 2006 from a couple of chaps by the names of DJ Adrian & the Mysterious D – a.k.a. A PLUS D. Similar to Girl Talk in the mashup vibe, A Plus D take X-Mas and non-X-Mas tunes both new and old, throws them together, to create something different entirely. At first, I wasn't expecting much, but while listening to the albums, it was just one track after the other of music gold. If I were to throw a Christmas party, this would be playing and people would be having fun.

A Very Bootie Christmas - Volume 1

A Very Bootie Christmas - Volume 2

Voicedude - It's The Small Things


Edit: Volume 2 was released just this December. Thanks for the correction A+D! :)

Verve Remixed CHRISTMAS

It's starting to feel like Christmas again. Especially since there's now a thick coating snow where I reside.

Verve Remixed CHRISTMAS is part of Verve's remix collection and it breathes new life into some of the seasons classic's. There are a few new ingredients added in each track which gives them a slightly different flavour. This can be good or bad depending on listener's perspective.

Steven Leggett of Allmusic sums up perfectly the tricky job of remixing timeless pieces of music, especially Christmas music.

"What makes a classic Christmas song work is that, even as we change and the world changes, it stays the same, popping up each year during the holiday season steady and sure, providing a kind of thread to holidays past, an example of perceived nostalgia at its most powerful. Messing with that emotional nostalgia is a tricky thing, which is why this set of holiday classics remixed by various producers and DJs walks a thin line between delightful surprise and what-were-they-thinking disaster."

Take em' or leave em'. Personally find this collection to be a refreshing change to some timeless tracks and they have been on rotation along with their original counterparts.

Count Basie - Good Morning Blues (Real Tuesday Weld Clerkenwell Remix)

Shirley Horn - Winter Wonderland (Christian Prommer Remix)

Billie Holiday - I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm (Yesking Remix)

DJ Spooky

DJ Spooky is a turntablist, a producer, an author, postmodern intellectual, among other things. He has been described as the king of 'illbient' which combines the hip hop slang term 'ill' (a positive expression: bad meaning good) and 'ambient'.

In 2007, Spooky made a film called "Terra Nova Sinfonia Antarctica" which really exemplifies how he uses his music to connect with nature and the world around us (in this case, specifically Antarctica). He actually ventured to Antarctica with a waterproof microphone and captured field recordings of the resonant frequencies of crystalline ice. Combining these recordings along with his trademark spinning and backed by live music creating quite an amazing live performance. Here's a clip.

Below are a couple of selections from his earlier work in the mid 90's. Both are from his first album released in 1996 called "Songs of a Dead Dreamer" and are definitely 2 of my favourites of his work. It certainly doesn't stop there however, as he has released 16 albums since then varying from ambient to hip hop to dub.

DJ Spooky - Hologrammic Dub

DJ Spooky - Galactic Funk