Band: Various Artists
Album: The Christmas Album
Label: Sony Records
Year: 1996
Oooh, we're in for a doozy today! A year has come and gone, and we find ourselves approaching Christmas. In our first Christmas Special, we covered Jingle Cats. In our second special, we covered Stars of Ice by Steve Roden. For our third Christmas special, we have turned to you, the viewers of this absurd little show for suggestions on alternative Christmas music. Out of all the suggestions, the randomizer chose this very album we're looking at today. The Christmas Album by Various Artists. So... What makes this so special? Well... The Christmas Album is perhaps the most un-christmassy album I have ever come across. A pure untethered unrelenting smorgasboard of experimental artists just completely bastardizing traditional christmas songs. The roster is fantastic, we have Melt-Banana, Secret Chiefs 3, Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her, Gastr Del Sol, Hair Stylistics, SxOxB, God Is My Co-Pilot, and of course the legendary Merzbow, who gives us perhaps one of my top favourite renditions of Silent Night that I have ever heard. This is alternative christmas music in a nutshell. Just unrelenting experimentalism, pure chaos, noise, all in the name of anti-christmas music. My goodness, I don't know if it gets any better than this...
Go and listen to The Christmas Album by Various Artists at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM-QXTD_3cg
A huge thanks to the wonderful supporters of Weird Music over the past few years. It is an honour to be in a position where I can express my enthusiasm for the multitude of music out there. Here's hoping we can keep things going in 2025.
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