experimental christmas music š¹š š¾š
Happy Tuesday, yāall. Itās been a crazy week/month/year, but I hope you all can find some level of relaxation in the coming weeks. Iāve got a lot to get into, but first, donāt forget to share Program Change with a friend!
The holiday season has been insanely busy for me, so this week Iām keeping it light by sharing with yāall a collection of somewhat-unusual holiday music. āChristmas musicā can illicit some strong emotions, but I want to show yāall that, like any genre, thereās tons of weird-ass shit in it. Iām talkinā everything from MF DOOM remix projects to IDM-tinged carols to a lo-fi mix from one of the Beatles. So, sit back with a stiff egg nog and some well-lit Christmas trees as I give you some tunes to get you through the season.
Coal: An Experimental Christmas
Confession: I found this project by Googling āexperimental christmas musicā. However, in addition to being SEO masterminds, the artists on this compilation have managed to put together one of the most unique collections of Christmas inspired music Iāve ever heard. From the auto-tuned downtempo thump of āO Christmas Treeā to the tape-loop-inspired āIntermission/6 Minutes, 5 Golden Ringsā, this one has some hidden gems that prove that sometimes the algorithm indeed smiles upon us.
Wisp - Xmas87 EP
Back in 2004, IDM producer Wisp released a free download of Christmas-inspired music called āXmas87ā. Unfortunately, itās nearly impossible to track down as a download in 2020, so youāll have to resign yourself to the same Youtube and Reddit digging I did to stumble upon this in the first place. If anyone has any info on this project (or on Wisp, who seems to have disappeared from most of the internet), please DM me on Instagram with the info. Iād like to learn a bit more about the person behind this gorgeous rendition of Greensleeves.
Cookin Soul - DOOM XMAS
Grammy award-winning-Master-of-the-Blend Cookin Soul dropped this legendary remix tape two years ago. I would still love to see an original project between the Spain-based producer and the Supervillain, but for now, we have 22 minutes of DOOM a cappellas over expertly-sliced Christmas chops to tide us over for the yuletide.
Paul McCartney - āUnforgettableā
There is a lost art to the physical mixtape that just doesnāt translate in the playlist era of music. Recorded intros, interludes, and track sequencing were essential considerations when the format consisted of tape that would require actual fast-forwarding to skip tracks.
This 1965 mixtape from Paul McCartney is, in a way, a document of an early version of a (sadly) bygone cultural ritual. As is mentioned in this article from NME (which itself is pulling a McCartney quote from The Unreleased Beatles: Music and Film by Richie Unterberger):
I had two Brenell tape recorders set up at home, on which I made experimental recordings and tape loops, like the ones in āTomorrow Never Knows,'ā McCartney told Per Mark UnterbergerāsĀ in his bookĀ The Unreleased Beatles: Music and Film. āAnd once I put together something crazy, something left-field, just for the other Beatles, a fun thing which they could play late in the evening. It was just something for the mates, basically.
-Paul McCartney
While the music itself isnāt exactly revelatory, this is a fun bit of nostalgia that reminds us of how previous generations reveled in curation-as-a-creative-process just as much as we do, albeit with different technology and very different approaches.
Freddie Gibbs x Amerigo Gazaway - A Freddie Christmas Album
There are tons of Christmas beat tapes/mashup projects I could share with yāall, but this one deserves special attention for its perfect attention to the art of the blend. Altered Crates put this one together as a tribute to legendary mashup producer Amerigo Gazaway. Maybe itās the attention to beat selection, maybe its Freddieās in-depth knowledge of all things snow-related, but this one gives me the exact kind of warmth I need to get through a socially-distant holiday season.
Thatās it for this week, folks! As always, stay in touch via email (daniel@pgchg.com) or Instagram if you wanna chat. Stay safe, happy holidays, and much love from Los Angeles āš¾š