In 2017 Aquarium Drunkard brought you Christmas Jambree: A Vintage Jamaican Yuletide Mixtape. At 28 tracks it’s an extensive collection of Jamaican reggae and ska Christmas tunes. If you’ve never heard it, do slide over there right now, but if you’re already converted, and looking for a bit more in that vein, the following companion has you covered. Dig in, dig deep, and happy holidays.
Category: Holiday
George Shearing And The Montgomery Brothers :: Enchanted (1961)
There’s something raunchy, on-point-kitsch and universal about the cocktail piano holiday soundtracks that dominate the globe. Despite all the irony, the twilight balled “Enchanted” exists as an unearthed gem of elegant ivory work fit for the season and your next cozy get together. Penned by the sultriest of swingers, Sir George Shearing, the blissful track comes halfway through an underrated, self-titled collaborative album, George Shearing and the Montgomery Brothers, recorded in Los Angeles under the direction of Orrin Keepnews for the Jazzland label back in 1961.
Videodrome :: Eyes Wide Shut: Kubrick’s Christmas Film
Stanley Kubrick’s final film is also his most polarizing. It’s been called his best and his worst, his most cryptic and his most mismanaged; an erotic thriller, a psychosexual drama, and a paranoid thriller. But is Eyes Wide Shut a Christmas film?
The AD Picture Show (Holiday Special)
Here’s a little something extra in your stocking this season–the inaugural AD Holiday Special. Covered in tinsel and lights, falling down your digital screens like department store fake snow.
Feat: Wizzard | T. Rex | Ahmad Jamal Trio | Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band | Tom Waits | The Pogues & more
Frozen Fingers :: An American Primitive Holiday Meditation
Fingerpickers can’t seem to resist uncovering (or just plain inventing) the folk-blues roots of these timeworn melodies. Whatever the motivation, it’s always nice to have an alternative to the treacly seasonal music that is inescapable this time of year. Frozen Fingers is playlist of (mostly) acoustic wintry music that’ll put a little wonder into the most wonderful time of the year…
Marc Bolan :: T. Rexmas
We’re not sure who the mysterious folks behind the Bolan Boogie Bandcamp are, and even less sure how we missed the 4-track T.Rexmas! EP they uploaded last December, but here it is.
T.Rexmas! is mainly built around the stomping woulda-been hit “Christmas Bop,” recorded in 1975 for an aborted single that would have been paired with “Telegram Sam” and “Metal Guru.” . . .
Christmas Jambree :: A Vintage Jamaican Yuletide Mixtape
Yuletide sails into Jamaica each year on what the locals call the Christmas Breeze, a slightly crisper air that tends to waft through the island come December. There’s another seasonal […]
A Christmas Gift For You…From Phil Spector
With his trademark Wall of Sound, Spector’s curated mix of holiday tunes pushes the limits of Christmas music—whether it’s tweaking the lyrics of “White Christmas” or writing his own in “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”. Spector, a Jew born on Christmas day, did what few were, or are, capable of doing. He made the largesse—both genuine and contrived—of Christmas even bigger.
A Reflection: Vince Guaraldi Trio — A Charlie Brown Christmas
There’s loneliness and companionship, joy and despair, truth-seeking and blithe celebration, all during what’s marketed to be the most wonderful time of the year. Your interpretation of the season begets your holiday spirit, whatever version it may be — bah humbug and good tidings. It’s little surprise then that Charlie Brown’s soundtrack, as well as our own, is something just as introspective and shifting. Something like jazz.
Lit Up Like A Christmas Tree: Vol I & II (A Vintage Holiday Mixtape)
Ah yes, go ahead and inhale the fecund ether of the season. Lit Up Like A Christmas celebrates the, er, other side of seasonal tidings – holiday esoterica from the far corners of vintage jazz, twang, fuzz, scuzz, r&b, blues, country, garage, lounge and beyond. And by beyond, we mean Sun Ra doing a Christmas song.
Christmas Jambree :: A Vintage Jamaican Yuletide Mixtape
Yuletide in Jamaica glides in each December on what the locals call the Christmas Breeze, a slightly crisper air that tends to waft through the island this time of year. […]
A Reflection: Vince Guaraldi Trio — A Charlie Brown Christmas
There’s loneliness and companionship, joy and despair, truth-seeking and blithe celebration, all during what’s marketed to be the most wonderful time of the year. Your interpretation of the season begets your holiday spirit, whatever version it may be — bah humbug and good tidings. It’s little surprise then that Charlie Brown’s soundtrack, as well as our own, is something just as introspective and shifting. Something like jazz.
Damien Jurado :: Christmas Time Is Here (Vince Guaraldi)
Damien Jurado takes on Vince Guaraldi’s yuletide classic, “Christmas Time Is Here.” Culled from 90% of your social circle’s favorite Christmas album , it’s a brave choice met with spirited results. Damien Jurado :: Christmas Time Is Here Related: Do not […]
‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ Drummer Jerry Granelli :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
For many listeners, the Vince Guaraldi Trio’s music for 1965’s A Charlie Brown Christmas represents the best of the season, its sounds patient, relaxed, and warm. For drummer Jerry Granelli, it’s all […]
Clifton’s Corner :: Volume 27 – Stone Soul Christmas – A Mixtape
(Volume 27 of Clifton’s Corner . Clifton Weaver, aka DJ Soft Touch , shares some of his favorite spins, old and new, in the worlds of soul, r&b, funk, psych and beyond.) The long, strange […]