The Reindeer Room Volume II: A Christmas Chillout
At times,The Reindeer Room Volume IIis the hippest Christmas CD of the year, even if you're not into techno dance arrangements with programmed drum tracks and odd, schizoid effects. There are inspired arrangements and production throughout much of the 15-track collection, dominated by Billy Paul Williams featuring Nicole Henry, whose voice through a vocoder can tantalize and twist even such normally solid fare as "The Holly and the Ivy," or "Good King Wenceslas." Half the fun is listening for the acute production values on cuts like Charles Afton's "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy," which throws a fuzzy, retro-psychedelic scrim over this Nutcracker staple. But it'sDJ Trax's "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (with vocalist Anna Hurst) and LED vs. Panophonic's unforgettable "My Favorite Things" that are worth the price of the disc. The percussive bass and grooving guitar lines in the former and the pristine mix of organ, vibraphone, and a clattering drum track in the latter make for Christmas music listening on a whole other level. Besides, when was the last time you bought a smart holiday mix that also featured a bonus DVD/Yule log video in 5.1 Surround Sound? --Martin Keller