This episode was the first dedicated Christmas show I've done, which seems a bit weird considering the show's been going four years. As one might expect, I tried to play the strangest and obscurest Christmas recordings I could, with a couple of better known tunes thrown in for balance. The episode kicked off with a disco version of 'We Wish You A Merry Christmas' by the Mistletoe Disco Band, a set of session musicians. I then played examples of two early technologies that would later become prominent in electronic music, the vocoder and the synthesiser. The first was jingle(?) in which a voice sings 'Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer' through a voice box (this one was invented in 1939). It's not unlike the early Alvino Rey experiment 'My Buddy'. And then I span a rendition of 'O Holy Night' performed on the moog in 1969 (the moog only began to appear 1967). Next was a recording of Bahaman gospel/folk/blues artist Joseph Spence from three years later, drunkenly playing 'Santa Claus Is Coming To Town' and making a real hash of the lyrics. It's hilarious. Tatsuro Yamashita, of Hosono/Yamashita/Suzuki fame, was next, with his 1983 tune 'Christmas Eve' which is a Christmas staple in Japan. Bringing it right up to today, I span a track by A. G. Cook/Danny L Harle collaboration Dux Content, the amazing 'Snow Globe'. Ending the show was a song I've played on the show before, a somewhat mournful but really beautiful remix of 'Have Yourself A Merry Christmas' by Norwegian producer and beat-maker Torkelsen.
Dig That Treasure (20/12/17)
Mistletoe Disco Band - We Wish You A Merry ChristmasPAMS - Reindeer
The Moog Machine - O Holy Night
Joseph Spence - Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
Tatsuro Yamashita - Christmas Eve
Dux Content - Snow Globe
Torkelsen - Christmas
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