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Because my mind is entrenched in the idea that I will hate--that I should hate--the sort of Christmas music that exploits the sounds of dogs barking or cats caterwhauling, it is difficult to admit that I am enjoying the heck out of Holidays at the Zoo, along with both of the other bird titles (Nutcracker Tweet and Carol of the Birds). So much so that I feel the need to justify my aesthetic. I need you, my reader, to understand that I have not simply been taken in by the novelty CD equivalent of dogs playing poker, that this is not geeky, cornball, heehaw humor that your dad used to laugh at. No, I want to believe--and then you will believe--that this is the post-, post-, post-ironic music that only the coolest of the cool kids, the heppest of the hip, the hippest of the hep are listening to, the Christmas music Adult Swim.

Goofy rationalizing aside, Holidays at the Zoo comes across as one of the cleverest, most humorous, and most musical CDs I've heard so far in this young holiday season, or that I expect to hear. For one thing, Gary Sattazahn has gone to considerable trouble to integrate (laboriously compiled from the public domain) animal squawks into his arrangements, to the point where he creates a doubt over the difference between the wah-wah of trumpets and the trumpeting of elephants. The exquisitely layered instrumental arrangements establish a density of the animal voices to a poiint where harmony is reached and sustained at the edge of cacophony. A veritable wall of sound. The result is rich and flavorful--infectiously funny at times--a Christmas concert whose complex, textured structure requires repeated listening. I Saw 3 Ships, a song I don't even like, becomes a masterpiece of animal harmony. And

Don't believe me? There's this from the liner notes: "The 12 Days Of Christmas Soloists: Turtle Dove, French Hen, Calling Birds, Goose a-laying, Swan a-swimming, Cows". Cows! For irony.

This is screechy creature fun!