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Our Review

I'm not exaggerating when I say that receiving Kriztal Entertainment's new Reindeer Room, Volume Three, Not So Silent Night was one of the brightest spots in my week. Previous volumes of Reindeer Rooms have brightened my Christmas seasons considerably over the past several years, and one of the saddest days of 2004 was when Beth Serini at Kriztal replied to my pitiful inquiry about the next volume in the series: for, alas, there was no Volume Three in the works at this time last year. Fortunately, she sent me the new Reindeer Room as a mail box surprise (the sort of surprise that keeps me doing this gig, I might add).

I like this new Reindeer Room, though my impression (and I am not re-listening to the earlier ones, so I risk getting my impressions mixed up) is that Volume Three is different from 1 and 2, principally in it's more decidedly jazzy R&B flavor. I remember the others being a bit more dance- and trance-related. Not So Silent Night mines hip hop's fetish of playfully stringing together well-known riffs into integrated new post-modern anthems, connecting the dots between compositions where no old school composer ever would even see dots. This works nicely with seasonal music, which is nothing if not a palette of well-worn riffs whose dots are badly in need of reconnecting.

I particularly enjoyed Billy Paul Williams' Santa Baby, which brings all of the disparate elements together--jazz riffing, cutting and pasting of naggingly recognizable samples, and languid golddigger vocals by Brooke. In fact, though downtempo is primarily instrumental, there were several nice vocals, by Brooke, by Charlotte McKinnon (This Christmas and What Are You Doing New Years Eve), and by Lauren Carter (All I Want For Christmas Is You).

Though "downtempo" is urban by definition, this year's Reindeer Room is more urban than its predecessors (and possibly owes a debt to Outkast and other urban R&B experimentalists). It is very fun to listen to; it is not overly or overtly "Christmassy" or sappy in any way; and it is certain to impress all of your hipster friends.

--Richard Banks
(Reviewed in 2005)

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From the liner notes:

Welcome to our third edition of Christmas Chillout: "Not So Silent Night". This is our most diverse collection of holiday music yet -- some songs are traditional favorites and others are brand new and written especially for this CD.

In addition to Christmas songs, we have also included an original Kwanzaa anthem from Billy Paul Williams and two Chanukah ("Festival of Lights") selections composed and recorded by Craig Taubman. Our BONUS DVD for this volume contains the original audio combined with a beautifully trimmed Christmas tree aglow with lights and a toy train running underneath. Additionally, we have coupled our 2 Chanukah tracks with a traditional lighting of the candles on the Menorah.

So, no matter how you celebrate the holidays, Reindeer Room III is the quintessential backdrop to your activities whether it's baking cookies, decorating the tree, spinning dreidels or exchanging gifts on Christmas morning.

Merry Christmas! Happy Chanukah! Happy Kwanzaa!

Mastered by Neil Case
Executive producer -- Bo Crane

Various Artists

reindeeroom,
volume three,
Not So Silent Night

Artist site

Track List