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Our Review

Following on the heels of last year's brilliant The Reindeer Room - A Christmas Chillout, the second volume in the Reindeer Room series had some big shoes to fill. Oriented toward a youthful ethic that views downtempo music as the new black, the first volume stayed mostly with familiar Christmas tunes, breaking new ground only with Jon Kennedy's A Child Is Born. Volume II is similarly laid out (even as far as having another new Jon Kennedy composition), but it extends the formula in a breathtaking way with the addition of a bonus DVD featuring the entire CD (in stereo or surround sound) accompanying a video of a yule log burning in the fireplace.

The music itself consists of creative electronica, rendered in a style called downtempo or chillout and featuring edgy renditions of songs culled from a variety musical domains. Not so much a genre as an extention of several others--jazz, lounge, and trip-hop dance, to name a few--the music is languid and liquid, sensually pervasive, edgy but without sharp edges. Like a new friend you feel as though you've known all your life, the songs you will hear on A Christmas Chillout, Volume II are accompanied by a warm, tingly intimacy, and experienced as intriguing mysteries you will want to listen to until you can completely unravel them.

Between the nifty yule log DVD, the Jon Kennedy tunes, and the forceful artistic and stylistic statement presented here (not to mention the elegant packaging), it goes without saying that I give both Reindeer Rooms my highest recommendation.

--Richard Banks
(Reviewed in 2003)

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Various Artists

Reindeer Room 2: A Christmas Chillout,
Volume II

Artist site

Track List