Welcome. The compilation seems to have gone down well, many thanks for the positive response. There's a lot of Christmas music in here, but it's all tempered by drones and shrouded in dread so don't run off too quickly. There's some non-Christmas music too.

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ovis aurum - ovis aurum (SR004)
This one opens up with some dank fuzz before moving into dankly fuzzed techno. Not bereft of groove though, these beats are pretty jackin' at times, before going into dark and sinister compound time. Compelling listening. I particularly like 'Soil Building'.

Warner Jepson - Buchla Christmas
Okay, here we go. Indulge me. Here we have half an hour of traditional Christmas songs and hymns, from 'Silent Night' to 'The First Noël' and 'Hark The Herald Angels Sing', all played on Buchla synths. In 1969. Glorious.

a rap vacation -as w/ mndsgn & ahwlee
Christmas as you've most likely never heard it before. Classic ballads over repurposed beats that are crisp and dusty in equal measure. mndsgn's 'that time' is perfection.

FLUORESCENT HEIGHTS - RELAXING IN THE NEW WORLD
From power ambient to relaxation core. This is some drifting, dreamy stuff.

For Scant Applause: A Collection of Christma-sh Songs Curated by Crow Versus Crow
I tweeted about this, specifically in relation to the wonderful April Larson version of 'Walking In The Air', but this is essential. The Truth About Frank utterly eviscerates 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' with 'Sale of The Trinity'. 'Fluffy Cat Of Innocence' by Shepherds Of Cats is deleriously odd. Festival Romance's 'Craven Cry Loot' is a beautifully unsettling rendition of the Coventry Carol (that my own brother found unlistenable, make of that what you will). Legion Of Swine's, err, 'Mistletoe And Swine', is gloriously evil in its chilling repetition. Proceeds from this comp go to Crisis, the UK's national charity for single homeless people.

Blowing Up The Workshop 24 - Public Information
Another dash of #spoopy Christmas. This is Alex Wilson aka Public Information's entry to the Blowing Up The Workshop series from a year ago, 40 minutes of seasonal oddities. It's not exactly brimming with cheer, so it's right up my street.

Giganta - VS
Giganta has a tape coming out today on videogamemusic today, but this is something different (I believe? Help me out, Sam!). Shifting, lurching beats and electronic fizz coupled with vocals and bright blasts of synth. Fun!

D'Angelo - Sugah Daddy
So D'Angelo put out an album, and it's just sublime. This is an utter jam - smooth, danceable, overflowing with those ridiculous harmonies that no one man should be able to conceive. There's a vocal/horns run at 2.31 that just kills me.

[No 'Label']RHD-020JGCZ - JORDAN GCZ - LUSHLYFE
Super deep track from Jordan GCZ, forthcoming on Rush Hour's No Label series. Two minutes of nebulous ambient passages and mountainous flutes lull and stir before the track builds into a chuggy, arpeggiated ball of nervous energy.

Virginia´s "Bicep Rinse FM Radio Showcast"
This is a few months old but I just discovered it last night. Tis a pretty bangin' ould mix. That Doms & Deijkers track at the end reminds me of 'Good Shot' by Hand's Burn, which brings me back to Christmas 1999 and many hours spent listening to Deeper Euphoria. Sigh.

Tuxedo - Wonderful Christmastime
Aaand to finish we have something silly. A groovy, funk-laden cover of 'Wonderful Christmastime', originally "by some guy named Paul McCartney", by Tuxedo, aka Mayer Hawthorne and Jake One. That glorious synth is absent, but it's still pretty jammin'.

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Next Friday is December 26, so for the first time since January 10 this year, there will be no Bandcloud. Please forgive me. I'll be back shortly after with the December mix, and then normal service will resume on January 2.

All the best,

Aidan