The 10th installment of a holiday tradition since 2009: Eclectic and unusual arrangements of holiday favorites.

--- also available here: chrisbeckstrom.com/music/albums/beckstrom-holiday-extravaganza-volume-x/ ---

When I started this project back in 2009, at the suggestion of my wife ("if you hate Christmas music so much, you should just make your own versions") I never thought it would become an annual tradition. Every Thanksgiving we discuss possible playlists, songs, styles, and how many laser sounds there should be. As the weather gets colder I retreat to the basement studio where I spend a few weeks experimenting with arrangements and styles, hopefully coming up with something novel for each holiday song. Sometimes I tackle well-known classics like "Jingle Bells" and "Do You Hear What I Hear?", other times I include more obscure songs like "Winter Song" or "Solstice Carole." This is especially the case for the tenth album after I've already recorded the majority of the well-known songs.

This project serves as a nice way to end the year. It's a way to fill our home with holiday music I don't dislike so much, and a project to distract me from the frigid weather and the conclusion of most of my beloved outdoor activities for the year.

I thoroughly enjoyed creating the music this year and hope you enjoy it as well. From all of us here at the Beckstrom home, we wish you the happiest of holidays!

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Album notes

Waltz of the Flowers - An all-synthesizer version of the Nutcracker favorite! As is well known and obvious, I love synthesizers. For this arrangement I took a MIDI file that contained all the parts from Tchaikovsky's original, imported it into my DAW, and replaced all the sounds with synthesizers. I went through each individual part and created a synth voice, primarily on the Korg Volca Keys analog synthesizer, and recorded it into the computer. Because this piece is written for a fairly large orchestra, it took quite a while to program each voice and record it separately! Some of the sounds come from software synthesizers including Polysynth and FM-4 in Bitwig Studio, as well as Tyrell from u-he. I'm especially happy with the string and triangle voices: no samples were used in this piece, the triangle is 100% FM synthesis. This method and arrangement was inspired by some of my synthesizer heroes, Isao Tomita and Wendy Carlos.

Holly Jolly Christmas - Millennials will know! The sound of 80's videogame synthesizers, harsh arpeggios, and weird mixtures of genres. I didn't actually use vintage hardware for these sounds, instead I used off-the-shelf software synthesizers to emulate the sounds, and then I adjusted the technical specs of the track to play back at a lower sample rate and bit depth. TL;DR? I made it sound gloriously lofi, just like those old consoles.

Jolly Old Saint Nicholas - I am not a fan of this song - I don't care for the melody or chords - so I tossed them aside and kept only the lyrics. Arranged in a mid-80's early techno/electro style, this track features vocoder (the robot voice sounds) and extensive use of sounds from the Roland TR-808 drum machine (my favorite!). My toddler and I especially love the part where the cowbell comes in! If you like this, check out artists such as Drexciya and Aux 88.

There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays - If I had to name my single favorite musician of all time, I'd have to say Herbie Hancock. Since stumbling upon his classic "Headhunters" on CD in the lat 90's, I've been hugely influenced by his vast musical output. One of the first jazz artists to use synthesizers (which in turn led to greater adoption across all musical styles) his sounds and playing style are a tremendous influence on my own synthesizer approach. For this arrangement, I kept the melody and some of the chords (mostly just the bridge) and got rid of the vocals, instead using mid-70's-style Herbie synthesizer patches. If you like this, be sure to check out the amazing albums "Headhunters" and "Thrust."

Winter Song - "Trap" is one of the primary styles of modern rap, and for the past year or so I've been at bit obsessed with its rhythms and sounds. During the past few weeks I've been listening to a whole lot of Migos, and this track reflects their influence (and heavily borrows some drum rhythms from one of their tracks). This song, by Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson, is fantastic (you may have heard it on "Grey's Anatomy"). It's not exactly a "holiday song," but it mentions Winter! Once again the vocoder - robot voice - makes an appearance, as does a small woodwind section (the only acoustic instruments I played on this album!). Just before the outro, listen for a special appearance by the Fonetiks, a very-deep-underground hip-hop act that is veiled in mystery. If you like modern rap, you are probably already familiar with these sounds. If not, check out Migos' "Culture II."

Solstice Carole - A classic (and possibly very obscure) song by the Wyrd Sisters, I believe this was written by them in the style of older ( renaissance? medieval?) carols. I liked it so much I kept their entire track, but re-harmonized the chords to my own taste and added a rhythm section. As always, my hip-hop production is heavily influenced by J Dilla (if you haven't heard it, go listen to his "Donuts" immediately, please).

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