This is an ep with a new single called "Winter Born (This Sacrifice) and acoustic version from their new release "Ethernaut" and feature remixes of some tracks from their 2002 prior release "Wishfire." It includes a couple of different versions of "Return (Coming Home)" by other artists who did their own re-making of the track such as Assemblage 23, Tenebrous an Dreamside. While Future Bible Heroes did a remix for "Go Away" which have a beautiful melancholic synthetic feel that goes along with Rachel's violin melody. The original version of "Deception" from The Succubus Club, A Soundtrack to: Vampire the Masquerade appears on disc. Two extra tracks that's b-side can be hear; "Dance Floor Metaphor" and "Sinking." There are 13 songs and 69 minutes of gothic tunes with some ebm beats. The Cruxshadows is a band that's one of a kind and a innovator that have gained alot of success and fans from around the world throughout the USA to Europe. They will make history in the underground gothic and music scene.

Another fine release by this new NYC outlet is represented by the first in a series of three CD EPs by Device, D'Vis. This first CD features three tracks that explore the more beat-focused side of ambient electronica, with edgy and resonant sounds, Aphex Twin-like dreamy waveforms, British lounge/techno type bass lines, hi hat patterns, samples of phone messages from ex girlfriends (oops, I guess I am not the only one who did that in a song ;-), layers of synth pads, melodic synth-pop keyboard lines and more rhtyhmical structures of different types. What I haven't mentioned in my other review of RES FREq material, is that we finally are in the presence of a label that has a fair pricing policy of their CDs. This one for example you can get for just 3 bucks, ain't that something?

RES FREq recordings is a new NYC-based label by composer/producer Mitch Davis, who is also the mastermind behind Bones Domingo, a music project that draws from acoustic and electric instrumental as well as computer music, taking the word "heterogeneous" to a whole new level... If you like recordings with extreme variations and a wide range of influences from all over the place, Bones Domingo is for you. It goes from electronic beats to industrial music, from metal to classical strings orchestrations, you have it all. It's a little hard to keep a solid perspective about this record with all the things going on (not to mention to file it under one of our categories), but I remember the days I was a huge fan of bands that wouldn't stop at anything and would always go a step further and bring together as many influences as they possibly could or felt inspired by. Some of the music in this CD is also featured on the Xbox Panzer Dragoon Orta game commercial and on the Dead Zone TV series trailer. And just to keep it an all-NYC crew thing, Bones Domingo was mastered by the great (and cute) Emily Lazar from the Lodge.

The creator of the 'Fritz the Cat' character and designer of Janis Joplin's "Cheap Thrills" record cover Robert Crumb is an ardent collector, lover and researcher of old 78rpm records from the '20es and the '30es, when music was about every day life, love, pain and the culture of the people who were singing the songs. "Hot Women Singers from the Torrid Regions of the World" is his attempt to collect some of the best exotica pieces from his collection of records. I can't help to think of the book about exotica music released by Research years ago while I listen to the popular music contained in this CD. Women from all over the world (Louisiana Cajun, Mexico, Cuba, French Carribean, Brazil, Chile, Spain, Italy, Greece, Algeria, Tunisia, Turkey, Africa, East African Swahili, Congo, Madagascar, Hindustani India, Burma, Vietnam, Hawaii and Tahiti) are gathered in this historically valuable collection of songs. Needless to say the digipack artwork is by Crumb himself. The CD comes out on the Swiss books and record company Kein & Aber (which means something like 'none and but', who release many other interesting and exotic things).

Wow, this is a cool idea I have never seen before: an electronic music xmas holiday record! Yeah, that's the spirit! I can definitely get back into the holiday vibe with this one. OM records artists from all over the world have taken it upon themselves to re-work, remix, re-write festive originals in electronic, drum'n'bass, electro-funky versions. Kaskade open the CD with their d'n'b/lounge/chill out version of "Peace On Earth"; Rithma go down the funky route with "Psycho Jingle Funk"; Late Night Alumni's "Signs of the Morning" is all jazzy, loungy and lush; "Winter Wonderland" is left up to Sutro Heights who seek a balance between '50es pleasantville choirs and electronica and take the minimal rhodes/wurlitzer and female vocals duo to new "heights"; the amazing Kaskade also take up "Still Still Still" and make more exciting lounge music with hints to the original orchestrations and a jazz guitar solo; "Charlie Brown Cut Up" by Colossus experiments with an unlikely but interesting mixture of church quire with organ and hip hop scratches with breakbeats; J Boogie's "Under the Christmas Tree" breaks out Santa's signature laugh and the bells and puts them in a scratchy funky picture; The Pleasant Grove Minstrels' "What Child is This" is melodic lounge-pop with breakbeats and minimal instrumentation; King Kooba's classic "O' Christmas Tree" is funky and distracting, while hitting the theme on the keys here and there in a jazzy fashion; Members Only do "Christmas Eve" with an upright bass (finally!), beats, processed vocals, string arrangments and that nice little theme played on a belly-sounding instrument and on a horn; and last but not least Casey Nefcy's "Psyonics Night" layer synth pads with deep bass lines and quasi hip hop beats for I am not sure which classic original...This is a great record, a great idea and, even besides the theme, a lot of good music is contained within it, so I suggest you get out the eggnog and prepare the fireplace to really enjoy the festivities this year! I just have one question: why no "Jingle Bells"? ;-)