For All To Hear...
Early February. The festive season a distant memory, but still in the middle of winter. The weather had been miserable all week. I’d not left the house since Monday, and desperately needed to break the monotony of job searching. I had another mission.
I descended the narrow staircase to the low ceilinged first stop of the day. Ducking under the support girders, I approached the long white counter. A man emerged from the back and greeted me with a nod.
“After anything in particular?”
“I know it’s the wrong time of year, and this may sound a little weird, but do you happen to have any…..Christmas records?”
The previous weekend I saw the news. Mitchell Kezin had passed. We hadn’t met, but exchanged a few emails once I had heard about his documentary: Jingle Bell Rocks, a film about collectors of alternative and obscure Christmas music, it also chronicles Mitchell’s quest for that elusive child-at-Christmas feeling in the form a Christmas song. He had been putting out his own Mitchell’s MerryMix since 1990. The final edition was Elvis Presley themed, which he didn’t actually get to put out until after December 25th. He expressed disappointment in himself for missing the deadline, but all of us for whom he had been a North Star were happy to wait a little longer to see what treats he had unearthed this year. I’ve only been receiving them the last few years, but it was always worth the wait.
The film features interviews with John Waters, Rev. Run, Wayne Coyne and whole host of Christmas music fanatics, uncovering forgotten, unheard and downright weird Yuletide tracks. Mitchell’s passing shocked everyone in the Alternative Christmas Music community: those fortunate enough to have met him spoke of how kind, warm and enthusiastic he was. A true gentle giant.
My personal exploration of the wider world of Yuletide ditties had only properly begun in 2017, when I decided to put together my first Christmas mix. As a kid, the discs that never seemed to be off my CD player were the almost identically titled It’s Christmas & It’s Christmas Time, two compilations of mostly UK centric festive hits with near identical track lists, and the Smurfs Christmas Party featuring such bangers as Smurfing Around The Christmas Tree and Smurfing At Christmas.
These were the canon. Immovable and unshakeable. The last original UK Christmas Number 1 had been in 1988, and the 90s proved to be an extremely fallow period for the theme in the mainstream (this house does not recognise East 17’s Stay Another Day as a Christmas Song) with the Top of the Festive Charts plagued by novelty records.
The first worth possible addition to the catalogue was in 2003. The Darkness’ Christmas Time, (Don’t Let The Bells End) which harkened back to the rawk feelings of Wizzard & Slade’s perennial classics. Sadly the single I purchased that all important Christmas Number 1 Week was Gary Jules cover of Mad World, which has gained popularity after Donnie Darko became a cult success. If I could go back in time as Donnie did in that film (spoilers for a 22 year old film, sorry), I would. But still, this silly single proved that there was hope for better Christmas music out there.
Come 2009, the exploration began to ramp up once I discovered Eels. (I documented this particular fandom in more detail in the liners for my 2021 mix, which I’ll repost closer to the season.) I learned they had two Christmas tracks that had featured on soundtracks & compilations. In those pre-Spotify days, and on student money, the best way to find a relatively obscure release was to take to the high seas. There was a proliferation of music dedicated blogger pages, and the one that ended up supplying the eels track was a mixtape called My New Snowglobe Technique is Unstoppable.
The Best Of? Volumes One to SIX?? My eyes and ears had been opened.
Since then, my search for Christmas music has been primarily in the digital realm (and a lot more legal!). Thanks to blogs like Christmas Underground and the search function on Bandcamp, I’ve discovered an overwhelming amount; in the months of October thru to the end of December, there are at least 5 new releases tagged with “Christmas” every day on the the Bandcamp new release pages. It becomes quite a task to separate the wheat from the chaff, and more often than not it’s a case of judging the music by the cover. Or the tags; please, no more “dungeon synth” Christmas music.
By early December I actually become anxious about not getting to work my way through it all, and there comes a point where I have to just skim, hoping that if I’m meant to discover a new favourite, it will just happen.
Until now, I’ve mostly stayed away from bin diving for Christmas records. It seemed too intimidating and time consuming. The thought of travelling somewhere to sift through thousands of sleeves in the hope that something would stand out was too daunting, and ultimately would lead to disappointment and wasted time. That changed when I learned about Mitchell’s passing. I felt I had to celebrate and remember him in some form.
So it was off to East London, and back to the story I began with.
*************
“What kind of Christmas music?”
“Well, not Frank Sinatra. Anything a bit more….off beat? Unusual?”
A pause.
“I may have something…”
A browsed a few moments while we popped to the back.
“I’ve got this, but I’ve been keeping it to play in the shop as it’s a bit warped.”
He put the record on the turntable, and lowered the needle…
To Be Continued….
Since We Last Spoke…
Sorry about the cliffhanger. I made the mistake of telling God my plans, and well, you know what happens next. There’s more to the come from this tale I just didn’t have the time to flesh it all out for this edition. I should wrap it up next week as I really want to show off those holiday photos.
- We were informed on Thursday afternoon that we would be receiving “No Fault Eviction” notices, giving us until the end of April to vacate. To say the timing of this is not ideal would be an understatement. If anyone knows anyone who works at the V&A, I am currently writing my cover letter for this role. I mean, if that doesn’t scream “Robin’s Dream Job”, I don’t know what does (Well, maybe if the subject was “Christmas”, that might be the only competition.)
- On Friday I went along to BSC Expo for the first time in about 6 years. My mind is well and truly out of the camera game (was it ever really in it?) but it was a great excuse to catch up with old colleagues and see some faces I haven’t seen in years. I didn’t grab any free tote bags though. Lord knows I don’t need any more clutter…
- Each Easter I abandon Twitter for Lent. Each year I feel so much better for doing so. Will I go back this year? Almost inevitably, but in the mean time, I’ll subject you to the occasional nugget I would otherwise have tweeted, like this pun I should have made last week:
I really shouldn’t compare myself with the most travelled Monty Python member: I’ll Palin comparison.
………ANYWAY
- Marvel Studios FINALLY announced the line up for their The Fantastic Four movie. I’m very much on board, and will be fascinated if they stick with this teased aesthetic. Having watched the first 2 episodes of Monarchy: Legacy of Monsters helmed by director Shakman this week, and the strength of WandaVision, I’m getting a little excited. To be honest Ive never really felt the so-called “Superhero fatigue”. Some stuff is good, some stuff is bad; same as actual comics.
- Who had “Jamie Hewlett Batman Cover” on their bingo card for 2024? Not I! Though is it actually Batman? Maybe it’s Murdoc from Gorillaz in disguise, on the run from the law. Like that time Ace filled in whilst he was incarcerated (Both Cartoon Network and DC Comics are Warner Bros subsidiaries after all)
That’s it for this week and my first proper post. I hope you’re enjoying things so far. See you next week, same Bat Time, same Bat Channel.
Take Care.