Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2013 | 14:16
xmas mixes (2010-2013)
xmas2009 was not the first double-disc mix, and its theme worked very well. the following year, however, had no theme, and that was a problem.
xmas2010 is a rambling three-disc monstrosity that just wouldn't stop. while xmas2009 has a bonus 3" disc for the stray tracks that didn't fit but i still wanted to share, xmas2010 is three full cds of music. the original plan was to do one disc of short songs and another of long ones, but that crumbled almost immediately. i found myself wanting to surprise or inform specific people who i knew would want a copy, but that limited what i could add for myself. it pulled me away from the theme of music that excited me in 2010.
thus, ditching the short/long theme, i just piled songs on top of each other until, 42 songs later, i had an unweildy monster that only made sense in sleeves. that kind of self-indulgence doesn't make for a coherent listen. i would have been better to stick with my original plan, or at least to limit myself to two discs come hell or high water. 2010 wasn't a terrible year for new music, but it wasn't as great as my finished mix implies.
i did, later, make a two-disc version, with some very different choices, that would have been a much better idea (even if it still didn't make much sense as a mix). it fixed some of the bloat, but didn't provide a coherent view of that year in music. the xmas mix series had gone off the rails.
xmas2011 is another double-disc release, and is much more focused. the first disc is songs released in 2011 that excited me. the second is songs i discovered in 2011 that excited me. both are divided between rock and electronic tracks.
i discovered several dubstep-type artists who'd been around a while and picked up some re-issues that i wound up playing a lot. as eclectic as my music collection is, that year expanded my horizons even further. even as i was pushing out in electronic music, i was re-discovering my rock roots. then there's the pop joy that made its way into my head. somehow it all fits together.
xmas2012 returns to the single-disc format. it collects my favorite songs from 2012, or at least songs from my favorite albums that work together. it has two "sides", with each one beginning with a song titled "go!" though the sides don't have themes the way xmas2009 did, it does manage other parallels, like ghosts and happy songs. it also has three uncredited tracks, two of which are interludes. the last didn't fit on either side and would have thrown off the numerical balance.
this was a difficult mix to make because of that balancing act. it began with a couple themes in mind, one of them having to do with ghosts. i think i kept some of the ghost-related songs, but in the end the sentiment didn't hold up and my preference for other songs won out. i forget what my other theme was going to be.
xmas2012 is a very personal statement. even when songs don't have words, they still express deep sentiments. however, 2012 was a very happy year for me, and in some ways this mix is a farewell to the negative emotions, the sorrow and anger, i had felt in the past. the songs resonate, but they don't define me.
the final mix in this series will be xmas2013. it will be the soundtrack to my wedding in june of this year and will feature an exclusive song as yet unavailable anywhere else. the artwork will be from the wedding and possibly our honeymoon. while i may one day share cd mixes with people who want them, they will not be xmas mixes and will have other reasons for existence.
