Hey, are you ready to get in "the holiday spirit," but you're growing tired of those same played out Christmas songs that seem to be on constant loop @ every super-market and department store/mall!? If that sounds anything like your annual winter-time scenario, then I'd recommend checking out Sufjan Stevens' latest release, CHOPPED & SCROOGED. Now, I spin all sorts of crazy X-mas albums -- Punk Rock, Steel Drum, Big Band [Swing], Tijuana Christmas, James Brown, etc... But this well-executed 9-track Hip-Hop mixtape even pleasantly surprised me! Stevens even managed to recruit a bunch of his musically-inclined friends and Asthmatic Kitty labelmates to remix select cuts from his second 5-volume Christmas compilation, Silver & Gold: Songs for Christmas (Vol. 6-10). The collection's stand-out tracks easily include contributions from Das Racist Heems, kitty pryde/Fol Chen, and Busdriver/Son Lux (Looper).

Falsely billed as as posthumous Das Racist track @ first, "The Child with The Star On His Head" is really just a couple of Heems verses laid over a John Dieterich (Deerhoof)-produced beat. Heems' witty rhymes serve as bookends juxtaposed against Sufjan Stevens' re-hashed Christmas-themed mid-song ramblings. "Ding-a-ling-a-ring-a-ling," on the other hand, isn't exactly so new; It was quietly leaked online, via asthmatickitty's Soundcloud page sometime back in October. Busdriver spits an immaculate rapid-fire verse, as usual, which honestly, mere words won't even begin to do ANY justice whatsoever... So, do yourself a favor, and give that one a few listens! kitty pryde has that late-90's sexified Britney Spears sing-songy vibe going on with her "Implants & Yankee Candles" delivery. It kinda sounds like a Florida teen's last-ditch plea to Santa Claus for useless, materialistic things. Asthmatic Kitty has made CHOPPED & SCROOGED available for your download/streaming pleasure. " Merry Christmas to all... and a Festivus for the rest of us!"