V/A – X-Mas Card From Outer Space (Oscar’s X-Mas Carols 1984-1987) – LP

A young Oscar Smit (DJ and music journalist) falls in love with the torrential music of the Christmas recording by Phil Spector, “A Christmas Gift For You”; and since then, he has been obsessed with all the versions, albums and songs which have something to do with Christmas time.

On the other hand, he is also a true fan of dark and experimental music, and knows largely the underground scene which arose in the 80ies; an international movement with a working philosophy totally “DIY”, which used to distribute most of their publications by post and cassette format. So he tries to follow the possible common points between both passions, but soon realizes that they are basically nonexistent. Far from getting discouraged, he starts up an unusual project: to ask these bands, just known by a few and which he loves so much, to record their own Christmas tracks.

This is how in 1984 “Oscar’s X-Mas Carols” is born; the first cassette compilated by Oscar Smit’s imprint Noel Tapes in Holland, which would be followed by two more; “Santa Claus Comes” (1985) and “Is That You Santa Claus?” (1987). “X-mas Card From Outer Space (Oscar’s X-Mas Carols 1984-1987)” is a selection of the best tracks of these three cassettes.

Now, in 2017, there’s a vinyl version of Oscar’s X-mas Carols. For this album’s tracklist, its compilers Jordi Serrano and Oscar Smit made a personal selection from the three previous cassettes. In this, they were unfortunately hindered by the limited playing time available on a long-playing record. Of the fifteen tracks on this LP, seven come from the Netherlands. We’ve remained in contact with many of the original artists and were able to track down the rest on Facebook. Welcome to the digital era. We wish you much listening pleasure with these tracks from the previous, analog century!

Domestica Records

Additional information

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