Every EDM-addict has them. Every EDM-addict needs them! Every EDM-addict lives on them!!! I'm talking about "Seasonal Classics". Tracks that are able to capture the atmosphere of the day perfectly.
In this case, I was looking for those dark tracks that can give that wintery melancholic warm feeling while riding your local bus, driving your car, walking outside in that snowy cold darkness. I believe that my personal top 10 this year really naile. the overall best collection of EDM. The tracks are cold, but as evenly heartwarming. Hazy, but equally exciting. Tracks that let you enjoy the snowfall even more, beat by beat.
01. 16 Bit Lolitas - Cold Energy
02. John Dahlbäck - Late Night Worries (King Unique Remix)
03. deadmau5 - Jaded
04. Petter - These Days
05. Dave Spoon - 88 (Mark Knight & Dave Spoon Remix)
06. Gui Boratto - Haute Couture/Anunciacon
07. Booka Shade - Darko
08. Axwell - Nothing But Love (Extended Vocal Mix)
09. Gregor Thresher - A Thousand Nights
10. Aril Brikha - Winter
My favorite part of this Holiday season: The music. No other festive event has the staggering amount of classics like Christmas has. Chris Rea, Paul McCartney, Wham...just a few artist who've been building on a nostalgic empire. Below is a top 10 list of my personal collection of favorite winter tracks of all time. Tracks that bring out the winter from within. Tracks that let it snow, any given time of the day, in you ears!
This small but powerful list, is fully thanks to the radio. For Pop music, radio still defines herself by creating a cosy feeling. A feeling that you're celebrating together.
Of course, there can be only one king. One song that defines Christmas for me. That "honor" goes to mister Chris Rea. Every time when I as a kid, I was being driven home through the white snow on this tune. Every single time, that song camp up out of nowhere. A classic indeed, and a winner by far!
01. Chris Gea - Driving Home For Christmas
02. Wham - Last Christmas
03. Paul McCartney - Wonderful Christmas Time
04. Coldplay - Christmas Lights
05. John & Yoko - Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
06. Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas (1984 Version)
07. Dean Martin - Let It Snow
08. Frank Sinatra - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
09. Nat King Cole Trio - The Christmas Song
10. Frank Sinatra - Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
There are a lot of things that define Christmas. Every individual got his own personal arsenal of X-Mas-nostalgia. Everyone got their own personal memories to movies, music, food ect. Christmas might be a unifying holiday, it could at the same time be one of the most individual ones! Anyways, if I had to summarize my X-Mas into a jpg file, it would look somesthing like this:
Music, of course, is essential to a memorable Christmas in my opinion. It was during the same weeks as I'm writing this, that I discovered Balance 005 mixed James Holden. It shuffled my entire approach to electronic music and is still one of the most memorable CD's I've ever listened to. Another track you can barely see, is one that I happened to have discovered just last year. I can't remember for sure, but I suddenly found myself listening to Anjunadeep 02 and this track made it happen for me! "Cold Energy" by 16 Bit Lolitas is one of my, if not my, favorite winter anthem till date, making Anjunadeep 02 the ultimate winter-anthem CD!
Apart from all of the EDM influences, I also have a big place in my heart for those cheesy classic christmas anthems! Wham and Chris Rea nailed the X-Mas Spirit just right with their radio classics. Still gets me in the right mood every time!
Coca Cola...Who could have thought a soda company could have had so much influence on a global event. Coca Cola have nailed it back in the days with their giant iconic truck. Best piece of marketing/promoting seen on the planet. Do you think of Pepsi in these winter days? Nor am I! Same goes for M&M's. So simple, yet so cunning. The specially produced "Christmas" colors were an instant hit.
Movies always tend to awaken one's Christmas spirit. My trigger has to be, without a doubt, the trilogy Lord Of The Rings. Every Christmas, the local networks showed them on the telly. Unfortunately, the have finally stopped airing it now. So It's my duty to finally purchase the DVD box myself!
Ow, yes. Halo: Combat Evolved. It's by far my favorite all time game for me. I played it non stop during Christmas, year in year out. This year won't be different. I'm trying to decide whether to buy the new "Anniversary" version or stay old school. Another recent winter game I'm taking a liking to, is Bethesda's game of the year, Skyrim. I'm not going to discuss why this game has to be in my Christmas-collage. You better just watch:
Furthermore, the Dutch snowy landscape always sends shivers through my spine, as well as the falling snow. It's usually the simple things that have the biggest impact of them all...
When you find Santa Claus in your local bus stop, spot houses glowing all the colours of the rainbow, hear the warm cheerful classics on the local radio and feel the cold but cosy weather, you know it's there...
Christmas! Oh yes, Christmas. It's a time that I tend to clinch onto. The overall joyful vibe is something international. Two days of the year, almost all of the world is unified under the assumption of a perfect world. It's a time that us humans have made into something perfect. Something that should always be. Lots of perfect food, loads of perfect music, a sudden undeplete-able source of human kindness...A moment where the majority of us can forget about the reality for a while.
And that is, why I love this time of year. It seems that radio stations, TV-networks, malls, shops are all fully committed to make these days as enjoyable for us as possible. I'm fully aware that all this is done on fully commercial bases, but it's best to forget that and just let it take over.
And so, to enjoy these days to the fullest, I'm officially dub this traditional week of anticipation to "Winter Has Survived 2011".
Merry Christmas!
Jura
The program to get your EDM-christmas/winter-vibe fully going:
Monday:Winter Has Survived 2011 Tuesday: Classic Cold Christmas (The classic things that inspire us/me to get our christmas-vibe going) Wednesday: Fossilised Christmas (A collection of my personal favorite Christmas classics) Thursday: Winter Has Survived (A collection of my personal favorite electronic Winter classics) Friday: Dear Santa... (The sickest wishlist ever!)
Every EDM-addict has them. Every EDM-addict needs them! Every EDM-addict lives on them!!! I'm talking about "Seasonal Classics". Tracks that are able to capture the atmosphere of the day perfectly.
