Zaft 037   Various Artists   Season of Snow and Ice

Tracklisting:

Disc 1: Snow

1. ctephin - Carol ov the Bells
2. Black Saturn - Make a Joyful Noise
3. Karl Bösmann - Phonomorphozz
4. chalkwhitehands - Water Like a Stone
5. djs - Oh Holy Night
6. Conure - Ralphie Goes AWOL
7. DQN-kun - All Alone for Christmas (Cold Mix)
8. Humidex Meat Theatre - I Saw Three Warships (There Won't be Snow in Afghanistan this Christmas)
9. Learn, Artist! - Joy to the World
10. Simulacra-The Warm Glow of the Coldest and Darkest Day
11. Suspicion Breeds Confidence - The Underestimated Complexity of Christmas Goose Disembowelment
12. Goose - Jólsöngur

Disc 2: Ice

1. Bardoseneticcube - Toyzmass
2. Megatone - Eden 2007
3. C/A/T - Christmas Evil (Gets an Upgrade)
4. Flutwacht vs. Praying for Oblivion - Beobachtend
5. God Flight - Oh Holy Night
6. Yeti - The Season
7. Hrönir - Thousands Amplified Sunshines in December
8. humanextermination project - Robot Factory Christmas
9. mami - Just Get Through the Night
10. Kenji Siratori - Snow Dive
11. Tote Stadt - Cold Mourning
12. Gorgonized Dorks - I Only Get Underwear and Socks for Christmas
13. Stolen Light - Some Toys Don’t Get to be Christmas Presents
14. Tonal Y Nagual - The End
15. Orange - Christmas in Dixie (Featuring John's Neighbor)
16. Dead Man's Hill - Endless Wintertime

This year's compilation brought a bounty of goodness. But still no .V.L.A.D. the Impaling Machine. I really wonder what happened to him. A bit more mellow than I thought it would be, but a lot of fun. For me, some of the standout tracks this year were ctephin's rendition of "Carol ov the Bells," which is a piece of stunning elegance and wonderful drone, and Kenji Siratori's spastic "Snow Dive." I have no idea what he's saying but he certainly says it with feeling. No matter how out of place it seemed on the compilation, I really enjoyed Dead Man's Hill's "Endless Wintertime." Kind of reminded me of Mortiis and bombastic as hell. The best title I have seen in a long time comes from Gorgonized Dorks: "I Only Get Underwear and Socks for Christmas." I think we can all relate. The song "Christmas in Dixie" by Orange is a destruction of my friend John's neighbor destroying the song all on his own. I just provided the last nail in the coffin. As always, it was nice to have familiar artists like Suspicion Breeds Confidence, C/A/T, and Conure aboard along with plenty of newcomers. Hard to believe that this is eight years in a row. Lucky for all of us, it's still a lot of fun.

Here's what Vital Weekly had to say:

Zaftig Research last surprised us with the Christmas compilation and in a way 'Season Of Snow And Ice' can be seen as successor to that, but it is less hark now hear the angels sing and more a double CD that can be played all winter. The two CDs are divided between 'ice' and 'snow', although it's a bit unclear what makes a track belong to one or the other. It may seem to me that 'ice' has a little bit more up tempo pieces. The music on both discs is a highly varied bunch and not, as one could expect, a whole load of ambient (glitch) pieces. Like before Zaftig Research has found a whole bunch of artists that at least I never heard of. Such as Dead Man's Hill, God Flight, Human extermination Project (sounds cosy around the christmas tree), Tote Stadt, Stolen Light, Conure, Black Saturn, Goose, but also several whose CDR releases were reviewed such as Karl Bosman, Suspicion Breeds Confidence, Flutwacht and Simulacra. As said, not particular christmas music (except well perhaps some) and something that can be played during summertime too. (FdW)