ccMixter and Jamendo Celebrate the Season with The Best Time of the Year Double Album Release

Nov. 29, 2012 - PRLog -- Last year, two Creative Commons based music websites, ccMixter and Jamendo, joined in collaborative holiday spirit to compose original songs, record well-known public domain favorites, and remix these tracks as part of their ‘Tis the Season Remix Event.  Over fifty a cappellas and samples were uploaded.  They inspired over fifty remixes. All of the tracks were released with Creative Commons licenses which embrace the giving nature of the season by making the songs available for everyone to download for free.

This year, the sites reunited to continue spreading the joy of their collaboration by curating an entire double album of songs.  ArtisTech Media is thrilled to release this effort as a TuneTrack-LP today.

“When the good folks at Jamendo suggested we collaborate on a holiday remix, we were thrilled with the opportunity to creatively collaborate.” explained Emily Richards, CEO of ArtisTech Media. “The Best Time of the Year albums have been a truly cooperative experience --from the ‘Tis the Season remix project through curation, to mastering, tagging, artwork and the final touches. So many people around the world made these records possible!”

The double album is comprised of two distinct sides.  The first side of The Best Time of the Year is full of new festive songs and traditional holiday favorites.  The second side, The Best Time of the Year?, explores the darker side of the season.  Joel Frijters, the multifaceted member of ccMixter known as KungFu, had this concept in mind while designing the engaging, mirrored cover art.  It features a derivative work of art called "Cosmic Adventure" by Sharon Apted.  Kara Square used KungFu’s design to create matching back album covers.  Greg Bertinelli, a well-respected ccMixter producer with Copperhead as his moniker, contributed his mastering skills to give the album a sonically cohesive touch.

"The hardest part was to try and make 26 pairs of ears hear the same thing," Greg Bertinelli reflects.

The first side starts with the title track, “To the Best Time of the Year,” and gets the festivities jumping with an amazing cast of musicians: Copperhead (music production), Elissa Montanti (lyrics), Dino Rocco (vocals), Evan Copp (piano, music production), Robert Siekawitch (guitar), texasradiofish (drums), and Norm Peterson (accordion).  Soon after, the well-known “Jingle Bells” goes punk with TheDICE’s imaginative remix of SackJo22’s joyous vocals and unreal_dm’s drums and wailing guitar solo in “Jingle Bell Punkska.”  Loveshadow touches the heart with his original song “Give ‘Em Love” which features Frozen Silence.  The albums traditional songs include a splendid rendition of “We Three Kings” on acoustic guitar by James Edwards and a spirited blues version of “O Holy Night” by Admiral Bob.    

In a dramatic twist, the second album starts with Kara Square’s playful atheist ditty “Please Don’t Wish Me A Merry Christmas” featuring squidfeatures (bells, whistle), borja (drums), PorchCat (tom-tom drums), and Platinum Butterfly (sleigh bells).  Thereafter, Vidian includes Ivan Chew (vocals), William Berry (synthesizer), George Ellinas (beats), and theod (piano) in the upbeat electro dance track “Of the Christmas time.”  Alex shares his remix of “Ghosts Of Lees,” a beautiful electro pop version of Kaer Trouz’s vocals and lyrics to the collection. SackJo22’s incredibly moving track titled “Winter Sol Cathedral Mix” unites a glorious chorus of Snowflake and Sackjo22’s vocals, Snowflake’s emotive spoken word, and Debbizo’s toy bells.  Closing the double album, Essesq shares her affecting spoken word piece, “My Prayer For You,” with the magnificent piano backing track by Maya Filipic.

ccMixter and Jamendo are delighted to share the gift of music to holiday merrymakers everywhere with The Best Time Of The Year double album.  ArtisTech Media is pleased to distribute this festive collaboration as a free download on TuneTrack.net.    

To listen to and download The Best Time Of The Year, visit: http://tunetrack.net/ccmixter/releases/the-best-time-of-the-year/ and http://tunetrack.net/ccmixter/releases/the-best-time-of-the-year-side-b/ .

ccMixter.org, the most prominent experiment in free music culture, began in 2004 with a series of remix contests hosted by Creative Commons in conjunction with Wired Magazine featuring The Beastie Boys, David Byrne and other innovative musicians.  Lawrence Lessig, founding board member of Creative Commons, says of ccMixter: “The first important thing about Creative Commons is that it’s artist based.  It’s artists who choose what freedoms they’re going to give people when it comes to access to their work.”

Visit ccMixter’s TuneTrack page to learn about how you can support the site: http://tunetrack.net/ccmixter/join/