As heard in Santa's Warehouse.
Louie Vega & Elements Of Life Christmas Package
2008 - 2023
A not-so-secret secret about me: I like Christmas music. Okay, not all of it, but there are always more quality (not to mention weird and interesting) Xmas records around than you think. I've never shared any here, so let's fix that.
I kicked off the year with a Masters At Work post, so I'll close it out that way too with some upbeat holiday house from Little Louie Vega. The legendary NYC dance producer is one half of MAW and has been sliding out the occasional Christmas record for years now. Mostly just digital releases, sometimes under his own name and some with Elements Of Life, his band brings more of his love for Latin and jazz to the party.
Jazz bass, Latin percussion, and some great vocalists feature on soul house productions that will guarantee a sunny Christmas day when you play them. (How come I've never gotten to DJ a Christmas party?) Vega and his EOL team hit some Christmas classics that you know from Donny Hathaway, Ray Charles, James Brown and, of course, Charlie Brown. I enjoy watching artists work within the confines of the standards that a thousand others have worked over. These are far from the most out there Christmas tunes in my collection, but Vega and co definitely put their own stamp on them. They bravely cut a number of originals too, craft love letters to Vega's favorite holiday and New York City. His latest Xmas release features two more new contributions to the holiday disco cannon, with many of his regular co-conspirators returning for another round (including his MAW partner, Kenny Dope, contributing drum programming to Holidaze).
This year brought challenges and some difficult moments to me and my family, but I'm deeply appreciative to all the friends, family and comrades who've given us the endless support, love and inspiration to keep moving forward. Listening to these records late last night after the rest of the house was asleep, I also appreciated (for the 10,000th time in my life) the ways that music can shift your mood and outlook just from listening. Silly Christmas disco songs? Sure, but listen and see if you don't smile a little, catch yourself dancing, and start feeling a little more optimistic about what the next day might hold.
Six different digital releases from 2008 through now that you can dance, wrap gifts, or eat figgy pudding to. (Side note: WTF is a figgy pudding?) Links for the whole batch underneath the info below (including text files with full credits and some nice notes and commentary on the songs from Vega). Enjoy the music and the holidays.
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Elements Of Life – This ChristmasVega Records – VR074Dec 25, 2008
Elements Of Life featuring Josh Milan & Cindy Mizelle – Christmas Time is HereVega Records – VR134Dec 23, 2013
Louie Vega Starring Cindy Mizelle – Christmas In New York 2016Vega Records – VR168Dec 21, 2016
Louie Vega – Louie Vega & Friends Christmas EPVega Records – VR176Dec 18, 2017
Louie Vega – Vega Family Christmas CollectionVega Records – VR202Dec 16, 2020
Elements Of Life – Christmas EPVega Records – VR222Dec 19, 2023
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This Christmas will be in FLAC (download zip): https://mega.nz/file/dX5zGJzB#YccikQODh3FETEs-OukAG0oLoGS0PzyPtn4PRjVv19k
A vey special Christmas for me in MP3 (320 kbps, download or stream): https://mega.nz/folder/ZC5R3bQD#IfE9DbFFx16zF4vx6xi7-g
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