Christmas time is here, and to me, that means I’m playing a lot of Sufjan Stevens, but also a whole helluva lotta Advance Base. Maybe it’s all the songs with ‘Christmas’ in the title or the fact that Owen Ashworth goes on a yearly seasonal tour playing those songs, but the association is strong. I mean, just look at the cover of Animal Companionship and tell me that dog doesn’t scream ‘holidays!’ I guess I just find it really cool and admirable to watch someone build out such a specific body of work across many years and multiple projects. The songs are so good they’ve been covered by legends and only seem to grow in reverence each year, but I guess that’s how the holidays are, huh? 

A couple of years back, Ashworth bound all his Christmas songs together in one 30-minute mixtape. This is a single half-hour track that I freakishly cut up in Audacity so I can listen through on my own, but also built out with recent additions from Horrible Occurrences and collaborations, and capped off with “New Year’s Kiss” for what I’m calling the “Deluxe Edition.” Please enjoy this seasonal treat.