What does a DJ wish for this holiday? Headphones, records, turntables, and studio gear, of course. But also fire pits, comic books and zombie survival kits. Check out what D-Mac, Nitekrawler, Atticus, Jayclue, Rusty B., Meistro, Stylus, Stereo Faith, Micah Vellian, and Ange want to unwrap in December.

Ain't life Rad?

A fine example of mid-80s motivational soundtrack rock, a staple of the class-conscious underdog sports movies of the era (see also The Karate Kid, Better Off Dead). I have to wonder if “Break the Ice” wasn’t written for a different movie: the story of a young man who spends every afternoon on a frozen over baseball diamond in suburban Toronto practicing extreme moves in his hockey skates.

Here’s a cover of Daniel Johnston’s Devil Town, as performed by Bright Eyes with Nick Zinner. Johnston’s original is a cappella, and repeats a single melody for each verse. Here, the instruments and harmony vocals build up and fade away to give the song a more compelling structure.

ith Halloween coming up next week I thought I would pay homage to one of my (and my 4 year old’s) favorite movies. The Nightmare Before Christmas is a wonderful movie with an INCREDIBLE soundtrack by Danny Elfman. There are many great songs in this movie but I thought “This is Halloween” fit best.

Perry & the Harmonics were a Chicago-based soul-jazz combo who cut just one album for Mercury Records. Cashing in on the mid-sixties craze for anything spy-related, Intrigue With Soul album features jazzy Bond themes and the nicely grooving “Do the Monkey With James.”

Possessing a an unassailable knack for the tasteful disco re-edit, Disco Syndicate have been on my ‘follow’ list for a while now. A recent effort is a reworking of Curtis Mayfield’s “Give Me Your Love (Love Song)” from the stone-classic Superfly soundtrack into a smooth disco mover, perfect for beating the heat poolside.

Virgin Suicides prom

I’ve been posting a lot of chillwave lately, and now I’m starting a short series called “F**k the French,” starting with Air, a wonderful duo who have been producing fantastic electronica since 1995. “Playground Love” was produced for Sofia Coppola to use in her 2000 debut film The Virgin Suicides. This song is one of my favorites by them.