Well readers, you're in for a treat, especially those of you who enjoy noise/dark ambient. I have the honorable task of reviewing one of our own - Brett Lunceford, who reviews here under the name eskaton, turning the tables on the reviewer so to speak as we delve into Dr. Lunceford's (yes, he really is a doctor...PhD - Communications/Media Studies) little label - Zaftig Research. The label name was born in 1992 as a fake company for a computer convention, but went on to be the label name for a small group of noise, dark ambient, power electronics, and experimental music artists releasing limited edition works on CDR.


Praying For Oblivion's "Christmas Assembly MMXXI" sounds like a brief (1:39) excerpt from a lengthier grey industrial ambient work. Wilt shows its "Pagan Roots" a mix of electronic and other drones. "In the Bleak Midwinter" is C/A/T's contribution with a quirky little repetitive rhythm track turning industrial, harmonium drone (that turns melodic later) and brief Christmas voice-over messages. Conure does its own take on A Christmas Story with "Ralphie's Old Man," perhaps some sampled Darren McGavin amidst the chaotic industrial effluvia. Narishkeyt's "Rijswijk" is somewhat of an enigma; it starts off sounding like you're visiting an alien nursery, but by the time it's ending the cumulative white noise sounds you might be standing next to Niagara Falls. Orange has Brent reciting the lyrics to the song "All I Want for Christmas" in a whisper over ringing, jingling electronics. R4 explores the weird with "Lovecraft's Christmastide," with an alien voice sounding like it's just learning to speak English delivering a Christmas message over modulated LFO and electronic hum drone.

Next, Platonoff takes a trip to the "Rebel Gas Station," presumably to fuel up for the holidays. It sounds rather busy there with a mechanical workshop environment, squinky bent circuit electronics and drone in the background. (Longest track on the album at 8:12.) One of the more amusing titles comes in a track by Stolen Light - "Workin' For Scrooge in the Time of Covid-19." Here we get a cacophony of voices (some with manipulated pitches) that could be in a call center but more likely were sampled from the media/net along with other background noises you might find in an office, or similar environment. Clever. Taking track titles to the extreme, Fail puts forth "I'm Sorry But I Refuse To Participate In This Compilation Until I Get A Full Report Outlining Santa's Political Affiliations And Leanings." ZR must have forked over the report because Fail participated, and came up with the most rumbly-crumbly track on the album. Another curious track title for the contribution by This Is What I Hear When You Talk - "OMG That Wasn't A Suit, It Was Body Paint!" While the title is amusing, the track is pretty much just pure white noise from beginning to end in four minutes. "210927_05" by Mickey SOMAus offers a wide variety of noise and noise-like substances and finally, Goose delivers "Jingle Bells," not the song that goes dashing through the snow in a one-horse open sleigh, but 7+ minutes of jingling sleigh bells.

Even though I didn’t care for everything on it (fairly standard for most compilations) I found 'Warm Holiday Wishes, Zaftig Research 2021 Holiday Compilation' to be an interesting and easily digestible package of ambient/noise for the holidays that should please noise enthusiasts, but also might serve as a good introduction to the genre(s) for those who might be put off by more intimidating works. Brett sent me a bunch of other CDs, including works by Goose, Stolen Light and last year's ZR Holiday Comp, but we'll tackle that sometime in 2022.