Christmas Regrooved

Christmas Regrooved sets traditional holiday melodies to electronic pop arrangements, courtesy of artists such as EROS, Jay Atwood, and MystiQuintet. As with most of these projects, the results are decidedly mixed: Joseph Jaime’s naïve, trance-pop take on “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” is playful enough to give it a pass, but Skylab2000′s oddly ominous version of “Deck the Halls” isn’t ironic enough to work. For better or worse, most of the songs on the album sound like they were made with cheap keyboard presets, which some tracks (Mojo Jones’ “Joy to the World,” Jay Atwood’s “Good King Wenceslas”) manage to use to their advantage. MystiQuintet’s DJ Shadow-esque version of “Carol of the Bells” and Domingues & Ives’ dreamy, cello-driven version of “Silent Night” are two of the standout tracks on this mostly middling collection, which serves as a reminder that sometimes the tried and true can be hipper than newfangled remakes, especially when it comes to holiday music. – Heather Phares