Album Notes

XMAS VOL. 1 is an album of holiday favorites with layers of pure digital music that sounds as new as next week and as old as the holiday these songs celebrate. And, don't let the "digital" nomenclature fool you; Geoff Westen's sounds sculptures will soon have you nodding your head in agreement with a listening experience that is as modern as it is traditional.

Geoff opens with "Jingle Bells"--interpreted in a whole new way. By the time you reach the second track, Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane's classic, "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas," you will be hooked. Never has a computer-created soundscape sounded so warm and inviting. Memories flood from the past, and suddenly technology has meaning and resonance you never would have imagined possible.

Westen layers sounds and melodies in such a way that seems to demand a kind of gentle attention; there is a surprise around every corner. Just listen to Meredith Willson's "It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas," for example, and discover how new and fascinating an old song friend can become in the hands of a consummate digital activist like Westen.

Digital Activity's XMAS is not just another Christmas album; it is a post-modern holiday album for a new millennium evoking half a century of song and tradition. This is the disc that will remain on your CD player for the entire Christmas season. And (best news of all) it's only "VOL. 1."