Recently in 2000s Category

From his 2008 album Resistance, this holiday tune by the reggae legend appears to be at least as concerned with Mickey Mouse as the jolly elf. For that matter, this doesn't sound particularly reggae either, sounding more like a Jamaican take on hip-hop and electronica. But Perry was always a sonic innovator, so it's not surprising he's left the old ways behind.

Not having any reggaeton Christmas on hand, I grabbed this 2006 disc out of the $6 bin just to see what's up. I know nothing of these artists (UPDATE: finally found a MySpace page) and the label's website was no help, but this is certainly plenty of holiday fun. My Spanish is plenty rusty, but I'm pretty sure the opening cut, "Los Peces en el Rio" means "the fish in the river." Oops, just checked Google and I'm not only right, but this is a classic Spanish carol, as is "Campana Sobre Campana." "Blanca Navidad" is a sprightly "White Christmas," "Aire de Pascuas" is a version of "Deck the Halls," "El Tamborilero" is "Little Drummer Boy, and the rest of the songs are listed by their English titles, except of course for the Jose Feliciano "Feliz Navidad." The whole affair feels a bit low budget, but as it's my first reggaeton Christmas CD I'm going to let it slide in that regard. This appears to be out of print, as only third-party sellers have it on Amazon and iTunes shows bunches of music by these guys, but not this.