The #ChristmasFlipChallenge Winners and Some New Bandcamp Christmas Music
A quick recap of the Micro-Chop holiday sample challenge and some great releases that came from it.
The #ChristmasFlipChallenge ended on December 23rd at 2 PM and it exceeded my wildest expectations. As with the #SwinginFlipChallenge, #RunToFlipChallenge, and #YouWereMineFlipChallenge, producers showed a remarkable level of creativity and talent throughout.
In St. Louis, Audierre chopped up and rearranged Ne-Yo before putting the late Prodigy’s “Keep It Thoro” on top.
And in Indonesia, Prime Manifez created “Make It Bright”—a gorgeous and evocative instrumental that samples Whitney Houston’s version of “The Christmas Song.”
Representing what the holidays are supposed to be about, Brkls and STLNDRMS generously provided prizes for three randomly selected winners, with BRKLS giving each winner $100 and STLNDRMS providing his new Slappy Drums 3 drum pack.
Everyone’s #ChristmasFlipChallenge entry was collected in a spreadsheet and winners were selected using a random number generator. When all was said and done, over 100 producers participated. That’s remarkable!
Each winner provided an excellent track for the challenge. In London, M3llows took Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime” and made it sound like a lost Neptunes track.
In San Jose, b_random94 made a beautiful, piano-heavy instrumental that conjures images of snowfall on a winter day.
And in Australia, A-Side 45 sampled “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” to beef up Jim Jones’ version of “White Christmas.”
Since A-Side 45 already owned Slappy Drums 3, he kindly requested I gift his prize copy to someone else. I added $50 to the drum pack prize and selected another winner, Pittsburgh’s Shade Cobain. His #ChristmasFlipChallenge track was a snappy, drum-heavy fusion of James Brown and Paul McCartney.
I’m also happy to see many #ChristmasFlipChallenge participants release their songs on Bandcamp. California based-DADPNTS turned heads with his rich, beautiful cover of “Christmas Time is Here.” He also recorded an impressive cover of “Carol of the Bells” and released both tracks as a 2-song EP.
Pittsburgh’s C.Scott wowed the Micro-Chop community with his disco/funk cover of “Wonderful Christmastime” and ultimately decided to upload it on his Bandcamp page.
In Los Angeles, Naj Ahead turned “Wonderful Christmastime” into a summertime lowrider anthem. Then he took things a step further, flipped The Emotions “What Do the Lonely Do at Christmas,” and released both songs together.
On the other side of the country in New Jersey, dangr_wlf cooked the beautifully abstract “so.//cold.” and put it out on DANGR_CHRISTMAS [LPS 1.5].
Also in New Jersey, the ever-creative and impressive E-Conomy reimagined Donny Hathaway’s “This Christmas” with his own remarkable cover before releasing the song and instrumental on his Bandcamp page.
I hope this challenge made you reconsider the creative possibilities that exist within the Christmas music genre. I also hope the music created during the challenge gave you a bit of light around the holidays.
Take care, be safe, and happy holidays to all of you.
If you enjoyed this article, please subscribe to the Micro-Chop newsletter to support independent music journalism.