Most beat-diggers prefer to hoard their found treasures, but not Peanut Butter Wolf. And he’s compiled quite a treat for this Xmas season. Badd Santa: A Stones Throw Records Xmas is one of the strangest and most incredible holiday mixtapes out there. And for the most part, the goal of the mix is to excavate buried gems.

What we get is Hard Call Xmas turning an LL Cool J classic into "Christmas Bells" (something that will get fans of WFMU into the yuletide spirit), as well as plenty of other golden-age obscurities, such as tracks by super-unknowns Super Jay, Busy Boys, and Scoopy. Also included are a somewhat obligatory Vince Guaraldi cut and new tracks from Stones Throw campers James Pants, Georgia Anne Muldrow, and Baron Zen, but it’s really the “uncovered” stuff that I was most excited to hear. The mix is eclectic (and profanity-free), bouncing from the reggae of Cocoa Tea to the soul scorching of James Brown and back to the robotic crooning of Bruce Haack.

We should all try to be good this year -- maybe Jolly Old Saint Wolf will drop a second volume down our chimneys next December.

Artist: http://www.stonesthrow.com/pbwolf
Label: http://www.stonesthrow.com
Audio: http://www.myspace.com/pbwolf