Steve 'Flash' JuonMy one memory of Zima from the 1990’s is that it was bad. It was made and marketed by the Coors Brewing Company as an alternative to beer, one that some people may have mistakenly believed was low calorie or healthy due to its clear color. The original flavor was so bad that they ultimately turned to making it in a variety of citrus flavors like pineapple and tangerine, at which point it was objectively no different from a wine cooler, and a worse version of one at that. By 2008 it ceased production in the United States altogether, although it still held on beyond that in international markets. Go figure. I guess their taste buds are radically different from mine. For me it’s hard to imagine anyone enjoying it.
Thankfully the song “Zima” by Maple Syrup off their “OG Christmas” album is everything the drink wasn’t. It’s effervescent and pleasant. It’s a simple track with layers of production added on or peeled away for variety, but never in a way that disrupts the groove or creates sonic dissonance. It operates at a measured tempo that may be too chill for some listeners, but given the album’s title, CHILL is exactly what Maple Syrup was going for. It’s fitting that the next track “Tree” sounds just like it could have come from A Charlie Brown Christmas.
For me it’s easy to identify this as hip-hop thanks to the obviously sampled piano notes and the interwoven drum machine beats, but I can just as easily picture someone approaching this release with no concept of rap at all. “Wishes” certainly lends itself to more of a jazz interpretation. It lacks that freestyle riffing given the loop repeats, but the loop itself is smooth enough to fit the bill anyway. Perhaps this review is too early for the holidays, but what I’m wishing for while listening to this song is a hot cup of cocoa while I sit by the window watching snow flutter to the ground. Almost as if Maple Syrup was reading my mind, there’s a song called “Snow” two tracks later.
It has been a long time since I heard an instrumental album that so well articulated its title. “OG Christmas” delivers on that promise by making tracks that sound like a throwback to holidays past yet still embracing the ability of modern technology to remix that rose colored nostalgia. In a couple of months I’ll be revisiting this album while sharing a cup of cheer with my friends and loved ones. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.