It’s that time of year. Halls are decked, bells are jingling and the sounds of Christmas music seemingly ooze from every speaker you happen to be near. Now not everyone likes the sounds of the holidays, but there are two things I am an absolute sucker for: Christmas songs and Chiptunes music. What happens when you combine 200 year old holiday standards with the bleepy bloopy sounds of classic game systems? You get a CD so full of awesome that it will win over the ears of even someone who loathes Christmas music. Click on through to download your very own copy for free!

8 Bit Weapon and ComputeHer have just released “It’s a Chiptune Holiday!” and have been kind enough to let us share those songs with you clever people reading this. Feel free to download them from the link below or just stream the samples we have for you. The EP features eight holiday classics rendered in the Chiptunes style, opening with “Deck the Halls,” featuring a robotized vocal line over a bouncy melody.

“O Christmas Tree” has a characteristic 8-bit shuffle march pushing it along with syrupy sweet old-school synth lines on top.

The disc closes on “Ave Maria” played in a style that can only be described as if it had been composed by Nobuo Uematsu instead of Bach. The multiple layers of electronic melodies combine to create a beautiful piece which sounds like it could have come right from Final Fantasy V.

Other stand out tracks are “Hanukkah” which sounds like a long lost song from Tetris or Dr. Mario. I challenge you not to imagine frantic falling bricks or pills when you hear it. Then there is “Greensleeves,” which, when Chiptuned, would be quite comfortable haunting a vampire’s castle or as background music for a dungeon explored by a blonde haired dude wearing green tights. Really, there isn’t a bad song here and even with characteristics of classic game music at their depths, 8 Bit Weapon’s and ComputeHer’s arrangements are a great example of how Chiptunes music is rapidly evolving as a genre.

If you would rather have a physical copy of the disc, you can pick one up from 8bitweapon.com. And just to make things even cooler, the music is burned on a black CD, packaged inside a 5 ¼” floppy disc. (No floppy drive required.) Now who is this for? If you love unusual Christmas music, this is a must have release. Even if you hate Christmas music to the point of wanting to stuff your ears with candy canes (don’t try this at home!) but you are into the Chiptunes scene, then you should find this a most enjoyable listen. And should 8 Bit Weapon and ComputeHer decide their fans are on the nice list and record them a volume 2 of holiday songs, “O Holy Night” or “Ding Dong Merrily on High” would be perfect fits for their sound. You can download the complete album for free from here.