Xmas Snertz: Have a Very Gulcher Christmas, various artists (Gulcher)

From 2003, there doesn't seem to be much in the way of information still around about this collection other than its status as a group of artists who share a label. It's a bunch of alt-rock-punk performers celebrating the holiday, and five years on it still sounds fresh. Phil Hendricks and The Stiffs (UK) take on Elvis Presley's "If Every Day Was Like Christmas," giving an Elvis-like delivery over an uptempo rock beat. Crawlspace rumble through the Beatles' "Christmastime Is Here Again," Mach Bell & His Elves offer "Come On, Santa," a walk through a Christmas list harkening back to the surf-rock days, and Kenne Highland and his Vatican Sex Kittens ask "Can I Please Crawl Down Your Chimney," complete with unwanted advances at the end. Angel Corpus Christi open things with the gentle "Still Feels Like Christmas," the Automatics' "Merry Christmas" makes another appearance here, as does Pansy Division's "Homo Christmas." Monsterpop is "Coming Home For Christmas" and MX-80 says "(I Spent) Christmas With the Devil," with its deathless line, "Satan says Santa came from the same folks who brought us Coke," which is not that far from the truth. X-Ray Tango give us a surf-rock take on "We Three Kings" and The Walking Ruins wish us a "Happy Hardcore New Year," thrashing to the melody of "Auld Lang Syne." Some tunes don't bear a second listen, but the majority of this is quite listenable. Gulcher Records is almost impossible to find online, but this is on iTunes.