A Very Cherry Christmas 9, various artists (Cherryade)

Keeping the streak going in 2013 is this English indie label, this year getting a little help on the curation front from Gareth Jones, the British podcaster. (Click through Gareth's name for a Christmas podcast featuring Cherryade major domo Rachel Neiman.) Some of the artists have been here in previous years, like the Bobby McGees, Pocket Gods, Piney Gir, Otalgia and Paraffins, but the majority are newcomers. Things kick off with Dressy Bessy's "Hopped Up (On Xmas)," a frenetic punk-pop rush through holiday preparations; John Shuttleworth's "The Christmas Orphan," a holiday story rendered in a very early David Bowie-style delivery; David Leach breaks out the ukelele for "Handmade Christmas"; Sonic the Comic reaches out for companionship with the crunchy lo-fi "Spend Christmas Day With Me"; and Dog Legs play around with surf music on the heavily reverbed and vibratoed "Not Just Fo' Christmas (Christmas Serf)." MJ Hibbett & the Validators' "Thank Goodness For Christmas" gives us a tongue-in-cheek look at things: "It's extremely convenient that you had Baby Jesus at the moment when we needed a party." Chalk & Numbers goes girl-groupy with "Happiness This Time of Year," and I Like the Go Go takes things even farther back to the 50s with "Xmas Song No. 1." No Cars takes us over to Japan for "X'masu de itadkimasu," although I wasn't aware that country had much of a Christmas tradition. The Bobby McGees talk like pirates on "Ho F'n Ho," Otalgia thrash their way through "Empty Boxes," Paraffins' "Band of Snow (Drifted)" is a slow-motion instrumental, Radio Orwell goes all cinematic on a cover of "Last Christmas," and Velodrome 2000 cuts right to the chase with the punked-out "Christmas Sucks." Horses of Instruction mixes Casio keyboards and acoustic guitars on "Godfather Christmas," in which a horse loses his head in the first verse, setting the stage for the rest of the song. Woog Riots goes synth-pop with "Under the Christmas Treeee," Partly Llama goes very quiet on "Fallen Angel," and the closer is Ross & Jones' "Gaudete." Piney Gir's "Christmas Time" and the Pocket Gods' "Silent Night" and "Bernard Matthews Turkey Zombie Revenge" arrive here from other compilations. All told, a pretty good snapshot of modern British indie-rock compiled to celebrate the holiday. Only available from the label.