Pop Caroler's Songbook, various artists (PC Music)

This is a souvenir of a 2020 livestreamed show sponsored by this English record label, after which the album was offered for download. It's all modern hit radio synth-pop-rock, and is considerably fattened up by a number of non-holiday songs. But it's a benefit album with proceeds going to the Trussell Trust, so feel free to grab the whole thing or go song by song. Meanwhile, I'll concentrate on the most holiday-oriented tunes. Caroline Polachek starts things off by repurposing a previous song of hers, "So Hot You're Hurting My Feelings," as "So Cold," with a few retinseled lyrics. Hannah Diamond's "Where Are You Christmas is a suitably upbeat holiday number, A.G. Cook's "Oracle Icicle" is a bit more obscure lyrically, and Kane West (not Kanye) offers something called "Tryptich," which as you might guess is a three-part number. I couldn't associate the first part with anything, the third part is "What Child Is This/Greensleeves," and the middle part is a cover of a-ha's "Take On Me" with synthesized dog woofs doing the melody; a little something to follow the Singing Dogs' "Jingle Bells" on your playlists. "White Xmas" by umru & Silver Sphere is not the famous carol but a vaguely hip-hop confection, while jonny gorgeous' "Blue Xmas" is a vocordered-up version of the well-known song, and Himera does something similar with Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You." Holly Waxwing turns all the synths loose on a cover of Riuchi Sakamoto's instrumental "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" from the movie of the same name, six impala offers the clattery "FARAWAY199XMAS," and there are instrumentals from A.G. Cook, "Glasswurx," and Kai Whiston, "S.N.O.W." In an odd touch, the collection contains an EP's worth of hip-hop holiday tuneage from Aaron Cartier; makes one wonder why it didn't get a separate release. Cartier offers "Wishlist," "Cartier Christmas," "Got Da Bag," "Let It Snow" (not the popular carol), "I Really Like Christmas," and "Christmas Time Christmas Time." I'll let you decide about the half-dozen non-holiday tunes on this collection, but as for me, I like Polichek and Diamond's tunes, and it might be worth someone's while to drop "Tryptich" into an audio editor and extract the "Take on Me" part to mash up with the Singing Dogs. Grab this from Bandcamp.