The Yule Logs, The Yule Logs (self-issued)

The self-proclaimed "hardest working band in snow business" from Chico, Calif., brings us an eponymous album of holiday tuneage. Can't quite run down when this was released; their MySpace page went up in 2005 but the publicity suggests this is new for 2009. It's your basic modern power-pop ensemble rocking out through a dozen tunes from the Christmas season. Most tunes are familiar but there are some originals, like "Walking With the Ghost of Christmas," "Christmastime Is Here (Again!)," "Christmas From Berlin," "Hanukkah Mambo" and "Christmas Is Lonely (When You're a Jew)." The chosen people do well on this album, Hanukkah Alert, with three tunes, including their own fancy-dance tempo version of "Hanukkah O Hanukkah." These guys know how to rock the holiday, with spontaneous-sounding performances that encourage dancing and acting out. The classic carols get jerked around a little bit, and "We Three Kings" has a mock-portentious delivery worthy of an old-school prog band. A surprising take on the Ramones' "Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight)" turns it into a 50s ballad, and just so a certain blog knows, they cover "Last Christmas" as well. This album makes me wish I was in Chico for the holidays. Here, have a taste: