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O Christmas comp!
Eskimo Laboratories’ holiday special
BY MIKE MILIARD

Paul DeGeorge has many favorite Christmas albums. There’s Phil Spector’s A Christmas Gift for You, the one where Darlene Love belts out "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" in front of a Snowbank of Sound and the creepy studio mastermind himself leads his stable of talent in a chorus of "Silent Night." There’s Kindercore Records Christmas, Vol. 2, which finds little Amerindie elves like Kings of Convenience and the Mendoza Line getting buzzed on eggnog and covering Vince Guaraldi and the Chipmunks. Then there’s The Tarquin Records All Star Holiday Extravaganza, where the Philistines Jr. sing "Santa Was Seen Flying Through Soviet Air Space" and the Swirlies do "Christmas in Kenmore Square."

"I’m a real Christmas fanatic," explains DeGeorge, who’s a founder of Cambridge’s yearling Eskimo Laboratories Records. "I was a DJ in college [at Tufts’s WMFO], and I used to start doing Christmas radio shows, like, in the middle of November. When I graduated, I didn’t have the show anymore. So last year I went back on air and I did a 12-hour Christmas extravaganza."

He’ll be doing that again this year, in fact (today, December 12, from 3 p.m. to 2 a.m. on WMFO 91.5 FM). But this Monday and Tuesday, DeGeorge, who works at a Cambridge laboratory making vaccines for smallpox and West Nile disease when he’s not working at Eskimo Laboratories making records, will also play host at a two-night record-release party upstairs at the Middle East for Eskimo Labs’ cheery This Is Christmas compilation, which may just be the best holiday comp this town has heard.

Its toy sack filled with everything from electro-pop drone to shimmering alterna-country, the disc boasts 19 songs (16 of which are originals) from a gamut of local acts. Certainly, Sir serve up a spacy-spastic Christmas rap of the Waitresses’ "Christmas Wrapping." Soltero’s "Oh Noelle!" is a pretty, acoustic ode to puking "holiday drunk." Ivory Coast side project the Sea Navy turn in a punky paean to getting two sets of presents when you’re born on the same day Jesus was. California Stadium wryly rework the Pretenders’ "Brass in Pocket" as the Santa-sung "Glass of Eggnog." A duo called Ed in the Refridgerators and featuring DeGeorge’s 14-year-old brother, Joe, bash out "Jewish/Christian" ("There’s a Star of David on your Christmas tree"), a Shagg-y rant that probes the intricacies of the season for someone whose parents are of different faiths.

And speaking of family: that’s DeGeorge’s model for his little label, which counts five releases now that the Christmas album is out. "We wanted to start a little family of sorts, to get all our friends together. It’s definitely like a very do-it-yourself operation. We try not to run it like a business. We’re not interested in making money, it’s all self-financed by Martin [Pavlinic, the other founder] and myself with whatever we have lying around. For us, it’s just trying to present things in a new and unique way. We like doing everything together, getting friends to help us out, kinda getting as much as you can with as little as you have. We’re keeping it local, for the most part."

One band who’re not local and not on the CD but will be at the release party with bells on are New Jersey’s Brainy Cramps. "They’ll be playing some holiday favorites like ‘Mistletoe Belt’ and ‘Eight Days of Hell,’ " says DeGeorge, who’ll be giving away a copy of their Candy Canes, Cock Rings, and Colostomy Bags with every purchase of This Is Christmas at the shows. "They’re extremely vulgar. I’m trying to keep my parents from seeing them."

Eskimo Laboratories Records celebrates the season with Soltero, the Sea Navy, Ed in the Refridgerators, Santa’s Little Helpers, and Star Star Quarterback this Monday, December 16, and the Burning Paris, the Brainy Cramps, California Stadium, Tristan da Cunha, and Alexander McGregor/Casey Keenan this Tuesday, December 17. That’s upstairs at the Middle East, 472 Massachusetts Avenue in Central Square. Tickets are $8 each night. Call (617-497-0576) or visit www.eskimolabs.com.

Issue Date: December 12 - 19, 2002
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