I had to buy this CD, and eventually tracked it down. Because Park Ave. are on it. More of
which as I proceed down the list of who else is. Each band contributes two songs.
- the Faint – poppy indie rock, the first song they do has a brilliantly cool intro. they do
favour the use of keyboards which gives it an 80’s flavour, and sometimes the singer sounds like
Elvis Costello. a little dated sounding in places, but pretty OK - Cursive – have had an LP on Crank, which should give you an idea of where they are coming
from. yup, indie rock with a slant. Cursive’s slant is to have so screamy / close to tears vocals,
a bit like if Chamberlain’s singer cracked. they play quite hard on the first track, the second is
slower. a whole album of this would tire me out. - Lullaby for the Working Class – I totally know the first song here (“Hypnotist”) but I don’t
know if it’s an original or a cover, because the singer sounds so much like the version I have
heard. Argh! Semi-acoustic, and cool. The other song is slower, and adds strings. Warm and soft. - Commander Venus – another band with desperate, cracking vocals. they also play indie rock
like Cursive. heard this done before, but they do it pretty well - Park Ave – now, the reason I bought this. someone taped me a song by this band ages ago, and
I had never been able to find anything else by them. my quest is over! what they play is just
the sweetest, cutest indie pop i ever heard, you know like how the Promise Ring did that really
bouncy “best looking boys” song on their last single? well, Park Ave do that sort of thing all
the time. it has lots of keyboards, but they just add to it. the two songs they contribute have
that welcoming innocence that you tend to hear with indie pop, and the crazily titled “Lachrymose /
Obsequious / Vehement / Elated” is just pure, pure genius. melts me, i could play it forever. - Garbadine – the first song is bouncy emo / indie rock, reminds me a little of some band but not
sure who. i got it – is like a chemistry experiment involving the Wrens and Braid. cool beans.
the second, slow, morose, indie emo like Mineral but with a less miserable sounding singer. - Bright Eyes – round out the comp with a bloke and an electric guitar, and a drum machine.
then he has a go with just an acoustic. sounds quite sad. not particularly my thing.Quite a mixed bag of an indie comp then, most of it is solid, with Park Ave being incredible,
and Garbadine also standing out.