Who’s crazy arsed idea was it to get a load of great bands and put them all on one record? Madness I tell you, madness! Problem with a lot of comps is that all too often, good bands donate average songs. This comp doesn’t tend to fall foul of that, coming across as a really good record that will stand repeated listenings and one day be regarded in the same light as older classic emo compilations.
Life at These Speeds open things up with a barnstormer, I am so looking forward to hearing the LP that these fellows are offering up soon. LATS play passionate and melodic emo with hoarse, strained vocals. It works it’s way through various stages of being energetic, grooving and mellowed. Storming. Think how bands like the Vida Blue and Yaphet Kotto developed emo, and you have a semblance as to how LATS sound. That LP will be special, you can already tell. This song is so fucking good. After LATS there is the familiar strains of the Pine, all fuzzed up in it’s distorto-production and Roger whines, sadly the song feels a little out of place. I don’t know if it’s a weaker track or whether the Pine just works better in the context of more than 1 song at a time. Not bad by a long shot, but not amazing for me. Then we have a surprise “” an unreleased track by True Feedback Story who did a real cool 7″ a couple of years back. This is desperate emo and is absolutely great. Fairly simple but awesome hoarse vocals just make this one spill out all over the place. A change of pace comes courtesy of Liza Kate who does a beautiful acoustic & drums led sparse song, in the style of other indie folk bands like Songs: Ohia. It also has viola. Super good. Things change pace again for the spazzmess that is La Quiete. These kids rock, really dynamic and exciting violent emo with melodies and grooves. Screams aplenty. DO AN ALBUM.
Here on side B we have one of my favourite bands of the past year, them being Sinaloa. As usual they do a herky-jerky and rhythmical spoken/shouted vocal led emo number. I love that they explain their songs. Sinaloa connects with me more than any current band going. My thank yous go to them. Wilderness Medicine follow with a song from their demo, I don’t know if it’s my stereo being crappy but this sounds much more immense on vinyl than it did on the CD. It’s crunchy and powerful melodic emo similar to the Shivering. Who luck would have it are up next! This intro to this song reminds me of another Shivering track, anyway, they do a really neat song that sounds like if Torches to Rome were more melodic and slower or something! Spencer’s rough vocals on this track are super. Then we have the rampant DIY punk/hardcore of Reactionary 3, who are messy as fuck and all the better for it. Quickfire, angry, vocals spilled. Hit Self Destruct do their thing with a San Diego styled attack really reminding me of something I can’t place my finger on. Slightly sassy vocals and rocking hardcore. Oh listen, there is Spencer singing again over an emo part that sounds like the Shivering. Heh. After that is the vaguely mathy hardcore rhythms of the excellent Stop It!! This is another band that I think works better in an LP context than a singular song on this comp, but this is pretty solid anyway. We finish on something by a band called “Big Little Torso” and I’m not overly sure what’s going on! Definitely sounds like an outro anyway. Someone whistles, someone plays an acoustic guitar, someone is making funny noises on tin pots. Someone takes a whiz? Or pours some water. Quite.
So there you have it. A very good comp. The songs may not be as memorable and stand out for the bands as they are on All the Presidents Men, but they are all representative of a bunch of bands I love, in the vein of a comp like Hand Made Words perhaps. If you are blank on the emo scene of 2004, get this record, it will tell you where we are at right now and introduce you to some great stuff into the bargain.