ALBUM RECOMMENDATIONS |

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The old five-point scale has been retired in favor of just rating stuff 1-10, which allows me a much more nuanced final rating. Still don't take it that seriously. Most of these come from my own collection, so the grades skew rather high. Your results may vary if you send me stuff to review.

Each album is given three Essential tracks, my personal favorites, regardless of how weird and inconsequential they are. The Quintessential pick is the one I think best represents the album as a whole, so you can try one song instead of a whole album of songs. Non-Essential picks range from merely disappointing to outright unlistenable.

Various Artists

[#] The Fold Compilation (2003)

Reviewed October 4, 2020

29 tracks of weird rock abandon.

(This is an album that was previously covered on the Rediscovering! Click the link in the table to read a wordier and possibly less accurate version of my feelings on this album.)

What an absolute time capsule of 2000s indie rock goodness this is! The Fold is the booking company of the ever-eccentric Scott Sterling, known for bringing bands like Metric, Elliott Smith, and The Breeders to Los Angeles bars, dives, and lounges since the late 90s. The Fold Compilation captures a few bands five minutes prior to being famous, and many more who never quite broke through. Split into one disc cloudy and one disc warped, the almost two hours of semi-obscure to downright forgotten indie bands, folk performers, and the occasional yeehaw man on here makes for a listen you definitely do not want to undertake in a single go. This set is best taken like a rich, complex Belgian tripel--sip it, take in all the different flavors, and see what grabs you about it.

On the highlights, you'll want to check out the smokestack drone of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's "Loaded Gun", the ever-bouncy synthpop Metric lays out on their demo of "The List", the spine-shivering wails on Devics' dramatic "You in the Glass", Devendra Banhart's fried four-tracker absurdist Spanish ballad "Cada Casa Que Crece", John Gold's excellent, excellent somber soulful rumination "Fade to Blue", and "My Philosophy", Inner's attempt at marrying tribal drums and "I Stay Away" harmonies to genuinely haunting effect. With just as many bands that are more interesting on paper than in their feature here, The Fold Compilation proves uneven as its own listen. For those indie rock historians, hipsters, and patient listeners reading me, though, you'll more than likely find your new favorite band in here.

Essential:	Quintessential:	Non-Essential:	Rating:
"Loaded Gun", "You in the Glass", "Cada Casa Que Crece"	"Afterlife"	"It's the Sun"
The Fold Compilation's Rediscovering entry

[#] Kids (1995)

Reviewed June 28, 2023

Creaky sounds for a rather notorious movie.

How strange to have your big album be a soundtrack. What a strange soundtrack this is! Kids as a movie is, well, I haven't seen it, but given that the tale of a bunch of teenagers giving each other HIV was funded by none other than Harvey Weinstein (I'm not kidding, look it up), I'm fairly certain it's aged poorly. Kids as a soundtrack is neither fish nor fowl--it's one part the Folk Implosion's score and one part indie rock and 90s east coast rap, only two tracks of which appear in the actual film--and you don't need to know anything about the movie to enjoy it. Thankfully.

Sad analog synth cries, drum loops, and melting bass lines make up the score here, lots of cool, eerie sounds, even occasionally catchy! The few licensed tracks come from indie heroes Daniel Johnston and Slint (the agonized screaming at the end of "Good Morning Captain" is forever harrowing)--none of the rap music from the film appears, though Lo-Down's grim "Mad Fright Night" is a very worthy substitute. Oh, yeah, and there's that "Natural One" song. I like that one. It's ephemeral and of its time, but it's a nice mood piece if you like your indie rock creepy--and it's at least a million times more enjoyable than watching a twelve-year-old getting rough-fucked, you'll be surprised to hear.

Essential:	Quintessential:	Non-Essential:	Rating:
"Natural One", "Spoiled", "Mad Fright Night"	"Wet Stuff"	"Simean Groove"

[#] No Alternative (1993)

Reviewed August 16, 2021

I don't get it.

(This is an album that was previously covered on the Rediscovering! Click the link in the table to read a wordier and possibly less accurate version of my feelings on this album.)

Do me a solid and, next time you're bored, go read up on Red Hot. Red Hot is an AIDS awareness organization that set out in the 80s to use pop culture and new technology to reach communities that traditional outreach campaigns often couldn't. It's all for a good cause! From day one, their compilations attracted the likes of David Byrne, U2, Tom Waits, Iggy Pop, and Debbie Harry to contribute material--and with names like those, it's no surprise that the age of the benefit compilation had begun, all thanks to Red Hot. Where Red Hot ran white hot was No Alternative, a wall-to-wall selection of the biggest bands of early 90s alt at their peak of relevance, a well-loved disc that even received a Record Store Day reissue in 2013--and one I found more interest in reading about than listening to.

Yeah, I was disappointed by this one. I should love it, given the likes of Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins, Bob Mould, and the Breeders showing up on here (not to mention a little unlisted track from Nirvana), but it's so overly long and mild, the highlights ("Iris", "Show Me", Soul Asylum's "Sexual Healing" cover) not being all that high, and some really baffling song choices to boot (one of the Beastie Boys' least rock tracks for a rock compilation? That fucking Pavement track?). The three really striking moments on here have to Nirvana's "Sappy", Patti Smith's touching a capella tribute to Robert Mapplethorpe, and American Music Club's "All Your Jeans Were Too Tight", a deadpan stream-of-consciousness recount of a breakup, kinda like a less fantastical Beck track. I'm not here to dunk on a good cause, but No Alternative is just plain more interesting from a historical perspective than it is from a musical perspective.