A selection of twenty-one songs, by mostly Arizona bands that played the Sixth Annual Rage Festival, have been compiled by Worthless Records. In the mix are a smattering of most kinds of music, ranging from the pummeling, drum infused rap-core of the first song "Fear" by Tragic Fate; to the closing acoustic melody "Million and One" by Ryan Brown (whose album "Life and Times of Jesus The Christ" was recently reviewed by Bandoppler). In between are some great songs, and some less great songs.
A fair share of punk and ska seem to be the flavor in general, but there are also some modern rock, and even techno, outfits. To continue the trend of including a number in band names, there is Swell 26, and Paradigm 70 - on the opposite ends of the spectrum. Swell is sort of a modern/progressive rock band, reminiscent of Between Thieves. Paradigm 70 is a straight-up hip-hop band, with some smooth rapping over jazzy samples.
Speck's "Mercy" is a tightly played pop-punkish song. Spin seems to have influences ranging from Devo to the Clash, in their song "I Want to See the World In Love With You."
One of my personal favorites is "We Rock Harder Than You Ever Knew," by Fine China. It seems to borrow a bass line from New Order, but the vocals are straight Cure. These derivatives don't bother me though, and it is just a very likeable song.
Buckledown's "Won't Let Go" is also a well done song, with some third-wave ska, and strong horns. This is followed by Free Sample's "Hurt By You," and Say When's "This One Thing I Know," bringing on back-to-back punk, in the vein of MxPx and Ghoti Hook. The recording quality on Mustard Seed Clan's "As I Search for You" lacks for good mixing, as the levels seem low, and the whole song sounds kind of 'far away.' Otherwise, this is fairly solid punk as well. Dry Bone Kingdom's "Bloody and Naked" just bothers me for some reason. The lyrics are terrific, but the song is way too cheerful. It's a song to skank to, but singing about Christ bleeding naked on a cross just doesn't go with the beat, at all.
A note here is that with a ska song, three punk songs, another ska song, and another punk song (Soapbox's "All I Wanna Be") in a row might the album may have benefitted from a more varied line-up? Note to wannabe bands - the market is way too saturated with ska, punk, ska-punk, skunk, ska-core, or punk-core-ska-billy to provide any fair market for quite a while. Now, if there was a punk-lounge or a ska-polka band, that might work...
The Corbans' "Anthem Song" is strongly played, but it sounds like Plankeye, and just isn't too original. "Kiss the Coal" by Wish is sort of Tom Petty-esque, and is a nice break after all the punk/ska songs, even though the chorus is sort of repetitive.
Michaelangelo and the Difference offers up a live recording of "Under Rower" from Tomfest. It is hypnotic, powerful, and one of the most impressive songs on the compilation. It is followed by the modern rock of The Bittersweet Way, rocking through "Suicide Love Song," and the funk-hip-hop-core of Pilot's "Faking It." Pilot is also a very tight band, which makes use of scratching, funk bass, and a sort of rap-spoken word, segueing into a new-wave/Talking Heads/David Bowie kind of feel. I would actually have to say that, on pure originality, Pilot is one of the coolest bands on this comp. It should have been farther up on the list, before one of the multiple punk bands.
DJ Darryl and DJ c3po provides another welcome relief with "Sounds of a Holy Heart- Left Ventricle Mix" which actually incorporates a medical school recording of heartbeats with a rave beat, and some trip-hop. Scott Roman sings "Dagger of the Mind"- should call himself Neil Diamond Young. Odd, but likeable. You'll see. The second to the last track, "Sew" by The Blameshares echoes seventies and eighties heroes, like Hall & Oates, and makes use of a really laid-back groove. (Just as an aside- My sister, whose current favorite album is POD's Southtown can't seem to get enough of this song.)
Aside from the too many punk bands - (which is not the fault of Worthless Records - there are just too many of them in the world, period.) - I really have gotten into this compilation quite a bit. It is well produced, and there is a good variety of music for all kinds of folks.
