Right away you have to appreciate that this cassette is from DC. Whenever I have thoughts from there it's all politics. Hearing people make music from there which I enjoy is a much better way to relate to any place really. It's like you go, "Oh, what do you know about <this city>?" and then you say "I know this <this band> is from there". That's how I want to live my life.
As far as this cassette is concerned it is a compilation- on paper- this is true, but I've heard soundtracks which weren't put together this well. There is a deliberate order to the songs that makes me feel like this really is some sort of combination between "Basketball Diaries" and "The Crow" and I'm really mad I missed the movie.
I recognize some of the names on here. Other names I don't recognize. It doesn't matter though. The songs are on a level where I could only listen to this forever and be satisfied. And that was when what a compilation truly means hit me-- in that moment. It took this compilation and years of me reviewing them (and avoiding them) to figure it out.
When I was in my late teens/early twenties, I got this compilation (a free sampler of sorts, I don't remember whether or not it was for sale) from Equal Vision Records. Now, I loved EVR back then and listened to all of their bands and full albums. But there was this one song on this compilation which was about graduation and it just always stuck with me, like I'd listen to Bane, Converge, The Stryder and Saves the Day, among many others, to hear that one song.
What I'm trying to say is that I've never wanted to review compilations because it was hard for me to say a little something about each song or say whether or not an artist is good since I'm only hearing this single song by them. The thing is, if I have to decide based upon these songs whether or not I'm listening to these artists again (Which, again, some of them I've already heard) the answer is yes.
So what it comes down to is that compilations are not the problem (Even though this also feels more like a soundtrack) Having that one stand out song and then linking together twelve, fifteen, twenty or however many of them to craft a solid complation was the problem. And now Blight Records has shown me that such a thing can be done, much like in my youth when I avoided comps altogether. It's all just so good you won't be disappointed by a single note.
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