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Various Artists
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This Is Indie Rock: Volume Two
Deep Elm Records
Release: 5/10/2005
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Rated:
Review by:
Meagan Rockne
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This Is Indie Rock: Volume Two is, obviously, the second installment of a compilation series put out by Deep Elm Records featuring 12 unsigned bands from all over the world. However, do not be fooled by the term 'indie.' This is not music from some acoustic singer/songwriter with too much influence from Elliott Smith and Bright Eyes. For Deep Elm, indie is any unsigned band. The compilation features hardcore, punk, rock, emo, metal and pop, to name a few genres. (Although, there aren't really punk or metal bands featured on this compilation.)
The songs. Like any compilation, it features some really good songs and some not so good songs. There aren't any truly bad songs on the compilation. I'm sure someone will think they are good even if they are out of my taste range. Well, maybe there are a few bad songs that I really hope no one thinks are amazing songs because they really are quite painful to listen to.
The bad. There are two bad songs: Maxel Toft's "Band 2: Lesson 37 - Formal Speech" and Cameron's "Crash Course About Diamonds." Maxel Toft's song is an instrumental with cheesy computerized talking at the end. Cameran is from Austria, so I guess we can forgive them a little bit since their biggest musical export was Falco. The song is full of screaming, but it's not hardcore or screamo - it's just screaming. And then there's some French added in just to make things weird.
The good. There are more good songs than bad. In fact, there are five exceptional songs on the album: "My Brain" by Bernard, "Thelma Lou" by Death Ships, "New York" by Meredith Braggs and the Terminals, "Red as the Moon" by The Forecast and "Cold Shivers" by The New Lows. These are my favorites because they feature more of what I think indie music should be. The melodies are simple, the vocals are emotion-filled and the music captures your attention. You are left wanting more. I would buy these bands' albums if the rest of their songs had a similar feel.
The honorable mention. If you've done your math, I have written about seven songs, so that leaves five more to reach our featured 12. These songs aren't good and they aren't bad. They're a shrug of the shoulders, half-smile and moan of lack of enthusiasm: "I've Got Nothing for You, Phantom" by Sedona, "Can't You Tell" by The Silent Press, "Nothing of the Sort" by Nature Living, "The Thief" by Jena Berlin and "Brand New Life" by The Call Up (a band that sounds like a punk singer covering Bryan Adams songs). They don't bring anything new to the music they are creating. They don't add and they don't detract to the album. I guess they are just filler songs. Songs put on the album to make you appreciate the really good ones and to help you recover from the bad ones.
So, those are the songs. If I hadn't gotten this album, I don't know if I would have bought it. I will, however, be hunting at my local indie record store for the good ones. And to find an album with two bad songs on it is rare. My only complaint is the lack of a female voice on the compilation. There wasn't one band that featured a woman on lead vocals. With bands like Tegan and Sara, Rilo Kiley and Azure Ray, the indie music listening public knows they are out there, and it would have been nice to have that representation. Perhaps that will give Deep Elm something to work on for volume three. |
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