2 out of 5

Label: Adult Swim (digital download)

Producer: Various

I very much understand that this is free, and that it is a singles collection, and thus I can’t be looking for themes or effective sequencing.  I get it I get it I get it.  Adult Swim also occupies a unique corner in the cool-verse – on the whole, most of their offerings still a little too skewed and crass and drugged for the Comedy Central Daily Show crowd to fully jump on board, but in a post Aqua Teen world, AS definitely has cred… and it shows in their hipster bumpers and associations with (probably mostly thanks to Aqua Teen…) acts like Mastodon, Little John, and other groups/artists that occupy a same level of oddball respect in their respective genre.  So that cool cred seeps into their singles program: it’s hard to accept this as a full-on sampler of something that a music director or group of producers / creators culled from their faves.  Instead, it has the tinge of wank, the slight smirk of smarm that can add a nice boost of confidence to their shows but, in music form, makes you wonder why you’d listen to ‘Cerebral Ballzy,’ where the smirk fronts a lazy re-use of punk tropes and lyrics but without real energy.  Most of the tracks follow suit (of feeling like it’s just an act) but in the post-electro wave or whatever that was that was popular in 2011.  A lot of samplers, if I respect what the band is doing, I’ll check out the name to get a gist of their history.  But I didn’t feel that here.  So I don’t mean to suggest that the bands with which I’m not familiar are absolutely fresh faces, just that the song contributed didn’t do anything for me.

I mentioned Cerebral Ballzy; their ‘bonus’ track is one of the two rockers here, along with Mastodon.  It starts alright, but slops its punk stylings into repetitive and unemotive boredom.  The Mastodon track is solid, but I’ll go ahead and criticize that too: it’s 100% the norm for the group, no flourish.

More positive: The Rapture’s contribution isn’t my scene, but it’s one of the best songs in the ‘program,’ excellently produced with a solid hook and sense of flow.  Ford & Lopatin’s opener – a band unfamiliar to me and also not my scene – give off a groovier but similar sense of being on top of things: the song seethes with feeling, and it pulses along appreciably.  The El-P track is, yes, amazing.  It’s too bad it’s censored.

Then you have the middleground.  Best Coast’s old school lo-fi pop rock track is rather appealing (reminding me, in its recording style, of Schooner), but even at a couple minutes it feels repetitive.  Similar for an electro twiddler from Clams Casino – a pleasant buzz that amounts to nothing.

The rest of the tracks frankly annoyed me, even the JJ feat. Ne-Yo ‘We Can’t Stop,’ which ends up being a horrid mish-mash of styles that starts totally on the wrong foot to keep you invested for Ne-Yo’s more fun portion of the track.  I just couldn’t wring anything from the songs, and it only took me one listen to feel settled on my opinion.

It’s free.  And maybe your favorite artist posted a track, so by all means, add it to your collection.  But I didn’t find AS’ 2011 singles contribution to be a great source for discovering new artists, which is something I do enjoy about comps or series.  However, if your scene is more DFA-label than mine, you might find some stuff you dig here.  No judgements, except that I probably hate you.