3 out of 5

Label: Ascetic Records

Producer: Various

The only thing this is really lacking is a few standout tracks to make it an essential listen on its own.  That being said, this is exactly how a label comp should be done – several tracks from the label’s bands so that you get a rounded view of their sound.  And that lack of a standout track is actually… honest, I suppose.  It’s not an attention grabbing ‘here’s out best track now buy our record,’ it’s what the title advertises – a sampler, a little of column A and B and so on.  Ascetic has (had?) a nice selection of rock-oriented groups (with the at-least-one-required ‘what’s that doing here?’ band) and they’re all pretty quality.  Better than quality, actually, but the latter half of the album’s contributors doesn’t quite have the pop of the first half and so it loses some identity as the listen goes on.  But: Riddle of Steel get things off to a fucka-fucka beginning with some post-rockish-leaning-toward-the-rock jams that are chock full of slick riffs and cute lyrics.  Then on to Gravity Propulsion System, who might actually sound the same as RoS but make their entries known by mixing in a good lump of noise and sound before doling out their jams.  Our WTF band comes in the form of DMS – electro/instrumental stuff and, I think, the only track on this comp that’s not on their release (which is awesome / a shame since it’s one of DMS’s best tracks), and then Houston smashes all competition with one lumbering heavy dump of slightly cheesy, riffy, awesome rock-n-roll.  And maybe it’s their HUGE sound that makes the Stella Link’s somewhat more typical entries not seem as impressive, which in turn dims your listening acuteness for Traindodge closing out the mix, because all those tracks taken individually are pretty good.

I ended up buying three band’s albums based on this comp, and would buy more.  Many label comps I get one awesome song and I hesitate, because you can never know if that’s representational or not.  This sampler was a freebie, natch, and no special presentation beyond a cardboard liner card, so it has the nice humble “check us out” feel to it.  You can still discover new music just by hearing a song you dig.  I wish other labels had the kinda focused scope Ascetic offered on this.  Or maybe not, ’cause I’d end up spending more money on new CDs.