99-cent cds

[wallwalker]

As I said sometime before, I recently plundered the 99-cent boxes at hastings, the ones that they put out front of the store hoping that people will just buy them already. Most of them are bands that never made it big, promo albums, or compilations. Still, as that weird guy who we were talking to as we browsed said, there were at least five albums in there that any given person is going to like; the challenge was finding them. So I picked through a few that I thought might be promising... here they are.

Band Geek vs. Musical Genius: The Revolution Sampler volume II (Various Artists)
Calls itself a "grass roots promotion company" that works with "many independent and some major label bands to promote their records and tours." The only band on here I recognize at all is Presidents of the United States of America. (Shawn Mullins is on here, and I feel like I ought to recognize that name, but I don't. ) I can't find a date on here anywhere, but I'm guessing '95 or '96.
Like most compliations and soundtracks, largely hit-and-miss. There are a few groups on here (Grendel, dEUS, SKIRT, Uptighty) that I wouldn't mind checking out. Pretty good, overall - and of course a good variety of music.

Testify - Ballroomkiller/the Blitzkrieg Mixes (1994)
A lot of scary metal remixes. Not too bad if you like scary metal. Includes two versions of Ballroom Blitz, which is ok, because I like that song.

XL & Death Before Dishonour - Sodom and America (1993)
Christian hard rock. (How I could look at the album name and not immediately think "Christian hard rock" is beyond me, at least in retrospect.) It's good music, but Christian rock is not my favorite genre, so I'll probably give it to someone else who can appreciate it more.

Deitiphobia - Lo:Fi vs. Sci:Fi (1999)
Electronica, as I'd expected. Nothing profound or meaningful in the extreme, but good background music. I'll hang onto this one and see what I think of it later.

AIR Futures: Modern Rock December 2001 (2001?)
Another compilation, this one a bit more recent. I recognize a few more bands on this one (Gorillaz, Disturbed, Bad Religion.) It has a lot of Christmas music on it. I purchased it because there was one song on here that I just had to hear, or so I was told.
Again, good background for working out, if nothing else. I might check out some of these bands I've never heard of (Trik Turner, Phantom Planet, Remy Zero.) As for the one song (The Avalanches - Frontier Psychiatrist,) it's absolutely hilarious. If I could upload an MP3 somewhere, I'd share it.

Accustomed to Nothing - Fast, Cheap and Out of Control (1998)
More metal, complete with harmonica. It's very short (slightly over nine minutes long) and only four tracks long (it appears to be a homemade promo album, complete with bad spelling.) I kind of like this one, actually.

Technotronic - Recall (1995)
This is House, along the same lines as 2 Unlimited and La Bouche. I used to really love this genre, but I'm not very fond of it anymore. I doubt I'll be keeping this one if I can find anyone else who wants it.

The Discontent - Society Did It (1996)
I'm not sure how to categorize it. I expected punk, but it's not really punk, just some hard alternative rock or something about disenchanted members of Generation X. Not super-fantastic, but it's pretty good.

So, out of those albums, I have six that I want to keep. Not a bad way to spend eight dollars, I think. I'll have to check the 99 cent bins more often.