Various Artists - 5RC Sur La Mer Samp-le-Mer

Genre indie-rock Publisher 5 Rue Christie External Links 5 Rue Christie

A few exchanged music mixes ago, my friend Bill introduced a new rule: the comp must be absorbed a few times before scoping out the tracklist. An excellent - and democratic - idea, I agreed: this approach forces the listener to consider artists on their own terms, without preconceptions horning in and tainting initial experiences with the unfamiliar. When the 5RC Sur La Mer Samp-le-Mer arrived in the post sans credits a few weeks back, I was nonetheless nonplussed; I felt manipulated, because the label's website didn't even list the compilation's contents, forcing me to contact the promotions person to get the lowdown. Pretty clever. And considering that this is the best such collection Slim Moon's Olympia, Washington Kill Rock Stars/5 Rue Christie axis has put out in several years, a genius play.

Flying blind, I came across a fair measure of stuff with which I was already familiar - Metalux's sticky-icky electronic madness, Wooden Wand and the Vanishing Voice's and the No-Neck Blues Band's un-centered drifting, Deerhoof's splatterhouse pop delight, Excepter at their meandering-dross worst - nestled between subjects demanding further investigation. And this sampler is chock full of shock and awe, goodies springing forth from alumninum grooves in abundance -- the Advantage's aggressive revisiting of 8-bit NES soundtracks in a nostalgic medley, taking me back to lazy Saturdays wasted battling my way through Bubble Man's fantastic, underwater level packed with cute-but-cruel critters, the Mae-Shi's fantastic forward - and reverse-slalom organ jam, Need New Body's static-meets-kazoo-meets-woodwinds fugue-fizzle, Barr's conversational, audience-confronting spiel, deceptively delivered over uplifting, inspirational piano chords ("Don't I have the right to defend myself?/It feels so good to defend yourself...you paid to be here, and I'm being paid to be here/I'm going to do my job regardless of your very narrow and confused agenda....Now what do you want?/You've invited everyone into your personal space/What should we do here?/Should we address you as 'shitface'?/Or should I just make arrangements to physically destroy you outside, afterwards?") - all this, and more besides, for $6 U.S.