Play Dead - The Shit, Various Artists
These crazy Americans and their lexicon - in my day 'The Shit' meant something was pretty crappy. After all, a turd is hardly the greatest gift of mankind. Somewhere along the way the Yanks have changed the meaning of this word altogether and now it means completely the opposite. It doesn't make poos any better mind you. 'The Shit' is a 16-track compilation of primarily UK/north American post-hardcore/emo (blame Jeniferever for being the odd ones out), brought to us by the folk who put out Play Dead zine. To be fair, the music on this disc is very much a sample of what Play Dead bangs on about on a bi-monthly basis, so if you're a fan of the zine, you'll probably enjoy this record too.
The CD switches from the melodic to the chaotic, with Tanaou and My Awesome Compilation standing out in terms of the former, while Secondsmile and The Letters Organize bring it up for the latter. There's a pretty even keel of styles to be honest, although all keep within the broad genre some of us hacks would define as 'emo'. Standouts for me include the aforementioned Tanaou track, Jets Vs Sharks and the awesome Hitechjet, all of whom are different in their own way but exceedingly good. Secondsmile impress too, as does Rocky Votalato, even if I can't shake the image of a 21-st century Rod Stewart from my brain. Most annoying. There are weaker tracks too mind, as there are on any compilation, with November Coming Fire and The Letters Organize doing nothing for me personally.
Having put out a compilation myself, I know all about how much hard work that is needed to put something together and sell it. On quality alone, this should do well. Does the world need another compilation CD in the advent of the MP3? Probably not - even when they are this good. By the same negative tone, all of these songs can be found on other releases, which means fans of any of the bands are already likely to have these songs. But again, that's probably negated by the sub-£5 price tag. At the end of the day, this is cheap, cheerful and a great mix CD to have on - and you can't really do too much better than that.
www.playdeadmag.co.uk/theshit
Paul
