Search - Various Artists :: Slice of Lemon

Two fine West Coast indie labels--Kill Rock Stars and Lookout--have combined to produce this wonderful double-CD compilation, featuring no less than 40 distinctive bands. In fact, this collection is not unlike the trio of compilations Kill Rock Stars has issued over the last few years. It encompasses all manner of musical styles and statements and the recording quality throughout is consistently low-fi. But low-fi fits this kind of do-it-yourself, anyone-can-be-in-a-band aesthetic like a glove. You'll not likely have heard of more than half of the bands unless you live in Olympia, Washington, or the Bay Area, but together with some better-known names--Mary Lou Lord, Elliott Smith, Fitz of Depression, Mr. T Experience, cub, Pansy Division--these obscure bands continue to carry on the true spirit of punk rock, as far from the reach of the corporate music machine as possible. It's through compilations like A Slice of Lemon (and labels like KRS and Lookout) that indie rock will remain truly independent. --Adem Tepedelen