V/A – This Is Indie Rock Volume Two / 2005 Deep Elm / 12 Tracks / http://www.deepelm.com / [email protected] / Reviewed 02 April 2005

First off, it needs to be said that Deep Elm has continually done a great service to all of the local bands across the world trying to eke out a living, first with their Emo Diaries set and now this, This Is Indie Rock. However, this disc starts out slowly with the largely-instrumental “Band 2: Lesson 37 – Formal Speech”, a move that really paints the disc into a corner only five minutes after it has started. However, New Jersey’s Jena Berlin really steps forward confidently with their “The Thief”. Not quite “emo”, the slightly-scraggly vocals on the track do much to purvey emotion as the cohesive instrumentation on the track makes for a proper environment. Vacillating back to the sedate nature of Maxel Toft, The New Lows provide the disc with a nice transition for the next sparkling example of the vital European music scene, the looking-back rock of Cameran. A mixture of both Husker Du and early-nineties grunge, Cameran makes the first track on the disc that feels ready for popular, alternative radio.

The Stevie Ray Vaughan-esque guitars on Sedona’s “I’ve Got Nothing For You, Phantom” mixes the vocals of Beck, ZZ Top, and Shannon Hoon to make a track that seems more in Devendra Banhart’s style than any of the prior tracks on the disc. Showing that Deep Elm does not simply front-load their discs with the best bands while skimping on talent after the middle of the disc, the triple-vocal assault of The Forecast’s “Red As The Moon” shows a band that deserved to be signed (and was, they are now on Victory Records). The nuanced, plodding nature of Death Ships’ “Thelma Lou” has a direct opposite in the very iconic and direct “Brand New Life” by The Call Up. The halting nature of the opening guitar riffs on the aforementioned tracks really mix well with the scratchy, Rise Against meets Soul Asylum vocals present and makes the track feel like a Paxiled-up Weezer track.

The dizzying array of music found on this second volume of “This Is Indie Rock” shows that, much like the differences found on the average “Emo Diaries” disc, there is no certain sound that exemplifies “indie rock”. Bernard’s track ends the disc, a perfect mixture of organic and electronic, owing much of the tracks’ success to the swirling synths that are very present throughout. Pick this as well as the first volume of This Is Indie Rock up, and you will know some of the future heavy-hitters in the scene.

Top Tracks: The Call Up’s “Brand New Life”, The Forecast’s “Red As The Moon”

Rating: 7.4/10