Swamped and Sunken (The Badassed Records Compilation No.2)
Christmas is all around us, not in the heaps of rotting snow on the sidewalks, not in those catchy it’s-that-time-of-year-again-tunes we usually grind our teeth to in supermarkets and elevators. It’s not in the eggnog either, nor in the Jamaican rum we lace the eggnog with to drown the glitter, the Santa Claus reruns and Jingle Bells. No, It’s in the record store around the corner, sprouting from every shelf in every aisle: best-offs, compilations, greatest hits.
At first whiff, Swamped and Sunken might reek of that despicable lot. The stench will linger for a bit before it vanishes into thin winter air but it’s going to vanish entirely. The Badassed Records Compilation No.2 is anti-Christmassy (machine)head to toe, from the palm-tree-sheltered corpse on the cover to lines like “There is this bitch right next door, she’s making fun of my father, but she doesn’t know I was selling drugs to her daughter” (Vodka Juniors – “King of the Street”).
Swamped and Sunken offers ten acoustic punkrock-songs, both by artists you may know (Jaya the Cat, Elvis Jackson, Mike Herrera) and bands you should definitely get to know (Vodka Juniors, Antillectual, The Cobra Alliance). Not all of the songs seem made for acoustics, but most of them feel comfortable in their plain suits. There’s also a diversity in the music that the average acoustic punk-compilation lacks. The record does not provide a one-in-million-set of perfectly unique songs but features variation along the lines of “different different yet the same”.
The Badassed Records Compilation No.2 is a welcome antidote to the glitter, the Santa Claus reruns and Jingle Bells. You may want to remember that in case you run out of Jamaican Rum.
LD
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