The Arkiteks Music Group (various artists)
The After After Party (5 tracks)
(hear it)

This is a sampler CD which is apparently available (for free!) at McDonald's, but only if you buy an Extra Good Value Meal after 6 O'clock PM. I listened to 5 tracks. I'm not sure if the Arkiteks Music Group is a label, or a management agency, or something else. I guess they might be architects, but the "k"s make them cool music arkiteks?

You can hear 10 seconds of each band in the sample above.

"Words", by the James Douglas Show is a kind of repetitive melancholic sigh. A friend received the CD sampler at one of their permformances, at a wedding at which she also worked.

"Get Yours", by J Xavier is a big horns-n-bass-drum rap thing. I think it's about how you should get educated.

"Better Place", by Dubphonics is way depressing. The point of the song is that "we're going to be OK", which is not depressing, but the "better" is offered as a counterweight to a heap of sorrows, which are carefully delineated.

"Bleed All Over Me", by Wicked Wisdom, is a big metal song about how somebody wants somebody else to suffer. It features impressively little dynamic range, almost never dipping below -8dB RMS on the meter. In comparison, there are some classical recordings which rarely even peak above 8dB.

"Arrastra", by Ill Nino (perhaps the worst band name on display here), is actually a kind of interesting fusion of latin-american folk music with death metal and that "emo" stuff I hear so much about.

These are some of America's hottest new up-and-coming bands.

bb, 13 apr 08