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The cover of this CD depicts a big slice of watermelon, and at the risk of employing an obvious and perhaps lame reviewer's conceit, it is pretty symbolic of the musical contents: sweet, a little watery, and occasionally the pits. Ed and Jill at Shelflife have compiled a truly global selection of indiepop bands here, with representatives from far-flung places like Greece and Peru as well as the usual suspects (US, UK, Japan).
I have to say that the good old US of A doesn't come across too well here. Not to over-generalize, but the impression I get is that most of the non-American bands on this CD put more effort and passion into the music -- their songs are generally livelier and better-crafted -- whereas the American bands tend to be a little lazier and more self-indulgent. The worst example of this is Sushi, whose "song" is completely incompetent and lacks any kind of redeeming charisma. Overall the "twee" factor is pretty high here, and bands like Impossible Tymes and Resplandor keep the dreampop alive. Nothing here set my world on fire, and nobody became my new favorite band or anything, but it was a fairly pleasant accompaniment to my morning coffee. (mike.06.02)
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