By: Sean Carsley July 17th, 2013
If you spent the afternoon grooving with good friends and listening to The Dine Alone Summer Sampler, chances are you said one of two things: “Who is this?” or “I need to get this.” It’s a mixing bowl of alternative sound.
Who doesn’t love Monster Truck? Don’t say “me” under your breath because “My Love is True” is a great start. The Dodos then come in with “Confidence”, relying on a thin treble sound which is kind of hypnotic until it breaks into a fanatical Doors climax. Ivan & Alyosha have a Young the Giant melody that doesn’t quite cross the finish line while The Weeks create a staccato sound that makes you bounce your head in rhythm.
Buried deep in the set list is City and Colour’s “Of Space and Time”. Dallas Green seems to set everything alight lately but this one comes off a little more subdued. Perhaps for the sake of keeping all things equal on the album, Dine Alone specifically chose this track and not something that would instantly perk your ears.
Billy Bragg’s “No One Knows Nothing Any More”, rife with brilliant lyrics, contemplates everything we believe in without sounding like university students overflowing with rhetoric.
Equally great, yet a sonic about face is Single Mothers “Baby”, which grabs you by the throat, evoking that eff-you, ’70s punk spirit.
The word “eclectic” emerges but it’s genuine for an album like this. It has a little bit of everything, and by listening to it, it introduces you to bands you may not have discovered otherwise. You can also think of it as a great way to burn an afternoon and enjoy a sunny ass day.
Dine Alone Records – Summer Sampler
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Download the album here: http://dinealonerecords.com/sampler