In 1978, Village Voice music critic Robert Christgau stood in the shadows of Akron, Ohio's sputtering smokestacks, penning a 5,000-word piece about the city's music scene.
Why did the self-described "Dean of American Rock Critics" make the jaunt from NYC to my hometown, a smallish city most famous as home to Goodyear, Firestone, and the All-American Soap-Box Derby? He'd been blown away by Akron's most famous band, Devo, and impressed by The Akron Compilation, a collection of offerings by Akron-based punk and new wave bands produced by Stiff Records, a British label famous for issuing classics like Elvis Costello's My Aim Is True and The Pogues' Rum Sodomy & the Lash. Xgau, wanted to see what was going on in Akron and, apparently, had the expense account to make it happen.
I finally got my hands on both vinyl and digital copies of The Akron Compilation this summer, only to be majorly let down. Though it was recorded before I was born, I'd been building it up in my mind since college, naively believing I'd find some sort of major revelation about my city and myself in those grooves. As it turns out, there are no hidden Chrissie Hyndes (or even a stray Tim "Ripper" Owens) on the record; just a bunch of bands you've never heard of for a reason, along with two tracks from The Waitresses, famous for their holiday hit "Christmas Wrapping," and "Truckstop Queen," a fun song from Rachel Sweet, who went on to write the theme for John Waters' cult classic Hairspray.
Still, for some reason, Christgau was impressed. The loquacious bastard rambles too much for me to pull any sort of decent quote from one of his mammoth essays, but this seems to be something akin to a thesis: "Akron-Cleveland has been uncommonly blessed with musical movers and shakers who have taken care of business well."
I tell this story not to provide an history lessons on the music scene of Akron, but to illustrate the importance of a well-assembled regional compilation. As far as the lasting legacy of the DIY ethos goes, it's hard to top the compilation record. Look up the Wikipedia entry on any "scene" of the past 40 years and you'll invariably come across an attendant comp, a postcard from the city's dingiest bars hailed as an important and influential touchstone. Check out Seattle's Deep Six and Sub Pop 100, both of which foreshadowed what was coming way back in '86, or Jack White's home-studio-produced The Sympathetic Sounds of Detroit from 2001. Does a comp mean your city's scene is going to hit the big time? No. Could a scene sprout without a serious comp? I'm no so sure.
This is why I'm ridiculously excited about a novel new comp from Phoenix, When in AZ. The collection, coming out next week, is massive and ambitious. Maybe even massively ambitious. With an $8 download card (proceeds benefit charity), you'll get 55 Phoenix-area artists covering songs by other Arizona artists. Along with the recorded output, organizers are planning six shows at the best small venues in town. All in all, pretty cool.
The man behind the project is erstwhile scenester Nick Kizer, drummer/guitarist for the Tempe indie band Babaluca. With his band sadly on indefinite hiatus, the 28-year-old Kizer has had a little more time on his hands and decided to take up a dare by a naysayer, who questioned his sincerity when he first verbalized his intention to put together a compilation of covers.
"Musicians always have these conversations about, like, we should do this, that, the other thing; the music community sucks; and it's like, 'Oh, yeah, we should something where local bands cover other local bands.' And I was like, 'Yeah, we should do a compilation.'"
He was doubted, but he responded: "I was, like, 'I'm gonna do this shit, I'm gonna prove you guys wrong.'"
And so he has. Kizer asked some bands to contribute; other bands asked him when they heard about the project. He's lined up everyone from local indie talents What Laura Says and Dry River Yacht Club to country singer Jim Bachmann, folk-punk outfit The Liar's Handshake, and the funky Black Carl. It's not quite anyone-who's-anyone, but it's close.
From there, it was smooth sailing. The bands covered their own recording costs, Big U Music is doing the mastering for free, and local club owners ponied up the cash to print download cards. Proceeds benefit two non-profits, Ear Candy and the Phoenix Conservatory of Music, charities which provide musical instruments and education to children. Six record release parties — running the next three weekends at the Yucca Tap Room, Modified Arts, the Hard Rock Cafe, and the Rhythm Room — will give people a chance to grab a download card and see some of the acts who contributed.
Along the way, Kizer enlisted the help of Laci Lester, an AmeriCorps public ally stationed in town who's also an all-around do-gooder, capable of harnessing other people's resources. A Phoenix native, Lester was a big fan of the concept: "It's really like they're making a statement, like, 'We love our city, already.' They're kind of paying homage to everyone else in town."
Personaly, i find it messed up that this local collection is being released at all these phoenix venues but instead of supporting the Trunk Space they are having a show at the Hard Rock Cafe where people will probably be eating dinner and drinking at the bar instead of caring about the music. Who goes there, anyway?
Whoever dad is, you're pretty funny.
-Mike
Also that Tiny Panda release was actually released on CD, not just cobbled onto some download card.
300 copies were made. And the whole thing sold out (but mostly from out of state fans. HA!).
And the bulk of the bands both covering and being covered on the When In AZ comp are, as one can expect from phoenix these days, yawningly mediocre. So the scope of this sprawling collection of mp3's, which is by and large filler music from filler bands, is hardly the indispensible, unifying document of a scene in full blossom that it's purported to be.
SO GET YOUR SHRUG ON!
'Cause it seems that self-satisfied mediocrity and rehash is what gets you the attention in Phoenix. While something like, uh, I don't know, actually having the idea first and executing it(which actually was a sincere expression of community)is met with passing indifference.
SPOILER ALERT: phoenix is actually not all that supportive of its music.
In addition to what I just said, these bands have all come to Tucson and we have been able to start meaningful and cooperative relationships with them which have helped our music scene unite as well.
I agree with TK. I used to volunteer at an arts venue and collective here in Tucson called Dry River and we had copies of Phoenix does Phoenix that were sent to us by Tiny Panda as a means of exposing Tucson bands/people to our neighbors to the west. It was a great idea, a quality compilation that featured bands like Andrew Jackson Jihad who are on Asian Man Records, French Quarter who was given the stamp of approval by Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, and Cardiac Party who recently graced the Dry River with their excellent music just a couple of months ago. It's a shame those efforts and artists were greatly overlooked- at least some acknowledgment should be due.
So, I believe about 2 years ago, Tiny Panda Records already did this.
You guys (phxNT) covered some of her other releases, like the 1st and 3rd one and her version of Phoenix bands covering each other was the 2nd release.
http://tinypandarecords.bigcar...and specificallyhttp://tinypandarecords.bigcar...
It also sold more copies outside of AZ than inside... so much for scene unity?
I'm glad the money is going toward Ear Candy; they are a great charity on the rise in the valley. Just looking at their site you know they'll put that money to good use. earcandycharity.org
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