V/A: Good Comp/Bad Comp

[HateSermon]

Recent review of V/A Psychomania (via Fistfuck Masonanie) had me thinking that if someone were to ask me what type of noise I like most, I would probably just hand them this tape. In a perfect world I would only add a few other artists.
Another compilation that I find successful is At The End Of The Rope (Chondritic). I've written about this elsewhere on this forum but, in short, it was a great introduction to sounds that weren't readily available in my world at the time and also highly influential to the blueprint I consider noise / PE today.
The main questions of this thread are: What makes a successful comp? Similar sounding artists or a variety? Should it be strictly related to that genre or open to adjacent musical interests (noisecore, metal, punk, oi, etc)? What comps do you recommend and find resourceful? Which ones fell short of expectations?

A successful comp thread from many moons ago here:
http://www.special-interests.net/forum/index.php?topic=4233.0

[Andrew McIntosh]

For some reason I've never been much of a compilation fan. Couldn't tell you why, they just never really appeal to me so much. I'd get them, but not in an obsessive way.

Anyway, the ones that I have that I do like would be "Soundtrack for the End of the World", which is a fairly solid compilation of what are now standard issue Noise names. "War Against Society" is good to have, pretty good material all up. "Esthetics of Cruelty" stands out. The "Hour of the Wolf" compilation is good because it gives each project enough time to make something that stands out.

One thing is, I wish GX Jupitter-Larson finished off the "Zelphabet" project. I had subscribed for the full thing but as far as I understand it only got to M before it was halted, for whatever reasons. Bit of a pity, that.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

I am personally always been fan of good compilation. Role of compilation has changed, and now I don't think is much need for generic comp tape for example. Not just putting bunch of international noise tracks together... but some some of idea there, where compilation itself is far from sampler where you can find new artists, more album that works as itself. Tied into concept, geographic location, some sort of thing.

Even if I may say it myself, Terässinfonia, well justified both musically, but also documentation of current age Finnish scene. 6th part under work. Each comp has been careful process of rejecting stuff, asking new stuff, trying all sorts of different track orders to make them varied, yet not scattered all over the place. Mastering of tracks so it works as album. Some artists feel ready for compilation, but not ready for full CD album. Together with other types of track, it works. Would I get same satisfaction if this was not Finnish artists, but some sort of international comp? Not sure. Now there is purpose that goes beyond good noise.

I just placed orders for some sort of comp CD's, Experimental sound from Turkey and Experimental sound from Greece. Impression was that its the older stuff, but I'll see when CD's arrive. So still today, some sort of theme comp I happen to see, may spark interest for whatever reason.

[cantle]

I wouldn't be here if it were not for '...and even wolves hid their teeth.'

That was my gateway into a lot of different music.

[Fistfuck Masonanie]

Glad you liked the review! For years I shied away from compilations for some reason and have only been coming around recently. I think it was the inconsistency of some that I heard. Lack of quality curation and a couple or a few bad tracks will ruin a comp. I like a consistent theme or "sound" across to hold your attention, otherwise it just sounds like random tracks jammed together and there is no "flow".

Some recent reissues of classics like Noise War and Americanoise really sparked my interest again. So many varying artists but ripping tracks from everyone with a consistent sound across. Then hearing the first comp on Prose Nagge with the ridiculously long title, "The Silent Continuity Of All Existence With Which The Victim Is Now One". Phenomenal! One of the best modern comps in my opinion, from start to finish it's great. These comps kind of sparked my interest again and led me to check out Psychomania.

It's also fun to hear tracks outside of the context of an album. Comp tracks sometimes have a little more "fluidity" or freedom to them. Not tied to a specific album or overarching vision, the track stands on its own, and sometimes the artists stretch out more. I like hearing how they tweak their sound when there are fewer restrictions and the track is its own statement outside of being one piece of the album puzzle.

[TS]

Compilations are great. The Nyrkki & Kyrpä compilation from 2009 was a massive inspiration for us back in the early days. Another favourite of mine is Stein: Interpretationen Eines Geologischen Materials Und Seiner Symbolik. There's always that chance that you will find hidden bangers on compilations. I can still remember when I came across Tormenting Legends II, which had great tracks from Katharsis, Klage, Musta Surma, Sarath and Luror, all on one tape.  As someone said, the lack of constraints that the compilation format brings versus the album format can bring out something special. I think its the hunt for that one exceptional track that I love the most about compilations.

[ritualabuser]

From my perspective, the most important parts for a good comp are flow of the tracks and some sort of overarching theme or sound. I think cross genre comps can work, but that it should be close to or your flow and mixture of tracks should make it work alongside whatever genre the main body of the comp is made up of. Exclusivity of material, whether via the track itself or comp-only projects, is always nice as well; otherwise I'd say it's more of a sampler than anything. Nothing worse than holding onto a comp after you've gotten into most of the artists on it because of one or two tracks.

[Cranial Blast]

I am personally always been fan of good compilation. Role of compilation has changed, and now I don't think is much need for generic comp tape for example. Not just putting bunch of international noise tracks together... but some some of idea there, where compilation itself is far from sampler where you can find new artists, more album that works as itself. Tied into concept, geographic location, some sort of thing.

Even if I may say it myself, Terässinfonia, well justified both musically, but also documentation of current age Finnish scene. 6th part under work. Each comp has been careful process of rejecting stuff, asking new stuff, trying all sorts of different track orders to make them varied, yet not scattered all over the place. Mastering of tracks so it works as album. Some artists feel ready for compilation, but not ready for full CD album. Together with other types of track, it works. Would I get same satisfaction if this was not Finnish artists, but some sort of international comp? Not sure. Now there is purpose that goes beyond good noise.

I just placed orders for some sort of comp CD's, Experimental sound from Turkey and Experimental sound from Greece. Impression was that its the older stuff, but I'll see when CD's arrive. So still today, some sort of theme comp I happen to see, may spark interest for whatever reason.

Terässinfonia series is great when it comes to documenting Finnish noise artists, this was pieced together very well indeed. One of the reasons I love compilations is that sometimes you can find a new artist that way, for instance I first heard The New Boyfriends because of Terässinfonia series, so then you go down the rabbit hole of exploring the artist's other works further more and then sometimes you'll discover an artist you might not of been as fond of at first, but then heard a track by on compilation that made you maybe re-evaluate your thinking of the artist and to perhaps seek out once again. I think compilations are a mandatory when it comes to PE/Noise as everybody kind of has their own identity in a sense, it works best in this genre above all others in my opinion.

[Phenol]

I like a good compilation. When I was younger and couldn't afford to buy many records it was a great way to explore many artists at once and get an overview of a scene/genre. The CMI compilations were formative for me, f.ex., and a good label compilation showcasing what the label is about is certainly one variant that I appreciate. Another approach is simply making a playlist that works well and another again is to have some sort of overarching theme or concept. None of these approaches are mutually exclusive, of course. Are compilations still relevant then? Yes, definitely! Even with easy acces to most stuff on the internet, I respond differently when someone has put thought into collecting a good selection of tracks and made an effort putting them in order. Chances are that hearing something on a compilation that I like will get me to check it out further, while the constant flow of sound when listening online makes everything forgettable for me.