v/a “Dave Parasite Presents: Pop Punk’s Not Dead” compilation CD

I don't know who "Dave Parasite" is (other than, I assume, a member of the Parasites—the final band on this CD), but kudos to him for putting this thing together (with the help of Go-Kart Records). I haven't followed all that much pop-punk in the last decade, but as a guy who still loves his old NOFX and Lagwagon albums, the prospect of a compilation featuring 30 tracks from 30 such bands (nearly 50% of which happen to be "The" bands: The Spinoffs, The Leftovers, The Scissors, and so on...) in a whopping 71+ minutes is a curious one indeed. And I have to say: Despite the rather unappealing cover art or whatever (it's just not my style is all), this fuckin' thing really does deliver. The United States, Italy, Australia, Japan, England, Belgium, Germany, Canada, and The Netherlands are all represented, with the bulk of the inclusions representing more of an early- to mid-90's kind of sound that I haven't stumbled across from any contemporary bands in quite some time—though apparently The Queers and Boris the Sprinkler are both still active—which is news to me, as I haven't heard those names since, like, 1997 or something! But yeah, expect a healthy dose of simple power chords and punchy bass runs with a bunch of those basic single-string lead melodies and plenty of vocal harmonies—with varying degrees of that snotty/nasally sort of sarcasm present from time to time. Several acts lean more in the direction of a poppy "punk" take on classic 50's/60's rock 'n' roll riffs and vocal arrangements, while a very select few start to get a little "heavier" in terms of guitar tones or integrating some subtle dissonance into their chord phrasings and stuff like that, but there aren't many frills happening here: The title basically says it all. Sure, sometimes a number of the contributors can start to sound rather similar to one another, what with every track being around two to three minutes long (three-and-a-half minutes tops) and all of the bands working with similar building blocks, but some tracks are faster and more energetic than others, some recordings are a little rougher around the edges (i.e. less effective) than others, etc. I'm a fucking sucker for catchy songs, though, and while not every track's a true keeper here, there's not a bad tune in the bunch. Any compilation containing so many songs can be a chore to conquer in one sitting, and this one's no different in that regard, but it does play through pretty solidly, and there are absolutely a handful of bands herein that I'd damn sure like to hear more from, so... mission accomplished!

The Leftovers "Camel"
Guff "Change"
The Unknown "Seven"
Bambix "Little Less Drunk"

Hey, it's only $8 straight from the label, and a portion of the proceeds will go to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society as well, so... if you like what you hear, fuckin' buy one:

Go-Kart Records