v/a “It’s a Trap! Reader’s Companion Volume Two” compilation CD

I don't think I've covered any compilations since switching over to the mp3 blog format, so I'm going to keep this one fairly short since it's a no-brainer in my opinion. I've mentioned a number of times in the past how fond I am of the It's a Trap website, which caters to Scandinavian music and has introduced me to a number of extremely incredible artists since its inception—a number of which are from outside the realm of my normal listening range. Well, the site has recently released its second compilation CD: The aptly titled "It's a Trap! Reader's Companion Volume Two", which contains 17 tracks and over an hour's worth of music for a mere $6—which includes a handy jewel case and some rather nice looking designs printed on matte stock and everything. Amongst the smattering of songs herein are a number of previously unreleased tracks—a damn nice touch that happens to include contributions from a few artists such as The End Will Be Kicks and The Grand Opening that I'm already a fan of thanks to the site, as well as a strange ambient piece from Plain Fade (one of the few such acts that I actually found out about directly from the band as opposed to It's a Trap). I won't hide the fact that there are a select few tracks on this thing that kind of fall into a quirky, "hip" sounding vat that doesn't really suit my tastes, but there's a very wide variety of material on this thing (quite admirably so, in fact), and as usual I have to thank It's a Trap for turning me onto some great new music that I never would've heard otherwise—not to mention forcing me to lay off the "heavy stuff" for awhile! You'll find everything from generally unclassifiable flirtations with emo/indie rock to acoustic singer/songwriter styles, weird and atypical "new wave" sounds, unexpected excursions into an ambient niche of experimental noise, or even just kind of, like... straight soft rock or something, I don't fucking know, man... there's a song or two on this thing that could conjure visions of some laidback Fleetwood Mac or Bob Seger shit! But yeah, yeah, I'm a hardcore and metal guy, so what the fuck do I know, right? Well, I know that I like a lot of these tunes, and I appreciate the chance to surprise myself with what lighter fare can actually do the trick for me. Here are a few examples of songs that I wouldn't expect myself to like, but most certainly do:

Moonbabies "Take Me to the Ballroom"
Viola "Invisible Revolution"
Tiger Lou "Nixon"

I'm already looking forward to "...Volume Three"! And look, people, this fucking thing is only $6, which is probably barely enough for those responsible to even entertain the feeble notion of breaking even on this gem, so I highly, highly encourage you to support them with a purchase if you're curious... and buy the first volume of the series while you're at it, because it's only $5! And please keep in mind that the above three tracks are not indicative of all that these collections have to offer in terms of particular genre(s). So go, now, do it:

@ It's a Trap