V/A - "A Document Of Nothing" compilation cd

This cd was a joint venture from Second Nature Recordings (#2) and Out Structured fanzine (#1), two pretty important 90s ventures from the mid-western state of Missouri. Up to this point, Dan from Second Nature cut his teeth with Second Nature Fanzine, which was quite an enjoyable read. I have three or four issues of SN, and I hope to get them uploaded on here sometime soon. The first Second Nature Recordings release was a Coalesce cd, which combined the band's 2 song 7" (originally released by San Francisco's Chapter Recs), two live songs from CBGB's and one previously unreleased jam. This here compilation was Dan's second release as a record label, and it came out in 1996. In addition to Coalesce, this label went on to release tons of stuff by bands such as Grade, Rocky Votolato, Reggie And The Full Effect, Isis, the pre-Harvest and Threadbare band Krakatoa, Blood Brothers, etc.

Needless to say, this is a pretty necessary mid 90s comp, with quite a few notable bands from the era making an appearance. My personal favorite songs here are the ones from Harvest, Converge and, once it gets going, Mainspring. It also has arguably the best song Enkindel ever wrote, before they became shitty and re-branded themselves as The Enkindels. Enjoy!

-here-

Tracklist
1) Enkindel - "Half Witted"
2) Harvest - "Cessation"
3) Cycle - "One Thousand"
4) Stedding - "Tread"
5) Two Line Filler - "I'm Just Fine"
6) Despair - "Fletcher"
7) Walleye - "Crowned"
8) Combination Grey - "Twelve Steps"
9) Endeavor - "Balance Of The Rungs"
10) Autumn - "Final Dream"
11) Rain Still Falls - "Driver"
12) Converge - "Shingles"
13) Surface - "View"
14) Jejune - "Stresser"
15) Mainspring - "From The Tranches"

Common Ground 7"

In 1997, I saw this Vermont straight edge band's 7" listed in a Very Distro catalog, and since the description of it sounded like something I'd be into I took a chance and bought it. This was indeed a smart decision. These 5 kids played straight ahead, melodic youth crew hardcore and they did a pretty damn good job at it. It has enough variation / changes going on to keep most people into this style of stuff interested throughout all four songs. I would say it's similar to Ensign or even Bane in the fact that it was heavy enough for new school kids to get into and classic enough for the old schoolers, as well. The artwork is hilariously bad (although appropriate for the style), and I definitely judged this first when it arrived in the mail before listening to it, so shame on me, right? I'm pretty sure I'm the only person I knew who owned this record, or even ever heard of this band...both then and now.

If you were a part of or were into (you're no dummy, so of course you were) the redux of the youth crew stuff in the later years of the 90s, then I'd certainly recommend this overlooked gem to you. The record was released on Ignition Records in early 1997, and these songs were recorded on Halloween 1996 at Eclipse Studio in Hinesburg, Vermont.

-here-

Tracklist:
1) Slave
2) Smolder
3) Reflections
4) Through Example