Songs for Cassavetes

by

Unwound and Some Velvet Sidewalk

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This album is amazing!

I have not seen the film, but the album tells a story all it own. While the recording quality does falter at times, it adds to the feel of the album. Sliding this disk into the player can magically transport you back to a smoke filled venue ala 1993.

The emotional version of Spectacles by Chisel is awe inspiring. This recording was made at a concert given in tribute to fallen band mate, Brian Muller. His work shines in the efforts if his friends.

If you are serious about the history of indie rock, this cd is a cronicle a of very important chapter...

There are three things you must consider when reading this review:

1. I bought this CD simply for the Unwound track, a live version of one of their best songs.

2. I've never revered the Northwest's music scene the way many people seem to do.

3. While I tend to listen mostly to indie-rock, nothing bothers me more than "sellout" talk.

"Songs For Cassavetes" has it's moments. It really does. "Arboretum," the Unwound track I mentioned above, is spectacular, but (as with almost every song on here) it's recording quality is low even by bootleg standards. I don't know if the audio was taken directly from the movie's film, but it sounds like it was taken off of a fourth-generation copy of a VHS cut. The album, like the movie, focuses almost solely on the San Francisco and Olympia scenes, making it in no way representative of the indie world it tries to portray. And those snippets of interviews with Calvin Johnson, Molly Neuman and others merely make these musicians come across as pretentious art-school whiners beating an old, old horse. Hooray for DIY, but a big boo to the same old argument. "Cassavetes" is a mixed bag, but surely with the variety of bands on here (along with a program feature on your CD player), there's going to be something to satisfy...