By Scott L. Miley
May 07, 2008 06:29 pm
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Various Artists
Defunct Indiana
Joyful Noise Recording
2.5 (of 4)
Subtitled “17 indie, experimental and hardcore artists from Indiana’s past,” “Defunct Indiana” isn’t as off-putting as it sounds. There’s genuine wish-we’d-been-there nuggets in this 11-year compilation by Karl Hofstetter for his Joyful Noise Recordings. Some bands should have expected short lives like Usurp Synapse with its satanic sonics. Others can’t mask their affection for Sonic Youth, like the idolizing Ativin posing as experimental or the self-conscious Manners for Husband. But some are deserved pleasures: America Owns the Moon shines with ’80s pop vigor, Ari Ari’s silliness is brash and hyper, and Sardina journeys fluidly in the 1960s mindtrip “Travel and Tourism.” And two will be missed: BIGBIGcar who splintered into Grampal Jookabox and Melk g6-49 — though often more fascinated with its own name — was true to experimental music with its techno talking in tongues and simmering bass-drum lines in the two songs here from its first disc. After one listen, you’ll wish you would have made the effort to support these bands.
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