This is the second disc sent to me from the Crabwalk CD Swap. There is no contact info included or site information or anything like that. In fact, the tracklisting is a simple list of songs & artists, not even numbered on a piece of paper that doesn't even fit in the CD cover. I don't expect professionally done graphics or anything like that, but I do expect at least a numbered tracklisting that is either folded or cut to fit into the CD case and some contact info so I can send you an e-mail with a quick "hey, I recieved your disc" or something like that. I'm just anally retentive like that, I guess. Anyways, on to the music:

1. Robbie Fulks "Cry, Cry, Cry" - Bad country song. The chorus and verses are basically interchangeable and extremely repetitive. The music is slow and has no energy. I'm not a big fan of most country music anyways, but at least a good portion of it has some upbeatedness to it. This song doesn't.
   
2. Paul Kelly "Darling It Hurts" - Very good guitar intro, transitioning into piano and drum track, similiar to "Johnny B. Goode" type old-style rock & roll. Vocal mix needs some help, it's rather muted. Not a bad song, though. This one could be a keeper.
   
3. Ass Ponys "All by Myself" - Someone needs to tell Kerry that you should NEVER, EVER, EVER expose someone else to the Ass Ponys. It's just not acceptable in a civilized society to do that to another human being. This is just a horrible track by a horrible band. Yuck.
   
4. Dave Pirner "Feel the Need" - A forgettable track with a repetitive drum track and muted synth. A whiny alterno-rock vocalist rounds off the song. Not even strong enough to elicit a negative opinion.
   
5. Chuck Prophet "Storm Across the Sea" - I've never had a problem listening to Chuck Prophet. A friend of mine was way into him a while ago, so I've heard a lot of his stuff. This is a nice song with a sweet bluesy guitar and a good vocal track.
   
6. David Kilgour "Sept. 98" - Nice little instrumental heavily laden with an acoustic guitar. Not bad at all.
   
7. Mary Lee's Corvette "Simple Twist of Fate" - First time I've heard them. Very simple, acoustic track with a very muted rythm section and a harmonica later on. Reminds me of 4 Non Blondes or the Indigo Girls, I can't pick out which. A love hurts kind of track.
   
8. Roddy Frame "Surf" - Another acoustic guitar love hurts kind of track with a great singer. He has an incredible vocal range.
   
9. Go Go Market "Him" - A slow kind of bluesy tune. The vocalist is very good, and I like the violin a whole lot. Nice song about broken friendship.
   
10. Bessie Banks "Go Now" - Another forgettable love song. I'm not much into that kind of stuff.
    
11. Neko Case "Runnin' Out of Fools" - Another love song but at least this one's got a good singer. Reminds me of '50's lounge music so much that I have a picture in my head of a Marilyn Monroe-ish girl singing it hanging over a piano and strolling around the room. Not too bad, I guess.
    
12. Stephen Malkmus "Church on White" - Nice guitar track, very bluesy. I like it quite a bit.
    
13. Paul Kelly "Look So Fine, Feel So Low" - For some reason, the name sounds extremely familiar. I'm not impressed with the whiny-alterno-rock vocal style though. The music is nice, though. Reminds me of the song "Centerfield" by John Fogerty although the lyrics are completely different.
    
14. The Replacements "Kiss Me On the Bus" - Good song, very poppy and rather radio-friendly.
    
15. The Von Bondies "Cryin'" - Now that's more like it. Singer sounds like Glenn Danzig over a pretty heavy background. Sounds like The Misfits gone pop. Nice song. This one interests me in this band.

All around, not too bad with the exception of the Ass Ponys track. That was just rude. It took a few times through for it to grow on me, since this stuff is so far away from my normal taste range. There are just too many love songs on the disc for my liking, but the Von Bondies track made the disc for me. I've never heard them before, but that track got me interested enough to check out some more of their stuff.