Shred City Presents - Quarantine Compilation

Shred City Presents

Quarantine Compilation
self-released; 2020

4.0 out of 5

By Matt Jensen

I have to admit I haven’t listened to a compilation album in a long time. It was refreshing listening to Quarantine Compilation by Shred City Presents. Everyone has been affected differently by the virus and it was interesting to hear how artists decided to express themselves.

The story for this release starts with Josh Inman. “On March 15th, just as the outbreak was reaching New York, Inman (self-styled "Mayor of Shred City") wrote a tongue-in-cheek post in his social media asking simply "Who wants to start the "Quarantine Comp" of bedroom tapes?" adding "This should be documented somehow." Little did he know how eagerly his fellow musicians, mostly friends from the Brooklyn DIY indie rock scene, would join the cause. Acting with haste, Inman started making arrangements, creating artwork and collecting emails of prospective artists.

The album contains eighteen artists and a number of different styles. I did enjoy all the songs but there are a couple songs that stuck out to me. The opener is entitled “Sandstone” and is by Debbie Dopamine. It’s a sparse song revolving around guitar and vocals. I really enjoyed the double tracked vocals which were tender but powerful.

“Even This Will Pass” was a delightful song. It was beautifully optimistic and reminded me of The Beatles. I thought the playful vibe amongst the dire situation was a juxtaposition that worked wonderfully.

“Unsolved Miseries” by Onesie  was a rocking song and sounded like some of my favorite artists like Broken Social Scene and Yo La Tengo. The bass heavy “Quarantine-Age Werewolf” is full of levity and a fun romp as well. It sounded like a perfect song if they ever did a reboot of the movie Rocky Horror Picture Show.

The pensive and infectious “Social Distancing” by Monster Furniture contained hypnotic guitar patterns while “Dead Senator Warpath’ by Birds of Western Beef (Featuring Molly Buckley) is a beautiful and haunting song. “Under a Lavender Sky'' is an atmospheric electronic sounding track that felt cosmic and otherworldly. The anti-folk vibe of “Reckoning” by Birds of Western Beef (Featuring Patrick Curry) was haunting yet hopeful.

​I do want to stress I appreciated all the artists but simply didn't have enough ink to go into detail about every song. This is a fantastic compilation of talented artists who came together to create a  unified sound and sentiment.  Recommended.

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