PPUSA compilation CD ... thoughts? comments?

[Claus / Intromental]

Since we spend a lot of time putting this thing together (CD sampler and magazine) and a lot of bands and record labels throw in quite a lot of money to make this happen, I'm always curious to hear your comments on it all.

Thoughts? Which bands stood out to you - did you pick up any new CDs based on what you heard on the samplers? Anything you'd like done differently w the CD and / or magazine?

 

[J-Dubya 777]

sitting on my entertainment center will hopefully FINALLY have time to give it a listen tomorrow....Out of the fun, into the fire since I've come back home.....bah!

 

[seh750]

I haven't listened to the sampler CD yet (still going through all my purchases from that weekend), but I have to say it was nice that iTunes recognized the disk and songs when I went to rip it. Don't think that's happened in years past.

 

[Pellaz]

I haven't listened to the sampler CD yet (still going through all my purchases from that weekend), but I have to say it was nice that iTunes recognized the disk and songs when I went to rip it. Don't think that's happened in years past.

THIS. I was pleasantly surprised.

There was another comp CD set that wasn't so accommodating.

 

[yardleybates]

Still working through listening to all 3 disks - my only request for future discs is if the track listing can be numbered on the jacket. When I'm listening and want to check which band / song is playing, I have to count down the list to the track I'm on.

Thanks for all your hard work putting these together every year! It's great to get to check out so many new bands!

Need a few more listen cycles but definitely have had a few pop my interest so far!

 

[MetalSpice]

I love the variety of bands on the sampler and the fact that it opens doors for bands to have their music heard. (I had never heard of over half the bands on the discs.)
"Children of a Dead God" by Divinity Compromised is my favorite tune on the entire sampler.
The magazine is very well put together, looks professional, is very informative and I always look forward to having this as a keepsake.
Thanks and keep up the good work! =)

 

[Mardoch]

The whole deal is quite high quality. Most of the stuff on it that I liked this year I had already purchased at the fest, with a couple of exceptions (like Until Rain and Withem).

I know that no one has any control over this, but it would be nice if the production quality were more consistent from track to track. There are a couple that sound like basement demos and a lot that are obviously professional work. The disparity is a bit of a throwoff for me.

I have to say it was nice that iTunes recognized the disk and songs when I went to rip it. Don't think that's happened in years past.

I'm entertained by this. The PPUSA sampler discs didn't identify in Windows Media Player, but the other sampler did.

 

[No Username]

Out of the 12 years I have been collecting samplers, this year has the strongest set of disks. I especially like disk 2; it refuses to come out of my boombox. When it does, it will go into the car to replace the Lalu disk that I spend the rest of my time with. Good job!

 

[Justin G]

It's a nice mix of signed and unsigned bands. I usually play each disc once and rip a few tracks to iTunes. This time around my favorite new discoveries were Lalu, Prospekt, Withem and Dark Mirror.

 

[nomisofsiman]

Dark Mirror is great stuff; too bad they really suck live now since they changed to a growly vocalist.

 

[SkiBumMSP]

Not had a chance to listen to the disk yet. Just looking through the list, a good many of them, I already have their albums, but there are few that I will want to check out. Also, the book is nice as before. A lot of good info in the interviews, plus I've even bought things based on some of the ads that I've seen in there (very rare, as I typically ignore ads).

I still have all the discs and books from every ProgPower I've attended (started with PP VI in 2005).

 

[Mardoch]

Funny you should mention the ads in the program. That's how I initially got turned onto Aeon Zen. They had a half page, I think, the first year I came and I was intrigued very much. Been a fan since I heard Into the Infinite when I got home. The ads in the program are about the only ones I ever pay attention to.

 

[Diamond45]

Still listening to the first disc. Great so far. As Justin said - a great mix of signed and unsigned bands. The audio quality and the art work are top notch that would rival a major label release.

 

[J. Golden]

Every year on the trip home from Atlanta the four of us play a game with the sampler, this has been the first one since we started that we have ever made it through a whole song before skipping.
The Mindcage was interesting, as I mentioned in the thread about Mindcage for some reason I'm on the fence with them, something is appealing there I just can't hit what that is yet. Going on the time alone I would have automatically dismissed it normally, seriously how many Mind" bands are there in the proggy power world anyway? Still the track wasn't bad.
The there was a track with Zakk Stevens, forget the band name. Not the greatest song but I like Zakk's vocals so almost made it though that track.
The most interesting one to me was Chad Frey "Kill the TV"; not only does this stick out being such a square peg, but I just found it humorous thinking about how a lot of people were scratching their heads at the moment this track came on. It also reminded me of David Jove's New Wave Theater which never in a 100 years would I ever think I would find myself in a conversation about related to Progpower, much less a song on the sampler that would bring that to mind.
The rest well I can't remember that is how much of an impression it made. Just seemed like I had heard it all before.

Actually there was one more that caught me but I have to go back through to find what that was.

 

[J-Dubya 777]

Ok, my thoughts on the sampler cds:

Order of preference based on a semi-blind listen - Disc 2 fared the best, followed by 1, and 3 at the end.

Standout tracks:

Disc 1 - Felix Martin (I'm a sucker for anything Marco is on)
- Halcyon Way (Always liked these guys, and this track shows them getting better and better, or is that butter & butter? )


Disc 2 - Damnation Day
- Prospekt
Both just great tracls, and up my alley, musically......

Disc 3 - Divinity Compromised (Great track, GREAT cd....)
- Haken (Liked these guys since day one, new disc isn't growing on me yet, but this is one of the best tracks off of it)

- Seven Kingdoms - (Excellent track from a band I do enjoy!)

That's it, on to the program hopefully tonight, or I'll save it in case I have Jury Duty tomorrow....WI is weird the way they do things....

 

[Justin G]

Any chance someone can post a decent image of the sampler cover here? I'm obsessive enough to need the cover art in iTunes, and my scanner is glitchy.

 

[ebola1]

I actually like a quite a few more bands on the sampler CD set than I usually do, as I have in previous years. Here are my choices of the bands I didn't know about, aside from the ones I already enjoy listening to like Creations' End & Haken.

Lalu
Damnations' Day
Prospekt
Until Rain
Withem

In speaking only about CD2...aside from the killer new James Labrie track, I think Utopian Trap from the Bay Area is a really original sounding band in a progressive thrash metal kinda way and the lead vocalist is a cool dude from SF.