Various Artists
We Just Call It Roulette, Vols. 1 & 2
Russian Recording
Russian Recording is not a record label; it is a recording studio in Bloomington, Indiana, where more than a hundred bands, from local heroes (Ghost Mice) to Zimbabwean folk singers (Sheasby Matiure) have made their albums. The Roulette compilations, released in two volumes over two years, present songs from twenty-seven of these bands—a kind of studio sampler for the business and a good dose of publicity for the musicians.
In both form and function, the Roulette comps are no different from their label-released counterparts; but knowing that each of these bands passed through the same studio makes for a very different listening experience than, say, a typical K Records sampler. Roulette creates an audio snapshot of an imaginary day at Russian Recording: we get a sense of what kinds of bands come to the studio, how good they tend to be, how different they sound from one another, and in general who’s making their music in Bloomington.
Most of the bands sound fairly similar. There’s a lot of medium-fast hard rock with dissonant riffs and angsty vocals. The songs all rock hard enough, but there’s a pervasive sterile correctness to these songs: well-executed and—crucially, for the promotional purpose of the project—well-recorded; but short overall on imagination.
Part of this may be the result of the mastering—every track on the compilations was mastered specifically for this project. The studio was going for a uniform sound across the Roulette volumes, and that’s what they got. It’s admirable to aim for a cohesive, album-like listening experience; but Russian Recording may have sold themselves short by not showcasing a greater diversity of sound here.
There are a few standout tracks that are worth checking out: “Jacob’s Hand,” by Nate Jackson, is a classic, vital bluegrass yarn about a man who shoots his family and runs into trouble with the law. Sheasby Matiure’s track throws a bright Shona folk song in the middle of a rock-dominated collection. The irrepressible Coke Dares have three lightning-fast songs on Volume 1, all brattily glorious punk gems. Defiance Ohio brings some name recognition onto Volume 2, and Prizzy Prizzy Please contributes some frenetic noisy fun near the end. Volume 2 is available for free download on soapboxpromotion.com; Volume 1 is being sold directly from the studio.
