Various Artists, Hair: Chicago Punk Cuts

Hair: Chicago Punk Cuts, as you would expect from the title, compiles fourteen unreleased songs by different Chicago punk bands, spanning the range of punk and hardcore. From Explode and Make Up’s ’90s pop-punk, to The Killing Tree’s hardcore thrash to the Felix Culpa’s soundscapes, the compilation covers a lot of territory, even though it’s a relatively narrow niche to begin with.

There are some good songs here. The Bomb’s “Spaceman,” buried near the end, is a fun, catchy, song about a total space cadet who shouldn’t deserve any sympathy, but they give it to him anyway in the form of a great song. Explode and Make Up’s “Lion in a Cage” switches effectively between a shouted verse and a great melodic chorus, all at top speed. Ryan’s Hope presents “Condemning Race,” combining a great ragged vocal and melody with some great guitar parts. Much the Same, on “The Greatest Betrayal,” combines a thrashy feel and blistering tempo with a great chorus and some of the best drumming here (though the one thing none of the bands lack are good drummers).

Unfortunately, the good songs are outweighed by the bad ones. “West Palm Sand,” by Split Habit, tries to be big and grand, but the melody is clichéd, and the singer puts in one of the most pretentious performances I’ve heard in a long time. Cougars, on “We Blog the Hardest,” are irritating all the way from the guitar parts to the changes in texture to the singing. The Killing Tree’s “Dressed to Fuck” adds a melodic chorus to a Rage Against the Machine feel, but nothing can redeem a Rage Against the Machine feel. “Give Me a Tropical Contact High,” by Colossal tries to be amusing, with its cross of calypso and punk rock, but it doesn’t really work — the idea’s good, but the execution falters.

One particularly disappointing thing about the bands on the CD is that there is exactly one female on the entire record — Emily Schambra of Holy Roman Empire. (I should note that there’s one female backing vocal on one other song, and Schambra does that one, too.) Fortunately, Holy Roman Empire’s “Hail Mary” is a great song; Schambra sounds something like Corin Tucker without the vibrato or Elizabeth Elmore without the helium. The band sounds like your standard soft-to-loud punk rock, but the song has a great melody, and her singing is beautiful. Plus, they have the best credits in the insert.

True to the nature of compilation albums, there are some good songs on Hair: Chicago Punk Cuts and some bad ones. If you haven’t heard any of these bands before, this isn’t a bad way to hear them, both the good and the bad. And because the songs here aren’t on any of the bands’ own albums, it may be worth picking up, especially if you’re a fan of one of the bands. But considering that less than half the songs here are good, I’d be wary of this album.