Blue
Dreams by Degrees
2003
Rating: 6.5 lit cigarettes out of 10
Compilations, by definition, are very fleeting things (at least they always have been to me). The chances of me listening to one more than a couple of times in a row are slim, and it almost always has to do with the amount of stuff on the disc that you *don’t” like, not the stuff you do. I could probably count on one hand the number of compilations that I’ve listened to a bunch of times on one hand.
Dreams by Degrees is this very small label out of San Francisco run by a few folks, most notably Jefre Cantu-Ledesma of Tarentel fame, and they’ve recently taken on the task of putting out these themed mixes. It’s obvious right from the start that they take it very seriously, from the sequencing to the packaging and everything else involved. It’s one of the main things that sets this apart from the rest of the unwashed masses. Another positive aspect is the use of, for lack of a better word, soundscapes as performed by Colophon as buffers between many of the songs. It almost works as a palate cleanser, not unlike when that fancy restaurant your parents dragged you to served you sorbet and you were just stoked to get something you recognized.
But this is all moot if the music on the compilation sucks. I can say with great conviction that I like more of this music than I don’t like. It’s nearly worth owning just to have the Vetiver and Film School songs alone, and Lazarus and the Stratford 4 also contribute excellent tracks. There are a couple I had a tendency to skip after the first few listens, but that’s to be expected as far as I’m concerned. With the effort and quality of this mix, I’ll certainly be curious to see what comes about on their next go around.
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