VARIOUS ARTISTS - Finest Noise Sampler Vol. 32

18 songs
70:31 minutes
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The Finest Noise

It’s a well-known tradition at DisAgreement Online to review every six months a new compilation of the Bonn based record label The Finest Noise. Just like with surprise bags (except that there are male and female versions of those), you never know what to expect. The multitude of artists plus the really very low price make this experience a suspenseful affair.

Compilation 32 starts with Q-Box, one of the label’s best bands, that plays a strong mix of stoner rock and hard rock. Reshaper are also quite good with their hardcore meets postcore sound. Next up is a barren spell that starts with When Million Sleep whose progressive rock is too tame. The Brothers’ blues rock sounds rather plain. Things improve with the soulful garage rock of Baby La Bomba and Bongen’s Deutsch rock with feels inspired by But Alive! Hallo Erde beat-ful retro rock makes more fun than the dry indie rock of Yuna. Melobar and Much Better, Thank You both play well done German rock, while rock band Neoton doesn’t really convince me. Schluss mit Lustik’s Freibier is my favourite moment on the compilation, as the band is playing uncompromising Deutschpunk. Too much pathos comes with Und Wieder Oktober with their melancholic rock. Eulental’s mix of medieval rock with hip hop elements is quite strange and definitely not uninteresting. More unspectacular rock comes from The Duke Secrecy, and The Grand Sheep’s languid prog rock is also not managing to get my attention. Dr. Mulle’s Porno Radio has a very promising title, but they ended up sounding like The Sweet with laryngeal cancer. The CD concludes with Wrong Way Ticket’s run-of-the-mill metalcore.

It’s only my subjective opinion, but the thirty-second edition of the Finest Noise compilation feels like one of their weakest yet. Too many bands dwell in traditional indie and rock, afraid to try their hands at something new. But maybe you will like it better than me. The compilation can be ordered for simple postage money. Nowadays one may wonder if CD compilations are not somewhat anachronistic in the age of free downloads and Spotify playlists.