WIN A CD FEATURING TODAY'S ARTIST:College Rock: Volcano, I'm Still Excited!! with their self-titled album

It reminds me of a CD of campus bands from my senior year at Northwestern University. The CD has recordings of all the top bands that competed in the Niteskool project which produces a music video for the winning band. Like that year’s Niteskool CD (Chops, 1995), Volcano, I’m Still Excited!! is at one moment full of hooks and the next moment quirky and a bit off-kilter.

This has meant some soul-searching and frantic word-crunching today, trying to adequately describe a new category in the Spectrum that has emerged. The Niteskool CD has for a long time been near the beginning of the Guitar Rock section, but this little grouping before and after the Niteskool CD is creating a group that really should be differentiated from Guitar Rock. After all, the guitar is only one piece of these quirky compositions on Volcano’s self-titled album.

Therefore, today we christen a new category: College Rock. I know, I know, there’s bound to be bands that are in this category that have never set foot on a college campus. For all I know, Volcano, I’m Still Excited!! has no connection to a university setting. However, I am trying to describe the sensibility of this music which is both ready for an off-campus party but also the stuff of master’s theses.

Off-campus parties need hooks and songs that rock out, like Volcano’s “In Green,” “New Brad,” and “2nd Gun.” A master’s thesis needs a study of odd arrangements and topics. Here Volcano supplies: the mid-album keyboard instrumental “Echo Park,” the orchestral “Byron’s 24th Christmas,” and “Trunk of My Car,” a song sung in a round looking for trust, hope, faith, and love in the trunk.

Volcano, I’m Still Excited!! is one of those albums that you love to listen to because each change in tempo, direction, and style brings a smile to your face. You think, “How’d they decide to do that? Where’d they come up with this idea?”

With this new category, a number of artists are being moved from other slots, slots that never really worked. College Rock will now include Cass McCombs, King Creosote, and collections from Flameshovel and Absolutely Kosher Records.

FOUR CHANCES TO WIN A CD SAMPLER!
Volcano, I’m Still Excited!! is released by Polyvinyl Records which has kindly provided 4 samplers to giveaway here at Music Spectrum. The sampler includes a track from Volcano and a variety of sounds from Polyvinyl artists. To win, email me with the name of your college/university/technical college or simply the name of a college nearby where you live. Let’s celebrate College Rock!

Winners:
1. Jerry of Sheboygan Falls, WI (Bradley Univ., Peoria, IL)
2. Wallyball Anton of Court 1 (Marquette Univ., Milwaukee, WI)
3. Anne of Longwood, FL (Florida Metropolitan Univ., Orlando, FL) - check out her dad's site, YBMT. Bruce is also a Music Spectrum reader/winner.
4. Marisa of Texas (Austin College, Sherman, Texas) - Marisa's blog

One more note: stand out tracks on Chops, the 1995 Niteskool Project CD, are: Stretch with “Based on a Conversation” (David Nagler, Matt Reed, & Dave Presser) and The Happy Few with “Malady” (Jon Hartman, Matt Reed, Dave Presser, & Steve Shermer). To wherever you guys are: rock on!