I am becoming, or perhaps have already become, a Bodega Pop addict. That blog legitimately has a little bit of everything, from pretty much everywhere. Internet global eclecticcore to a tee, and that's what I strive to be. They even have a twee pop tag, but I'm afraid to look at it for fear of reading about albums I Must Have and encountering dead download link after dead download link. But they also have self-curated exclusive comps, and that's where I've been focusing my attention today.

Albanian Sisters Swim to Freedom starts out fucking ecstatically excellent but I couldn't take over a CD's worth of the stuff (these comps are not beholden to 79: 57.) The coolest bits are the traditional instruments that sound like a cross between a hurdy-gurdy and a zorna. But I guess there's only so much Westernized synth-heavy slick mainstream pop I can take at one time regardless of country of origin.

The Vietrap comp, on the other hand, I enjoyed basically every minute of - this may have something to do with the inherent nature of hip hop (which isn't to say that it's not easily assimilated into flashy pop or can't be treacly) and also my preference of the sound of the Vietnamese language to Albanian. Or it could be the genuine pop skills of Mr. Dee and the Bells, who contribute 6 of the 21 songs. There's even a song that bites "I'll Be Watching/Missing You" and turns it listenable, some, though perhaps not enough, traditional Vietnamese music influence, such as on the 5 Dong Ke track and a lo-fi wonder in "Mot Ngay Khong Co Em" by Vpop.      

I was really excited for the Punk Islam comp, because who wouldn't be? But this is the one time that BP comes up tragically and frustratingly short. I've always said that the best punk is made by people who are a.) women, b.) Japanese or c.) queer, or, even better yet, a combination thereof. Wouldn't "Muslim" slot really well in that list? The problem I see with the BP comp is that it's just not punk enough, like at all, honestly. The Diacritical tracks sound like Clearchannel terrestrial radio rock with preachy lyrics and some kind of jazz rock with really really embarrassing rapping, respectively. Al-Thawra's "Gaza" has a bit of a sludge metal thing going for it, and "Hey Hey Hey Guantanamo Bay" by Secret Trial Five, the only track to feature female vocalists, is catchy, but they're sort of the only highlights, and far too much of the rest sounds like System of a Down, who I actually like, yeah yeah I know, but their debut is actually way more hardcore influenced that anything here and that's still not what I want in my Muslim punk comps. A track called "Rumi Was a Homo" should sound like Charming Hostess meets +HIRS+, not, well, SOAD.

Speaking of queers and punk, Fuckin' Dyke Bitches are fun, but not the second coming of Team Dresch by any means. "Boys Will Be Boys" seems to have a pro-trans woman message worded in one of the most cissexist ways possible and a fucking creepy-ass film sample at the end.

Kitten Forever are straight (boo) but they basically are the second coming of Bikini Kill. If you like bratpunk, Pressure will get the taste of last year's the Julie Ruin album out of your mouth and have you dreaming of 'zinier pastures. It's not quite Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah but it's probably legitimately better than Pussywhipped even if some bits sound to me more like Le Tigre with the electronic gimmick removed than BK proper. It's only problem, other than the straight thing, is length: split into two EPs, the first, at least, would easily be 4.5 stars. And the problem with the length is more a universal punk thing than their problem, and 13 tracks 1:30-2:00 tracks isn't a lot to ask, anyway.

I always thought Lunachicks were one of those femme-grunge bands that got lumped in with the good/legitimate riot grrrls, but, nah, at least on their self-titled EP they just add a touch of vintage hard rock to their punk attack, which is something I'm pretty sure only women can get away with - Theo Kogan, their vocalist, does a husky thing that couldn't be more at odds with the cheerleader chants that make up the genre's most memorable feature in popular consciousness. Straight or gay or whatever, they're basically the genre's bull dykes. As someone who always thought Girlschool were a zillion times cooler than Motorhead, I approve. PLUS, their related artists include bands named "Blare Bitch Project" and "Lez Zeppelin" so I mean how can you hate?   

Sivuva's Putte & Sivuca pleases me because it features a bunch of samba classics that nobody can really fuck up and also because it's got hella clarinet, which I've never pretended doesn't always get me going.