Various Artists – Fountains Of Folly Vol 3: A Mismanaged Midwestern Menagerie

Fountains Of Folly is still a relatively new compilation series that fronts itself as a soundtrack for alcohol-centred, sweat-stained t-shirt wearing underachievers (actually it’s a collection of PR company Recycled Rockstar’s supported acts, but the cover art suggests otherwise).  Throw a collection of raucous party tunes together and you get an hour-long punk and hardcore soundtrack to a destructive, messy house party.  For the third volume, A Mismanaged Midwestern Menagerie, Recycled Rockstar has included a ton of variety, making for a broad appeal that should attract quite the crowd.  Punk, hardcore, melodic speed rock, country, and retro grooves – they might draw from a wide rage, but they’re all here to rip the house down.

“Our fountain of youth spiked with alcohol” screams melodic punk rock group The Disappeared on “Ride As Knights” – the song’s message of racing hard in spite of their aging tattooed bodies.  As strong as the opener is, you’d be wrong to assume that those next follow their lead.  Only “Daytime With Maury” by Under The Black Sails really waves the melodic punk rock flag several tracks later.

Instead, the compilation gives a healthy solute to some particularly solid examples of retro rock.  Songs by Jetty Boys (who sound a little like Green Day side project The Network), Teenage Rehab,Pericles, and KTP draw on varying aspects past trends like Strokes-esque tempos, and even a dash of 80’s hardcore.  Truthfully, it’s tough lumping many of these bands together – especially with their tracks standing strongly together.

Another area of regularity is classic rock and southern country.  The first instance comes early with track three in the form of Cutthroat Shamrock’s pseudo cover, “Dry Bones.”  It’s a song they completely make their own in tempo, banjo swagger, and over the top craggy vocals.  While it’s hands down my favourite of the bunch, the saloon ready tempos of Blue Boot Healers, and folky reflection of Marc Shipley also shape up nicely.  As for the classic rock, I wouldn’t consider many of them definitive highlights (Hot Dog Skeletons and New Lost Souls don’t do much for me), but I’ll admit to The Damned Young Livers growing on me after a few spins.

And lastly, the album features somewhat of a miscellaneous assortment of punk and indie – many of which mark themselves as my favourite on the compilation.  For instance, Roberta Sparrow’s gravelly city anthem “New York” stands exemplary of bands like Hot Water Music in their coarse take on punk rock, and Dandelion Snow delivers a moving emotional performance in the minimally acoustic strummer, “Haunted Houses.”  Such variety help cushion the twenty-six song run time, especially since those like the very Cake-influenced Opossum Trot lack an equivalent on the compilation (although I’m still puzzled by the sole hip-hop inclusion of James Christos).

With a solid, diverse track list, skipping the few weaker tracks (generally spanning the compilation’s hardcore offerings) just makes sense (Rattletooth, ((Thorlock)), and Everything Went Black impede the overall flow).  As a compilation, Fountains Of Folly Vol. 3 doesn’t do much in terms of defining itself for a particular crowd, or standing out from the mountains of other compilations out there.  However, with a generally strong track selection, listeners should at the very least enjoy the ride all the while familiarizing themselves with some deserving talent.