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Music Education

What Are CD Samplers?

A CD Sampler is a kind of compilation album that combines tracks from many different artists, usually from the same label. Labels would put out these CDs so people could be introduced to an artist without having to commit to buying a CD by an artist they didn’t know. The same way that you might be offered a bite of something before you buy a meal. It was a good way for labels to give their artists exposure and a good way for listeners to discover new music. 

History

Sample albums have been around since the 60s, and it was the vinyl format and not CDs that introduced them. As is still true today, singles dominated the music economy of the 60s. Radios preferred to play singles and artists with singles dominated vinyl sales. If an artist wasn’t making singles and was more album focused, there was less chance of their music being discovered. As one solution to this problem labels came up with sample albums. The idea was once someone finished a sample album, they might go buy an album by one of the artists featured there. 

Compilation albums in general grew a lot as a way to not only find new music but to be able to enjoy music from many artists at once. Now that we have the power to make infinite playlists, that kind of variety is something that we may take for granted. An example you might be familiar with of a popular compilation album is Now That’s What I Call Music. This compilation collected music from a variety of artists that did not share a label. While this would likely not be a very good way to discover music, given the pop oriented nature of this specific example, there are many other kinds of compilation albums out there. Often they have titles like “Best Of” or “Greatest Hits”, or they may have a title related to a specific genre that they are highlighting. 

Modern Day

Obviously, this way of discovering new music has died down a lot. The usefulness of CD samplers in present day is debatable. Currently, algorithms and online streaming dominate music recommendation. This can have both good and bad side effects that could be its own article. Anecdotally, I find that algorithms usually struggle to show me music that is different from what I normally listen to. I have come to really enjoy digging around in CD sales for samplers as a result. By using this method I have found music that I may never have clicked on. Some labels are continuing to make sample CDs. Bandcamp is absolutely full of these, but you can find them in the wild too at CD and record stores. If you don’t own a CD player, don’t worry. Compilation albums and sample albums still exist online in a digital format. There is no reason you need to buy physical CDs in order to find new music this way. 

Finding new music can be difficult. While CD samplers may seem like a byproduct of a time when record labels had control over everything, they are still a really interesting way to get a taste of a variety of music. Keep an ear out and you might hear something new you love.

Categories
New Album Review

Album Review: Shy at first by cootie catcher

Released in March of this year, “Shy at First” by Cootie Catcher is a nostalgic electronic twist on the indie pop formula. This delightful venture into indietronica is overflowing with earnestness. Starting from the name of the album alone, we are greeted with the idea of people figuring out how to be people. The album touches on unspoken things that bother us when trying to navigate our personal relationships and explores these themes with a joyful through line. 

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Concert Review

Concert Review: The Crane Wives

On May 13th, 2025, The Crane Wives played at The Ritz, Raleigh, as part of their “Beyond, Beyond, Beyond” tour. The tour is named for the band’s latest album, which was released in September of last year. “Beyond, Beyond, Beyond” is the band’s fifth studio album. The Crane Wives have been releasing music since 2011, during the heyday of indie folk.

Categories
Miscellaneous

Nostalgia, Fashion, and Music

Nostalgia and Fashion

Nostalgia for the past is by no means a new thing. It isn’t just kids these days who believe they were born in the wrong generation, because culture has always been cyclical to a degree. The style of the 00s making a comeback with the “Y2K aesthetic” craze is no surprise at all. Many fashion scholars reference the idea of a 20 year cycle. The 50s heavily borrowed from the style of the 1930s, which borrowed in turn from the 1900s. Despite this, nostalgia today feels different somehow.

Walking into clothing stores is jarring, with the most chic decade changing from rack to rack. 60s style babydoll dresses hang right next to a bedazzled tank top right out of an early 2000s pop music video. Right next to that rack is a shelf of neatly folded sweaters with orange and brown stripes, which makes my mom cringe. “I haven’t seen that color combo since the 70s,” She says.

Categories
Music Education

Defining Genre: Jangle Pop

What Is Jangle Pop?

Jangle pop describes a sound characterized by bright “jangly” guitars. Bands created this sound by using single-coil pickups. Pickups on electric guitars convert string vibrations into electricity. Inside of the pickup are magnetic bars, wrapped in coils. Metal coils can convert vibrations into electricity even without a power source. The metal strings on guitars work as a second magnetic body, which moves over the magnetic bars and coils. When a magnet goes over the coil an electrical current flows through it. 

There are two main ways to make pickups, single or double coils. Double coils reduce the amount of outside noise interference because each coil can cancel out any background humming done by the other. Single coils on the other hand do not have noise reduction. Single coil pickups offer a crisp and clean tone, which when paired with the use of minimal distortion on amps creates the jangly sound for which the genre is named. Some jangle pop acts also employed the use of 12-string guitars. 12-string guitars produce a cascading, shimmery sound. This sound is due to the fact that it is impossible to vibrate all of the strings simultaneously.  

While influenced by pop and utilizing pop writing conventions, bands still usually had a DIY mentality, an amateur sound and cryptic lyrics. 

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Classic Album Review

Classic Album Review: Mitsumeru

Album cover for Gaze by Mitsumeru

Gaze was a Canadian indie pop band with shoegaze and twee leanings. Their drummer, Rose Melberg, was part of a number of other musical groups within the genre such as The Softies and Tiger Trap. The band only released two albums before disbanding but I think that both are worth a listen. While often criticized for lack of musical variety between songs, each song feels emotionally sincere. They may not be the most musically complex band, but their frank lyrics describing everyday frustrations and arguments endear them to me. A friend of a friend you can’t stand, a break up that leaves you bitter and an argument where insults are thrown back and forth are all stories explored within the album “Mitsumeru”. 

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New Album Review

Album Review: Grand Voyage

“Grand Voyage” is the second album by French electropop group Tapeworms. In this follow up to their 2020 debut “Funtastic”, the already-unique band has gotten even more experimental. While the previous album also contains electronic elements, the influence of shoegaze is abundant on “Funtastic”. “Grand Voyage” is harder to pin down. 

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Concert Preview

Locals Only! for May

Another year, another Local’s Only! A collaboration between WKNC and Neptunes to show off and show up for local bands returns later on Thursday, May 8. Featuring two indie bands from right here in Raleigh, North Carolina, you’re not going to want to miss it. Let’s take a look at the bands.