When I first learned of an emo/ post- punk/ post- hardcore/ post- whatever compilation from the folks at K-Tel Records, mass- producers of truck stop cassette comps such as Chart Action '83, Wings of Sound and The Best of Kentucky Kountry, I laughed at what I thought was a pretty clever joke. After all, why would a company whose warehouse contains grain silos filled with disco hits want to release a record sampling stuff by bands like Mineral and Unwound? Why would K-Tel's target market care for anything that was a) recent, b) good, and c) not disco, country or country- disco? So, yeah, I chuckled at what I thought was an Onion- style news tidbit.

But this week, Nowcore! arrived in the Pitchfork mailbox, altering its status from comedy to reality. A writer from Punk Planet even wrote the stereotypically emo (a mix of nostalgia, pop- culture, and rhapsodic waxing) liner notes. The design has the trademark superfluity of emo records-- meaningless parallel lines, blurry pictures of bowling shoes inside boxes with rounded corners, and a packaging scheme that is fittingly fragile, frustrating, and... white.

Musically, this is a great compilation. I can't find fault with the selection of bands-- the Promise Ring, Hum, Seaweed, Modest Mouse, Braid, Burning Airlines, Unwound, the Dismemberment Plan, Drive Like Jehu, and Jawbox. Some of these are my favorite bands... ever. But I do question the song selection at points. If you're pulling a song from Unwound's Repetition, how can you pass up the unbelievably brilliant "Corpse Pose?" I love the Dismemberment Plan more than food at times, but do they really need the deceivingly kitsch "Ice of Boston" on another record? Why not throw us a juicy bit from the upcoming Emergency and I? Or how about a song that somebody hasn't heard? Same goes for Hum's "120 Minutes" anthem, "Stars." Samiam also makes an appearance, reminding us that they did release something new in '98, and that it wasn't very good.

However, some cuts were selected with surprising inspiration. Seaweed's "Start With" is a chin- out, shout- at- the- ceiling rocker from an overlooked major label debut. "Convenient Parking" from The Lonesome Crowded West is among Modest Mouse's least white- trash/ white- noise pop gems.

On the other hand, every compilation must have the obligatory "who does their PR?" bands. Will At the Drive In and Knapsack please report to the lost- and- found-- someone turned in your originality. I thought this was supposed to represent "the punk rock evolution." I mean, as far as I can tell from reading Scientific American, cloning is not yet a part of evolution.

But the greatest travesty of all comes at the closing with Jawbox's "Savory." What was one of the greatest indie rock songs of the 1990s-- resonating with copper tones, glimmering like forged gold, a symphony of gossamer chimes and angel's hammers-- has been replaced with a remixed or re-recorded version! Jawbox, I love you, but why?! You don't mess with "Savory!" Ted Nicely's production injected the LP version of "Savory" with majestic echoes and caustic ringing. On Nowcore!, the drums have been forklifted forward and the guitars have been cranked into a fuzzy crunch. On 1993's For Your Own Special Sweetheart, the solo ripped forth from the speakers-- now it just sounds sort of... there. Still, Jawbox towers over their disciples on Nowcore! J. Robbins' influence is nearly comical. About half of the songs on here seem to feature Robbins' either playing on them or producing them.

So, you may be wondering why I've given this record such a low rating. I do recommend most of this music based on its own merits, but this record seems completely unnecessary. Its intended market most likely has most of these records. I would consider myself in the target audience of this music, and I already own 12 of these 16 records. As far as "punk rock evolution," I would have preferred more edge. How about some Smart Went Crazy, Rye Coalition, Circus Lupus, or Brainiac? (Most likely because these bands consider themselves punk enough not to put in an appearance on a K-Tel compilation.)

I won't rekindle the tired argument of what's punk and what isn't, but as a genre, it does seem like emo is continually justifying itself. For example, in the press blurb that accompanies this CD, the PR people proclaim, "Here's a hot little comp coming straight from America's oldest and largest independent label, K-Tel." Why do they need to try and twist K-Tel into a hip label? Who cares? It's K-Tel! This is such an obvious "cred safeguard." And another thing-- Master P's No Limit is America's largest independent label. You betta recognize! I mean, if these bands put out a record on No Limit, would that make them hip? ...Actually, now that I think about it, I'd rather hear that album.

-Brent DiCrescenzo