Various Artists - Location Is Everything Vol. 2

The label sampler CD often unknowingly works against itself. First off, if the label's roster isn't really all that dynamic in sound, it is quite possible that it will be impossible to differentiate between artists, so what's the point in discovering a specific artist if they all sound the same? Secondly, the possibility exists that the one song included on the sampler really isn't that representative of a bands sound. Just because one song is upbeat and catchy as hell doesn't mean the rest of the disc is going to be. Jade Trees second installment of Location is Everything does a good job of conquering both of these problems. The range of musical styles on the disc varies enough from track to track that you get the feeling the label is putting out whatever they feel is a strong record, not just a hodge podge of the same recycled crap over and over. Volume 2 has its fair share of hardcore/punk influenced artists like From Ashes Rise, Kid Dynamite, or Paint It black, but artists like Cex, Pedro The Lion, Denali, or Statistics keep anything from sounding too homogenous. Oddly enough, the disc manages to conquer the problem of tricking the listener into snagging an album based purely off of one song. While not every artist has two songs included here, enough of them (Statistics, Paint It Black, Onelinedrawing, Cex, From Ashes Rise) do in order to sort of clue you in to the sort of variety you're going to get from a full-length disc. Samplers can be a great way to expose new artists, or they can be a really easy way to let everyone know that a label has no variety and nothing to offer beyond one simple trick. Jade Tree comes out on top with this one showing that they have a variety of styles to offer. I recommend picking up Volume 1 or Volume 2 if you ever see it available on the cheap, or just browse their site and snag a bunch of mp3's to make your own. [www.jadetree.com]