Various Artists - San Diego is Burning

If you think that the only great band from San Diego is Blink-182, think again. There is genuine music pumping out of the southern portion of California, and on San Diego Is Burning, I was introduced to a variety of local artists from the Golden State. "San Diego Is Burning" is a perfect description of this compilation disc, which sets your focus on some of the absolute best. The disc provides listeners with previously unreleased tracks from Goodbye Blue Monday - "I am the One," Ryan Ferguson - "Wait For Me There," The Dropscience - "One Lung and a Heart Full of Fear," and a favorite of mine, No Knife with a remix of "Riot For Romance." It also gives you a taste of The Black Heart Processions - "From the Shores of A Washed-Up Heart," a tune previously released in Japan. There are other bands on the compilation that had never graced my ears, such as Via Satellite, with their quiet and calming tune "Close As I Can." In fact, I felt so fortunate to hear them, I have been doing some mad-surfing of the Net trying to find their disc for purchase. Math-rockers Sleeping People's "Nasty Portion" warped my senses and drove me mad. Literally. It was 4:03am, and I was fighting sleep and only after several minutes of screaming to my pet, Kitty the Cat, "What is wrong?! The cd is NOT SCRATCHED!", did I realized that, well, the cd was indeed not scratched. I should also add the 50% of the proceeds from San Diego Is Burning will help fund the San Diego Humane Society. Great music for a great cause. [www.loudandclearrecords.com]