various artists - SPIN Presents Newermind: A Tribute Album

I don't recall the circumstances of downloading this initially. I'm fairly certain, based on the release date, that I had a subscription to the print edition of Spin. But there's no one artist here that I was a fan of, and a couple people here (coughamandapalmercough) that I downright loathe. I don't recall it being sponcon, or having someone whose blog I read recommending it, or a bud saying, "Hey, that Surfer Blood cover of 'Territorial Pissings' is worth hearing." Nothing about this lines up.

Yet the folder date on the ol' hard drive tells me I downloaded it within a few days of its release on the Spin website. And I see I've listened to it through at least twice. It's an interesting mix of Nirvana contemporaries (Meat Puppets, the Vaselines), direct descendents (JEFF the Brotherhood, Titus Andronicus), and straight up oddness (Butch Walker, Charles Bradley). It's odd to me that Spin never really did more of this sort of online-only release; it would have given them a leg up on the likes of Pitchfork at a time when they were quickly reaching print irrelevance.

Discogs

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