V/A - Songs From the Streaming Audio folder, pt. 1

So it's come to this.  I'm plundering semi-random MP3 folders on my hard drive in hopes of sharing something unique with you good people.  And to my credit, several of the twenty songs within this file are relatively unique, not to mention some of which that are unavailable virtually anywhere.  I did something similar with my "letter folders" comps (sorry, the links are dead) several year ago, though I put that project on hold indefinitely for whatever the reason.  So what the hell is my "streaming audio" folder, and how might it pay dividends to you?  If you don't mind the spiel I'm about to unfold, read on

Most of the music I download is procured via purchasing it through legit sites, using file sharing platforms (think Napster and such), music links provided by fellow bloggers, and finally, files that are passed along to me by friends/acquaintances/various music pushers in emails, texts, etc. Usually it's just a matter of tapping the left button on my mouse and selecting the folder or directory I wish to route the files to. But what about all the music I can't so easily download, whether it be through video sources (YouTube, etc), Soundcloud. Myspace and other webpages I inhabit (or have formerly) where I can check out all the music I desire...but analogous to the Hotel California, the audio can never leave the webpage or video player it's resident to?  Well, the solution to alleviating this conundrum has been remedied through audio capturing applications like MediaHuman (which literally creates an MP3 of any Youtube video you drag into the software interface), however this technology is relatively recent.  In the past (and occasionally to this day) I need to utilize slightly less convenient streaming audio recorders (e.g. SoundTap), which captures whatever music I'm listening to on my PC in real time in the form of MP3s or wav files. Over the years I've accumulated a few hundred tracks by this latter method, and have kept them in a folder labeled "streaming audio," that I never get around to sorting or relocating. What resides in this folder, much like my greater MP3 library is very much specific to my tastes. You won't find many household names in there, but to me some of this music is priceless, as it's never been offered commercially, or even been locatable through a download-friendly resource.

Today I'm sharing nearly two dozen of these oft un/under-available tunes.  I realize the actual source folder on my hard drive where they're derived from is pretty much irreverent to you, as from your perspective it's merely a collection of tunes in a folder.  But as I said, the unavailability factor of the songs make them that much more precious (at least to me).  I'm not going to provide a track list, per normal, but here' a few spoilers.  You'll regale in some pretty splendid covers of (not from) artists as diverse Sonic Youth, NOFX, The Posies, Elliott Smith and the Pains of Being Pure at Heart.  As for wholly unreleased tunes you can partake in scarcities from the likes of Dreams So Real and Fickle Friends.  There's also a very early prototype of a song that would eventually be fully fleshed out for an album that would sell well over a million copies in the '90s. Best of all, if you're an aficionado of obscuro power pop circa it's golden era, check out rare single sides from the Frenchman and the Defendants. This is a true, blue hodgepodge to be sure, and with any luck you'll find a rewarding earworm or two amongst this haphazard collection. Enjoy!

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