📀 Nostalgia, Protest, and Pure Brass Power: Aware Records + 4 Songs That Don’t Suck
💿 Flashback: Aware Records and the Art of Compilation Discovery
Mark starts this week’s episode with a music nerd’s reverie: flipping through his old CD collection, he stumbles upon the complete set of Aware Records compilations. Cue a full nostalgia spiral.
📖 The Aware Story:
- 🎧 Founded by CPA-turned-music-junkie Gregg Latterman in 1993
- 💿 First release, Aware One, sold 30,000 copies
- 💻 Early innovator: launched a music e-commerce store in 1995
- 🤝 Partnered with Columbia Records in 1997
- 🎙️ Helped launch careers of John Mayer, Five for Fighting, Train, and many more
Mark compares these compilations to the playlist culture of today—but notes they had curation, not algorithms behind them. Artists like Vertical Horizon, Better Than Ezra, and Guster found their audience thanks to this model.
❝ This is how I discovered half the bands that shaped my taste. ❞
And Mark wants to know: are there other indie labels, YouTubers, or playlist curators doing this now? If you know one, hit him up at SongsThatDontSuck.net.
🎧 4 Songs That Don’t Suck This Week
1. 🎮 Boss Fight – Da Land Brass Band
Cleveland’s funkiest brass ensemble is back with an epic 6-minute journey laced with video game sound bites, gang vocals, and back-to-back sax + trombone solos. It’s joyful, genre-defying, and groovy as hell.
🎧 For fans of: Lucky Chops, Too Many Zooz, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble
“It’s funky. It’s fun. And it’s got horns tossing solos like hot potatoes.”
2. 🎸 Viva Rock ‘n’ Roll – Deraps
Mark dubs this the Van Halen revival we didn’t know we needed. Blistering guitars, big vocals, and unapologetic rock swagger. If David Lee Roth had better range, it might sound like this.
🎧 For fans of: Van Halen, Steel Panther, Airbourne
“No shade to Diamond Dave—but this guy? Way more vocal oomph.”
3. 🧍♀️ Mother – Fiona Lee
Second appearance on the pod, and Fiona Lee just keeps proving she’s the real deal. Recorded at Abbey Road, this track blends soulful vocals with surprisingly sharp guitar work. Mark especially highlights her solo toward the end.
🎧 For fans of: Alanis Morissette, Fiona Apple, KT Tunstall
“Great songwriting. Great tone. Fiona Lee is worth the deep dive.”
4. 🧠 BRAINROT – grandson
Finally—some protest music. Gritty, urgent, and politically loaded, Brain Rot is Mark’s antidote to the recycled, safe “pop” dominating airwaves.
🎧 For fans of: Rage Against the Machine, Grandson, Royal Blood
“This has teeth. This has something to say—and says it well.”
🧠 Final Thought: Compilation Culture Is Not Dead
The episode is a love letter to how discovery used to work—and how we can still actively dig for new music instead of waiting for it to find us.
❝ If you’re just consuming what gets pushed to you, you’re not listening—you’re scrolling. ❞
🌐 Get More That Doesn’t Suck
🎵 SongsThatDontSuck.net
→ Stream all 4 tracks
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🎨 …and I quote…
❝ Aware Records was the original playlist curator—with better taste and actual CDs. ❞
— Mark Bradbourne 🎙️
