Various Artists
Cleveland Lottery League Volume 1
(self-released)
myspace.com/bandsofworld
Last year, a motley group of 130 local musicians randomly divided themselves into 33 groups and set out to write and rehearse a song to play before a live audience. In the wake of that performance, which took place last April at the Beachland, the Lottery League returns with a compilation featuring songs by 19 of the bands. As you'd expect, it's a wide-ranging affair that veers wildly from the Meat Puppets-like psychedelia of Stimulus Package's "Motorboat" to the woozy metal of Good News for People With Credit Problems' "Suicide Manual." To be honest, the compilation is not any more disjointed than, say, listening to your favorite indie-rock program on college radio.
The best tunes are the ones where you can really tell that the band features an unlikely pairing of musicians from different backgrounds. A cello distinguishes Hapsburg Lip's folksy "Streets, Avenues and Windows," and operatic vocals distinguish Valley of Life's spooky "Touch Hump." The results are sometimes dissonant: Jettaland's "The Slacks Fantastic" is an odd spoken-word piece accompanied by what sounds like some kind of machine breaking. But for the most part, you can tell the musicians took their projects seriously and more often than not, you end up wishing they had recorded more than one tune. - Jeff Niesel
Ghandi SS, Mohammed Cartoon, Stimulus Package, Good News for People With Credit Problems, Anal Cheetahs, Valley of Life and Jovanas Witness perform as part of the Lottery League CD-release party at 9 p.m. Friday, February 6, at the Beachland Ballroom and Tavern (15711 Waterloo Rd., 216.383.1124). Tickets: $5.
