Various Artists
Short Music for Short People

Michael John Burkett...with a first name starts this yet another of my endeavors. Because, believe it or not, I always struggle to write about music; I fear, I am afraid of the critical judgments of anyone. Fears and anxieties are offspring of my not particularly brilliant mental state of the period; the arrival of the bad season accentuates everything. And this morning the snow has fallen down to about 1000 meters of altitude; I drove up to Alpe Lusentino to tread on the thin white blanket and thought of a fun album, somehow light, like the snow.

But enough with these "usual" mental wanderings and let's get into the merits of the record; someone is perhaps wondering who the devil this Michael John is and so I will call him by his battle name, his well-known nickname. He is Fat Mike, bassist and brain of the pranksters NOFX, one of the most entertaining bands I've had the chance to see live.

He also founded his own record label, "Fat Wreck Chords," specializing in Punk-Rock releases; in 1999, he was struck by a cheerful and original idea. To unite as many bands as possible in a single compilation, each one engaged in a single track lasting, give or take a second, half a minute!! A sort of call to arms for the old and new guard of Hardcore-Punk stars and stripes and beyond; as many as 101 responded, immediately creating a problem for Fat Mike and his label working to produce the work. On a CD, a maximum of ninety-nine tracks can be recorded: the only thing left to do is to merge the last three songs into a single track. And the game is on.

With such limited timing, all the songs have a common denominator: a frenetic speed, often and quite unconditionally overflowing. Let's add to this a good dose of merriment, as expressly requested by the creator, some good clean fun in execution, and a live recording: whatever comes out, comes out, without worrying too much about technicalities and various pleasantries. We now have all the ingredients to judge the album: fifty stunning minutes composed mostly by people even more stunned!!

It's useless to mention any track here: I really wouldn’t know whom and what to choose. I will just say that there are names that have made the history of the Punk-Rock genre: Bad Religion (argh!!), Black Flag (WOW...), Lagwagon, Descendents, NoMeansNo, Circle Jerks, D.O.A. (madonna!!), Poison Idea, Agnostic Front (and holy shit...), Misfits...and another NINETY-ONE.

Almost forgot: there are also NOFX and Down By Law. So, it is deduced that there remain EIGHTY-NINE, then.

Enough, I'll finish here...quo...qua.

Ad Maiora.