True to the spirit and variety of the independent music scene and the way in which influence crosses across musical categories, the disc brings together a truly awesome variety of styles, everything from folk-tinged guitar ballads to synth-heavy dance tracks. Favorites: The Blood Group's 'Buzz,' Dirty Power's 'Hate My Way,' Phil Locke's 'Uncle June and Aunt Kiyoti,' Flare's 'Dizzy,' Taikonaut's 'Night Driving,' and John Ashfield's 'Portia.'

The styles here range from very heavy (industiral's rising young star HypoFixx, the skull-crushing metal of Dirty Power), to largely acoustic (Taikonaut, Kuma-chan co-founder Phil Locke, for whom this tribute CD was a labor of love), to pop (the incredible John Ashfield), to experimental (Washington DC sonic terrorist BLK w/BEAR), and a smattering of current indie favorites (The Blood Group, Xiu Xiu, Flare).

The songwriting of Kristin Hersh (and to a lesser extent Tanya Donelly) takes center stage in these songs about love and madness. Hersh has made it a habit to exorcise her demons through her material and the effect here filtered through the sounds of others is like the soundtrack to a really great film you'd like to see.

I own a lot of tribute albums to "legendary" bands but few of them are as repeatedly enjoyable as Hot Hands, which has lived in my CD player since I got it a few weeks ago. It's not only an educational resource for today's bands who want to see how self-referrential alt-rock came to the fore, it's also just a really satisfying listen. Recommended!