X 2003: Experience The Alternative
(Various Artists)
Project Info:X website Album length: 2 Discs. 34 tracks: 115 minutes Street Date: April 1, 2003
Ah, genre sampler compilations! While these suckers exist in abundance around summer festival time for usually
a mere $1.99 or so, a more carefully-constructed collection of hits will hit shelves from time to time. Most are forgettable,
but this year's X2003 maybe be one of the best of such compilations to come around in awhile.
Alternative music gurus Tooth & Nail Records have teamed up with the kings of Pop/rock, ForeFront and Sparrow to deliver
a diverse collection of old and new talent. The project opens with the excellent-yet-poorly-re-edited "Get This
Party Started" from hip-hop veteran tobyMac. The only problem with the track is it opens with the same announcement
that is used for tobyMac's album Momentum, (which seems to just make the collection feel like a homemade mix CD than anything else)
and is unexplainably shortened abruptly seconds before the close of the song. Following this awkward blunder,
the rest of the collection is actually smooth sailing. Pillar's hit "Fireproof" is followed by the infectious
danceability of Supertones' "Superfly." MxPx's aged classic "Punk Rawk Show" is a surprise fit for such a modern
collection (being that it first appeared on the band's sophomore album Teenage Politics in the early nineties).
Slick Shoes party anthem, "Friday Night" is an appropriate follow-up and precedes a brand new track from rapcore rockers
Thousand Foot Krutch, "Bounce." Another fresh new cut is Five Iron Frenzy's b-side "Kamikaze" from their pending
release Cheeses of Nazareth. The first disc continues on with a series of newer talent with Justifide,
Cadet, Sanctus Real, and Holland before offering tracks from the more established acts Bleach and Switchfoot. Oddly, however,
with Switchfoot just releasing their latest record over a month prior to this release, it's a puzzler why something newer
wasn't featured instead of music from a record from almost three years ago. Tucked away as bonus hidden tracks, Tooth & Nail
take a moment to plug some new releases heading audience's way with "Ready Fuels" from Anberlin and "Clear" from Watashi Wa.
Disc Two opens with the increasingly popular smash pop/punk act Relient K with new track, "Chap Stick,
Chapped Lips and Things Like Chemistry." Accompanying Switchfoot with an older track despite a more recent
release, Audio Adrenaline's catchy "Summertime" follows, with the Nickelback/Creed influenced rockers Kutless
close behind with "Your Touch." The electronic rock of the Newsboys' "John Woo" and "The Sound" from Further
Seems Forever are followed up by the youthful rock of Pax217's "Engage" and new music from rap artists The Cross Movement
with "It's Goin' Down." Another new song on this record is new act Peace of Mind's hip-hop fueled rock "I Am," which
boasts KJ-52 on vocals. Other notables include Skillet's "Kill Me, Heal Me," Delirious' "Fire," and the melodic
hardcore of Demon Hunter "Infected" which tries to marry melodic modern rock and throat-shredding vocals.
The second disc comes to a close with new act Lucerin Blue's "Monday In Vegas" and new song "Loved Ones" by
Starflyer 59 from their pending new record Old.
Far from perfect but a good sampler of what is available from the Christian rock and alternative departments,
X 2003 is worth the look if you're new to Christian music or want to pass thos off to someone who is.
- Review date: 3/29/03, written by John DiBiase
Record Label:Tooth & Nail Records Album length: 2 Discs. Disc One: 17 tracks, 55 minutes and 44 seconds. Disc 2: 17 tracks, 60 minutes and 50 seconds.
Street Date: April 1, 2003
Disc 1
Get This Party Started, tobyMac
Fireproof, Pillar
Superfly, Supertones
Punk Rawk Show, MxPx
Friday Night, Slick Shoes
Bounce, Thousand Foot Krutch
So Bright (Stand Up), Superchic[k]
Speaking In Tongues, The Elms
Kamikaze, Five Iron Frenzy
To Live, Justifide
Nobody, Cadet
Nothing To Lose, Sanctus Real
I'm Not Backing Down, Holland
Baseline, Bleach
You Already Take Me There, Switchfoot
Ready Fuels, Anberlin
Clear, Watashi Wa
Disc 2
Chap Stick, Chapped Lips, and Things Like Chemistry, Relient K
Record Label: 
