‘Dark Was the Night’ sheds light on good cause
Timothy Finn, The Kansas City Star, 11 February 2009 [Link]

The “Red Hot” series has been around since 1989, raising money to benefit the Red Hot Organization, which supports programs that promote HIV and AIDS education and prevention.

The latest compilation may be its best. Produced by Aaron and Bryce Dessner, the brothers in the band the National, “Dark Was the Night” comprises 31 exclusive tracks on two CDs. The roster of contributors is an indie-rock fan’s ultimate wish-list. It includes Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, My Morning Jacket, Bon Iver, Iron & Wine, the Kronos Quartet, the New Pornographers, Arcade Fire, Spoon, Beirut, the Decemberists, Sufjan Stevens and Cat Power.

It also includes some dandy duos and collaborations: the Dirty Projectors with David Byrne, Feist with Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie), Grizzly Bear with Feist, Blonde Redhead and Devastations, Conor Oberst and Gillian Welch.

Much of the music here is low-key, low-pulse — the kind of quiet and somber hymns you’d expect from Bon Iver, Iron & Wine and Andre Bird. But the mood changes abruptly several times. The Arcade Fire’s “Lenin” is four minutes of hard-folk jubilance; Jones & the Dap Kings ignite some sweet, funky-soul on “Inspiration Information”; My Morning Jacket does the alt-country thing via the Southwest on “El Caporal”; Byrne and the Projectors do some haywire indie pop/rock on “Knotty Pine”; and Stevens goes off on a manic jaunt during the epic “You Are the Blood,” which breaks the 10-minute mark.

“Dark” is the first Red Hot compilation since “Red Hot + Riot: The Music and Spirit of Fela Kuti,” released in 2002.

Other compilations include “Red Hot + Indigo,” a tribute to Duke Ellington; “Red Hot + Rhapsody,” a tribute to George Gershwin; “America Is Dying Slowly,” featuring contemporary rap and hip-hop artists; “Stolen Moments: Red, Hot + Cool,” a two-disc project featuring collaborations between jazz artists and rappers; and the project’s inaugural disc, “Red, Hot + Blue,” which features covers of Cole Porter songs from performers like U2, Erasure, Annie Lennox, the Pogues with Kirsty MacColl and Deborah Harry with Iggy Pop.

The entire catalog comprises 18 compilations. Most are still available.