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PRE-OGG-CAST COMPILATIONS
I have often said that the Hammer Of Retribution Ogg-Cast is a very long mixtape that I make for a selected band of people. And I've been doing that for longer than you'd think, although not necessarily in that format.
It started when I discovered mp3.com in 1999, and while that site was still in the format it was at the time, it was a goldmine of bands that would otherwise be unknown - all I had to do was search for bands I knew of already and it would throw something back at me that sounded similar. Once I'd found enough of what I liked I would compile a track listing for the people of Cambridge Rocksoc and urge them to download the tracks themselves. I was using Mini Discs at the time so each compilation was in the region of 70-80 minutes long. I called these the Pitch Sampler series, named after the free samples Pitch Shifter used to put on the end of their albums; there were ten in total, but some of the track listings are so horrific I will be keeping them firmly under wraps. Even so, some of the more deserving bands involved (e.g. Neural Imbalance, Sanitarium, Crone) have found their way onto the Hammer Of Retribution Ogg-Cast, whether it was completely at random or as part of the Liber Oscura section introduced in mid-2015.
2002 saw a new series of stoner rock compilations, plundered from the free archives of the late, lamented stonerrock.com, while those archives were offered at 128 kb/s - not great but better than the 56 kb/s telephone quality they were further reduced to. These were named the Burn One Up! sequels after a one-off compilation I'd bought in 1997 from the pages of Kerrap!, which I explained further on the page for Burn One Up! II. Eventually as the supplies ran out I tried to find a new source - Hellride Music's similar archives - and make the similar Lava Lamp Chronicles (which I planned to be seven compilations) but it wasn't quite the same. Both stonerrock.com and their mascot, Fanny Jo Stingray, are very much missed.
And then there was the time Baz Jones decided I should be listening to his music collection instead of mine, and presented me a 90-minute mixtape with the promise of another to come. As a joint effort we eventually edited these into three editions of Bang The Head That Doesn't Bang, with a fourth made via not so much of his involvement. Again, some of these tracks that weren't on the fourth compilation have found their way onto various Ogg-Casts whenever the bands in question have been required.
Think of all these as the Ogg-Cast's ancient predecessors. Many of them have been heard by less than ten listeners, though it's probably possible to make a YouTube playlist of most of them now...
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