Post-Millenial Torsion

2015 seems like the perfect time to start waxing nostalgic for an audio platform which, for a period beginning at the tail end of the 90s, took the place of the cassette as the go-to method of quickly and cheaply disseminating music from the underground and beyond. The ease of burning off a stack of CDrs of home or demo recordings of your band or project made it an invaluable resource for anyone making music under the radar out of a practice space, bedroom, or basement. Though the record industry had yet to begin suffering the indignities and crippling financial and distribution setbacks of the iTunes age, there was such a explosion of new music being generated (especially in the hugely blossoming noise and experimental scenes) that it was impossible for the expensive and time-consuming process of factory-pressing CDs and vinyl to keep up with how quickly and easily it was for an artist to simply press, package and distribute their own music. The cheapness and ease of the format also allowed for a great deal of absurd indulgence, one-offs and oddities that might otherwise have just languished on four tracks and hard drives.
 Unfortunately, CDrs were not made to last. Because of how the data was physically encoded, CDrs are very easily damaged beyond repair by the data coating being scratched. They also do not stand the test of time and tend to fade and degenerate after a few years, even when kept in optimal conditions.
While there is a handful of success stories of CDr demos being properly mastered and fully realized in professionally duplicated formats, the vast majority of music released on CDr during the prime period of 2000-2007ish has been relegated to storage bins, desk drawers and trash cans in the last decade or so. The aim of this blog is to try to rescue some of the truly amazing (and truly ridiculous) music released on this decaying format before it rots away and disappears forever in a puff of regret from those who neglected to properly archive it when it was still fresh.
Starting off, I'll be exclusively uploading material burned from my own personal collection, and will rip audio at the highest MP3 quality and include cover scans and artwork when available. The initial focus will be on bands and projects from Providence, RI, where I am from. If anything of yours shows up that you would rather I not share, please feel free to contact me and I will take it down immediately. I would also love for folks to contact me about contributing their own rips of CDR material that would fit in this archive.