Local record label Big Bullet Records has released their inaugural label compilation, Terminal Ballistics, Volume One. It's a 15 track sampler featuring catchy hits from 15 different musical acts affiliated with BBR. It's a free download, and a great way for local residents/editors of college newspapers to familiarize themselves with West Virginia's hardest working indie label (so says Graffiti).

Many of the bands have local ties and will be exceedingly familiar to Shepherdstownian scenesters. The Demon Beat, Tucker Riggleman, The Resonators and the dearly departed Khaos Kloud are all represented on the sampler, and many others on the sampler have played the Blue Moon.

The slightly less local (Falling Waters, W.Va.) Roma Renegade makes a strong impression with their single Brigaki Djilia (Gypsy for "Sorrow Songs"), an absolutely hypnotizing instrumental gypsy-rock fusion number that had me rocking out on my bicycle (the only place I listen to music these days) to an almost embarrasing degree last night (To the residents of Shaw Hall, I was not having a seizure, I was playing air guitar at 15 miles-per-hour). A similar thing happened while listening to Black [Homosexual Epithet/British Slang for Cigarette]!'s single Admire Me. If it sounds familiar, it's because it's a side project of Adam Meisterhans, guitarist and vocalist for The Demon Beat. If it sounds awesome, it's because it is.

Like any indie-rock label, this sampler has no shortage of sad men playing acoustic guitars. It's not really my type of music, but if you're into that stuff you'll find BBR well represented. Stephen MacDonald's single Chin Up and Tucker Riggleman's single White Flag should be enough to motivate like minded consumers of music to delve into their catalogs.

This sampler more than adequately succeeds in introducing the listener to the wide variety of musicians which BBR has under their umbrella, ranging from the southern fried blues rock of Greg Loftus, to the delicate folksy stylings of local Cait O'Shea, to the orchestral and layered rock compositions of Jude Universer.

So go, click the link, download the album, and maybe find a new favorite band from the most exciting and diverse indie record label in the area.