10 albums a day #62

All various artist samplers, free downloads from Amazon.com. All 2009.

Nutone Amazon Spring Sampler
One Little Indian Amazon Label Sampler
Open Remix
Real World Amazon Sampler
Ropeadope Label Sampler
Sample the World Through Music
Secretly Canadian Sampler
Six Degrees Free Indian Music Sampler
Stax Sampler for Amazon
Sterns Amazon Sampler

Nutone: 4/8. Overall: 2.5. A good score and a nice collection of mostly pop music from India. Still available but now costs $7.92. Might be worth it if you're looking to get into this stuff.
Starred artists/groups: Jai Uttal, Donna De Lory, Wah!, Reema Datta.

One Little Indian: 3/6. Overall: 2.3. A not bad collection of alt rock. No longer available.
Starred artists/groups: Pieta Brown, Astrid Williamson, Surrounded (hmmm...two different tracks by this group on two different collections).

Open Remix: 0/7. Overall: 1.6. Seven remixes of one basic track. This is a "benefit" album, but I don't know exactly how they "benefit" by giving away a free album. It's still available. This is dance music, some of the remixes are hip-hop(ish), heavy rhythms and such.

Real World: 5/11. Overall: 2.5. A pretty good collection of "world music," although it includes one song from The Blind Boys of Alabama who are from the U.S. I would recommend this one, even if it cost a few bucks, but it's no longer available.
Starred artists/groups: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Joi, Afro Celt Sound System, Peter Gabriel.

Ropeadope: 8/12. Overall: 2.4. This is a good one that suffered from having two rap tracks, which I deleted. Several tracks of just fine jazz, some leaning toward chill, one newgrass (jazz bluegrass) track, and a few alt rockers. Still available, and recommended. All tracks can be downloaded individually so just skip tracks 1 and 9 (the rap tracks). Skip 11 and 12 if you don't want the mediocre alt rock tracks.
Starred artists/groups: Carlon, Bodega, Dred Scott Trio, Fatty Acid, Leo Genovese, Otis Grove, Reut Regev, Cabinet.

Sample the World: 4/8. Overall: 2.8. Another good one of world music. Still available and still free.
Starred artists/groups: Niraj Chag, Sub Swara, Kush Arora. The three tracks by the latter two artists are what I would consider chill or smooth electronica.

Secretly Canadian: 1/8. Overall: 1.8. Mostly mediocre alt rock. One starred artist: Jens Lekman.

Six Degrees: 3/8. Overall: 2.5. Another enjoyable collection of music from India. One deleted track (rap). Still available and free, but you have to download the whole album in one shot.
Starred artists/groups: Cheb I Sabbah, Midival Punditz. I would put all three of these tracks in the chill/smooth electronic category.

Stax: 2/4. Overall: 3. A good but woefully small collection of blues and r&b from the Stax label.
Starred artists: Albert King, Isaac Hayes.

Sterns: 2/12. Overall: 1.6. Spanish-language (or possibly some Portuguese; I can't tell the difference) world music. This one didn't strike me as all that great.
Starred artists/groups: Bembeya Jazz National, Amadou Sodia.

Album count: 634.