New and rare tracks from 5 remarkable bands- Red House Painters, Low, Hayden, Misc and Idaho. This album flows as if created by one artist. A portion of the proceeds benefits Shanti of San Francisco.

Shanti Project Collection features music from:

Red House Painters
Low
Hayden
Misc
Idaho
The Shanti Project Collection will feature 13 new, rare and favorite tracks from Red House Painters, Low, Hayden, Misc and Idaho. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this CD will go to Shanti Project of San Francisco.

Shanti Project is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life, improving the well-being, and promoting the independence primarily of people living with HIV disease and AIDS.

Using both paid and volunteer staff, Shanti provides a wide range of services, including emotional and practical support, hospital-based counseling, peer advocacy, support for caregivers, recreation and transportation.

From an interview on 3/3/99 with Dylan Magierek (Badman Recording Co.) and Aidin Vaziri, writer for the San Francisco Chronicle:

Q: What was the inspiration for this project?

I'd been talking to Mark Kozelek from Red House Painters, about wanting to put out an album of unreleased and demo versions of songs. He said 4AD had just approached him with the same idea but that he wanted to work with me. I had a brainstorm idea of having 4 of my favorite bands on one Cd with several songs each. Sure, I wanted to have stuff that hadn't been released before, but I'd take anything. I love these bands and I knew other people would too. They just go together so well. The more I thought about it, the more obsessed I became. I also thought it should be tied into a charitable organization and that it needed Nyree Watts' artwork all over it.

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Reviews
Alternative Press -
4 STARS (OUTSTANDING!)

4 Star review - The delay of Red House Painters new album got you down?

Shanti Project collection is here to ease your pain. No offense to Low, Idaho, Hayden and Misc, but Shanti Project collection stands out from most compilations for one reason: Red House Painters. Sure, this collection is impressive for its cohesion, its use of multiple songs by each artist and its cause (proceeds benefit a San Francisco-based HIV/AIDS group). But its Mark Kozelek's & Co.'s four contributions (three previously unreleased) that make Shanti Project collection one of the year's most arresting albums.

"Find me, Ruben Olivares" and "Smokey" (which is a demo version of a song that is on the severely delayed Old Ramon) are both acoustic originals that highlight Kozelek's rich, sweet voice and his euphoric sense of melody. the other two — covers of Genesis'"Follow you, Follow me" and Neil Young's"Midnight on the bay" (which was previously released on an obscure SF comp) — show off Kozelek's ability to make other artists' songs his own.

Other standout performances include Low's poppy "Venus", Idaho's slow grooving "The Sun Is All There Is" and Hayden's gorgeously dark "choking", but it's the Red House Painters tracks that will keep your attention focused on this disc for months to come. - Marc Hawthorne

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Melody Maker - 4 Stars (out of 5)

Terribly gloom-laden collection of artists — Red House Painters, Low, Idaho, Hayden — twing and twang a terribly gloom-laden collection of songs. Double negative = happy album. Very strange indeed. - Peter Robinson, Melody Maker