Sub Pop just did something genuinely useful with their roster, and that alone makes Maximum MN worth your attention.

The compilation, which Sub Pop are calling a mixtape, is a benefit release for the International Institute Of Minnesota, an organisation that supports immigrants and refugees in the state following ICE raids. Eight acts from the label's roster each cover a different Minnesota artist. The music and the politics are completely inseparable here, and that is exactly how it should be.

The Tracklist Does Most Of The Talking

The curation is sharp. Downtown Boys take on the Replacements' "Can't Hardly Wait." Sweeping Promises cover Hüsker Dü's "Something I Learned Today." Shabazz Palaces reimagine Prince's "Pop Life." Jenn Wasner's Flock Of Dimes tackle Low's "Especially Me." That is four covers that could each anchor a compilation on their own, and they are all on the same record.

Then there are the curios that make this genuinely fun rather than just politically correct box-ticking. Sub Pop veterans Mudhoney cover Halo Of Flies, their '80s underground contemporaries. Weird Nightmare, the solo project from former METZ frontman Alex Edkins, covers Paul Westerberg's solo material. Yes, that Paul Westerberg, former Replacements frontman. A solo project covering a solo project, which is either the most self-aware thing on the compilation or the most accidentally profound, depending on how you feel about it.

Yuno covers Hippo Campus's "The Way It Goes," which turns out to be decent enough even if Hippo Campus are not exactly the reason most people show up to this kind of release. And then there is the standout moment in terms of pure audacity: Pissed Jeans covering "Body Rules," the 1984 single from Jesse "The Body" Ventura, the man who went on to become governor of Minnesota. Pissed Jeans clearly had more fun with the brief than anyone else on the record, and honestly, good for them.

Why This Matters Beyond The Tracklist

[Sub Pop signing PISS earlier this year](/uprise/music/piss-announce-new-album-you-made-me-skin-on-linen) showed the label still has instincts for bands with something to say. Maximum MN confirms they are willing to back those instincts with actual action when it counts. This is not a prestige vanity project. It is a digital release on Bandcamp, fast and functional, built to raise money rather than to look good on a press release.

Minnesota's musical legacy is not in question. The Replacements, Hüsker Dü, Prince, Low, these are not minor footnotes. The fact that Sub Pop chose to frame a benefit release around that legacy rather than simply issuing a generic charity single says something about how the label is approaching the moment. There is no Bob Dylan cover either, which the source rightly notes might have been a bit too cute.

Maximum MN is out now on Sub Pop, available via Bandcamp.

Our take: This is what labels should be doing. No bloated launch campaign, no celebrity co-signs, just a tight, well-curated record with clear intent and somewhere useful for the money to go. Stream it, buy it, tell someone about it.