This is a compilation of non-album songs Jason Molina recorded between 1995 and 2002. (From 1997 to 2011, Molina made 20+ records worth of music under Songs: Ohia, Magnolia Electric Co, and his own name.) People have described Molina's music as folk/slowcore/alt-country/Americana, but that doesn't do justice to Molina's extreme adventurousness and prolificacy during his [much too short] life. Molina made every album different from his last, and this collection offers a taste of his experiments in style: loose and lo-fi songs close to Bonnie “Prince” Billy, intense and scrappy rock, visceral and incisive meditations for voice and electric guitar, and even a minor dalliance with electronics.

I try to avoid using the word “authentic,” but if I had to apply it to anything it would be Molina's music. It's strange, dark, and melancholy, but its forthrightness and empathy and resilience are incredibly rare and special. Molina didn't just venture into the void: his songs directly addressed his listeners who found themselves in the void too, and they said, “We're in this together. Let's help each other up.” I don't know if music can perform a greater service than that. Favorites: 1, 7, 8, 14, 17, 18. No FCCs.

1. *(2:47)—Recorded live in 1995. Slow, minimal, kind of an oblique “boys suck” song. Surprisingly punk-rock.
2. (2:54)—Medium-slow, measured, lo-fi. Early version of “This Time Anything Finite At All” on Impala. Molina belts it out near the end.
3. (3:22)—Mid-tempo, with strummed acoustic guitar and hand drums. Starts with a pretty kickass scream.
4. (5:44)—Slow, very minimal, tender. “I love what I know about passion.”
5. (2:24)—Mid-tempo, rocking, almost funky.
6. (3:10)—Slow, plodding, with keening steel guitar.
7. *(2:16)—Alternate version of “Cabwaylingo” from Songs: Ohia. Medium-slow, lo-fi. This is just a fantastic song.
8. *(3:37)—Slow, very sad, ghostly, spiritual, spine-chilling.
9. (3:25)—Medium-slow, tense, funky in the most ascetic way possible.
10. (4:04)—Slow, menacing, with really chintzy electronics. Vocals don't enter until the second half.
11. (6:19)—Mid-tempo, intense, anxious love song. Alternate version of the song on Axxess & Ace.
12. (6:49)—Very slow and pensive, with electric guitar and drums. Tortured guitar solo!
13. (4:11)—Slow, just acoustic guitar and voice. Sounds like it was recorded outside.
14. *(6:16)—Slow, spacious, beautiful duet. Alternate version of the song on The Lioness.
15. (4:40)—Mid-tempo, lovely, sounds similar to the previous track.
16. (5:26)—Mid-tempo, driving, dark, kinda bluegrassy.
17. *(3:23)—Very, very slow. Like the next song, recorded by Steve Albini, with just electric guitar and voice. Sad, intimate, intense.
18. *(4:53)—Very slow and minimal, with deep, down-tuned guitar.