Songs for Cassavetes is a soundtrack to an independent film by Justin Mitchell. With heavy hitters like Unwound, the Make-Up, and Sleater-Kinney all turning in good efforts (which is surprising for most compilations or soundtracks) and some not-so-familiar names in indie rock -- like Chisel, Dub Narcotic Sound System, and Semiautomatic -- also pitching in to make high-quality contributions, the soundtrack comes off pretty sweet. The precedence of K Records and Kill Rock Stars is obvious, along with a slant toward the general Northwest garagey sound. As exhibited on Songs for Cassavetes, each band is showcased at their respective best, or at least in a unique, creative stage so as to capture the listener's ear. The one downfall worth mentioning on this album is that Mr. Mitchell and company decided it would be a good idea to include comments from the bands about the D.I.Y./punk/indie scene interspersed in between songs on the CD. While these are neat to hear the first time, after a while they become incredibly annoying and serve as work on the part of the listener to have to skip ahead. Nevertheless, it's a minor inconvenience, as the compilation does an excellent job of documenting a period of time that was obviously important to not only Mitchell, but many other people as well. ~ Kurt Morris, All Music Guide