While in Portland recently, I nabbed a copy of DIY label CGI Friday’s Sunset Grillers summer compilation, featuring 26 underground artists and one of the coolest aesthetic presentations I’ve ever encountered. The J-card insert artwork features an anaglyph image of young, Mr. Universe-era Arnold Schwarzenegger standing on the balcony of a luxuriant beachfront hotel, a modest barbecue grill near his tanned feet.

• Even the tracklist sticker on the tape is in 3-D.

The cassettes come bundled with complementary 3-D glasses or, in the case of the copy I scored, two sheets of tinted cellophane. Despite being a homespun Photoshop job, I can attest to the third-dimensionality of the ‘roided-out Arnie. He looks so real that it’s easy to imagine Mr. Pumping Iron reaching out from the artwork to you offer a hit off his victory roach. As if the retro-ironic cover weren’t enough, the liner notes have an incredibly amusing ballpoint pen illustration of Worf from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Rad.

The comp’s aesthetic is so thorough that it even extends to the price tag:

Musically, it’s a winner as well. Even with our regional quota of sunshine likely expended for the next half-dozen months or so, Sunset Grillers’ 90 minutes of posi basement racket manages to evoke the heat and hedonism of high summer. 17 of the 26 tracks are brand new or previously unreleased, and material by Grass Widow, Run DMT, Tracey Trance, Inca Ore, Emily Reo, Twins, Wooden Shjips, and Chrome Wings are welcome inclusions. On the whole, the sizable (and varied) roster is essentially slacker-free (musically speaking, anyway). Peep it and purchase details after the jump.

SIDE A

Psychic Reality - Sela
Emily Reo - Above Ground and a Golden Cloud
Brilliant Colors - Absolutely Anything
The Whines - Vacation
White Fence - Who Feels Right?
Wooden Shjips - I Hear the Vibrations
Edibles - Vibe Pilot
Tunnels - The Pineal Gland is a Stargate
Run DMT - Chill O’Reilly Factor
Tracey Trance - Sumedly
Twins - Hollywood Holograms

SIDE B

Chrome Wings - Dream Club
Space Jam - I Can Do Anything
Turfingrass - Yoga Babe Ass Mat
Gem Jones - My 9 to 5
Branches - Salão Flamingo
Rainbow Bridge - Big Wave Rider
Lazer Zeppelin - Lightning’s Girl (Nancy Sinatra cover!)
Grass Widow - Tattoo
The Beets - I Think I Might Have Built a Horse
Nodzzz - If You’re With It
Hooded - My Ex-Wife
Woofen - Shaoe IV
Golden Retriever - Live January 27, 2010
The Slaves - Slaveyr
Inca Ore - Ruff Ridin’

You can order a copy of the comp via the CGI Fridays blog, which also has a link for Variable Bit Rate mp3 files of Sides A and B (no individual tracks, bummer).