It's hard to walk into a store or open your e-mail inbox without being asked to contribute to organizations working to fight AIDS. Not a day goes by that one doesn't receive e-mails from friends or Brandeis figures announcing the gravity of the fight against the disease. The Gap has been selling items as part of the Product Red campaign, such as T-shirts emblazoned with slogans like "INSPI(RED)" and "DESI(RED)," for almost three years. These charitable efforts are certainly noble, but at this point it's difficult to stand out in the sea of anti-AIDS products available to American consumers. Aaron and Bryce Dessner's upcoming independent music compilation, Dark Was the Night, which hits stores next Tuesday, is a unique fish in that sea.The Dessners, two brothers who make up part of Brooklyn rock band The National, are something of men-about-town in the music world. Despite their rock band's relative obscurity until the advent of their most recent album, May 2007's Boxer, the two men have been involved in organizing music festivals, collaborating with artists as varied as Philip Glass and New York City music organization Bang on a Can Allstars, and now have delved into charity efforts with Dark Was the Night. The two-disc compilation, produced in cooperation with Red Hot Organization, a charitable AIDS foundation, features original songs, covers and collaborations by and between notable independent rock musicians.

While many compilation albums of this type feature one or two standout tracks by blockbuster names along with a collection of songs by minor acts, Dark Was the Night manages to keep the quality and the starpower going until the end of the second disc. The album starts off with a collaboration between the Dirty Projectors, an experimental Brooklyn-based band, and David Byrne, formerly of the Talking Heads. From there, the first disc continues with a cover of a song by 1960s folk singer Vashti Bunyan performed by Feist and Ben Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie followed by a song by The National arranged by contemporary composer Nico Muhly, then a song by Sufjan Stevens-and the list goes on. The second disc includes works by Spoon, Arcade Fire, My Morning Jacket, TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek and Andrew Bird.

One of the album's great strengths is its variety of songs. While a compilation made up solely of new tracks by some of the most popular and highly respected independent musicians currently working would be exciting, Dark Was the Night features covers of traditional songs by famed musicians like Bob Dylan and contemporary musicians like The Castanets in addition to new songs by popular bands.

The musicians performing the songs crop up in unusual circumstances as well. The multiple collaborations between high-profile names like Feist, Ben Gibbard, David Byrne, Cat Power and Jose Gonzalez give us an exciting take on songs such as "Amazing Grace." Including solo performances by musicians normally encountered as part of a band, such as Sitek, the Dessners and Jónsi Birgisson of Sigur Rós, is another way this compilation breathes extra life into an already lively group of songs.

Personally, I think the first half, billed by Aaron?Dessner as "more bright and evocative of the best of independent rock music at the beginning of the 21st century," is more entertaining than the second half, described as "dark and homegrown with almost classical arrangements of folk themes." I'll chalk that up to a preference for bands like The National and Feist to, for example, Cat Power and the Dirty Delta Blues Band's meandering rendition of "Amazing Grace," or Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings' version of Shuggie Otis' "Inspiration Information." For those who love indie rock and the blues, that second half will certainly please.

The compilation's record label, 4AD, has been streaming online one song per day from the two-disc set since Jan. 15. The last streaming song runs Feb. 15, so readers still have five days to catch new works by Andrew Bird, Blonde Redhead and Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene on the compilation's Myspace page. For anyone interested in supporting AIDS as well as independent music, I'd certainly recommend streaming the music and-this is the hard part-paying money for the album come Tuesday. Perhaps this is the future of recorded music: it's easy to download an album illegally, but pirating an album for AIDS is more difficult, morally speaking. This time, do your part and contribute to AIDS research. Not only will it make those endless e-mails easier to delete, it'll get you a hard copy of some of the best music on the market right now.