Whatever the frequency, whatever the reception, 22 tracks from 22 separate new artists – all with something worth broadcasting - is an extraordinary achievement from a label that’s barely a year old. Nearly all are part of the creative surge ripping through Leeds at the moment. The semi-outsiders in the set are familiar to Leeds audiences and regularly share gigs with the Leeds artists in the list.
By staying (mostly) within the wide ambit of indie club night and pitching (mostly) for the late teen early twenty cultural experience the collection has a single minded feel to it. It could easily be all the best bits of a single Steve Lamacq programme but there’s plenty of variety and pace in the track listing.
A fair chunk of the album comes from the GANG OF FOUR thrown down the outside fire-escape with all their gear school of abrasive indie rock. Of which, let’s be clear, I thoroughly approve. Cunningly, the principal exponents of the genrette, ¡FORWARD, RUSSIA! Offer “Two” with more spacey keyboard and a rather (for them) extended prog-rock play out. The keyboard parts being the ¡FORWARD, RUSSIA! primary weapon of stealth.
WE START FIRES in the opening slot so strongly occupied by THIS ET AL on the first compilation with their fiery “Catscan” are a bit thin for starters. The guitar sound on “Hot Metal” is reedy and the song doesn’t do much that hasn’t been done lots of times before. I’m not sure the song fully grasps the usual meaning of the title phrase - but is does get played with energy and bite.
A choppy PIGEON DETECTIVES have a slightly horrid guitar solo and a nicely pissed-up KAISER CHIEF kind of a chorus. They is followed by a raw-sounding SHUT YOUR EYES AND YOU'LL BURST INTO FLAMES who have the name but not yet the sound to stand out in a crowd.
Just in time to banish any doubts that might have been seeping in by this stage, track four is the magnificent idiosyncracy of NAPOLEON IIIRD. “The Conformist Takes It All” is a multilayered hymn of miserable lost-love for personally touching music. Close to ANIMAL COLLECTIVE in general feel, it has a seriously inventive drive and some glorious chorus singing. “Average is not the best you can do” he multitracks in a kind of homemade homage to how the Beach Boys could have been if they had been born in Yorkshire and never seen the surf. KUBICHEK! keep the quality sound and poignant theme going with “That Pop Carry On”.
And then the potentially huge YES BOSS (feat. WITTY and NASTY BOI). Strings, beats, outrageously in your face rhymes and two sparkling extra voices add up to something a bit special, foraging wild-eyed n the territories of grime. The best thing is that Noah Brown’s very English voice sounds like the scary migrant interloper, where the authentic Yorkshire voices come from WITTY and NASTY BOI. TERA:TORA who follow are a bit one thing or the other with indiscrimate drumming and their ping-a ping-a ping-a guitar line paving the way for the unexpected but welcome thrash and scream of WHORES WHORES WHORES doing some death jazz nonsense with “Limited Edition Yoghurt”. Check out the real chord - nine seconds before the end. Lovely.
Not even half way through by this point, the album just gets better and better. THIS ET AL’s “The Loveliest Alarm” is nicely restrained, but reminds us of their well established and distinctive voice - good tunes and complex but subtly dynamic arrangements that purge the soul and scour the ears. An interlude of punk fun gives us Neil Hanson punishing all doubters with his pretty vocal yelling in THE PLAYMATES’ local classic “The Bill”.
And on to the real highlights. ¡FORWARD, RUSSIA!’s slower “Two” gives way to tracks by SAMSA, SNOW WHITE, iLiKETRAiNS, VOLTAGE UNION, O FRACAS, DEAD DISCO, KOKAMINO, THE LUCIDA CONSOLE, BAM BAM FRANCS, THE LODGER and REDCARSGOFASTER.
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Of these, iLiKETRAiNS' "The Beeching Report" towers head and shoulders as a song, a performace and a triumph of self-recording technique. The lo fi choir (made up of members of other Leeds bands) is simply magnificent. SNOW WHITE ring no particular bells but the musically fluent SAMSA come very clean with a perfectionist "First, The Lights". O FRACAS, despite protests from their camp do manage to start their "John Roland Told Us" with a riff that seems to shout "ARCTIC MONKEYS". Happily, O FRACAS make lots of other noises too and the overall effect is strong.
VOLTAGE UNION stray sweetly into TOM VEK territory with a nicely laid back shuffler called "Seaside" that reminds me of VEK's "C-C (You Set the Fire in Me)". With so many artists out their picking the fruit these days, it's not surprising that some come home with similar peaches. DEAD DISCO's electro-pop stays convincingly within the formula, part Blondie, part Goldfrapp. KOKAMINO's "Innocent" is a doomier thing with some nicely glistening edges and rather prominent meat and two veg drumming. The second half sets off as a repeat of the first two minutes, but then earns its space by unleashing one long and nasty guitar solo and a better short one.
LUCIDA CONSOLE's "Come Down Captain" cools things elegantly, with a fuller sound, a slower initial tempo and some neat changes of pace. One or two of the other bands might be thinking about scrounging Simon Marks their drummer fro a bit of a lift - precise and inventive are the words. BAM BAM FRANCS are a dark horse. "Bam Bam Your Dead" slews about in unselfconscious giddiness and we're-defintley-not-emo style. The finger ripping bass slur is a feature to listen out for, along with some randomly applied big guitar riffing.
THE LODGER sets us on the way home with a chirpily catchy HOUSEMARTINS kind of a thing called "You Got Me Wrong". Highly lovable modesty.
REDCARSGOFASTER get the finale and take a while to get round to providing the required intensity that ends it all on a high. The long introduction has me huffing and puffing in anticipation of something explosive but there's something a bit skew whiff in the guitar department. Excellent bass and snare are working overtime against a semi-spoken edgy vocal line but only at about two minutes 40 does the guitar open out a bit. Maybe a bit too restrained to be rock, and not quite nimble enough to be post rock.
But there you are. You simply must own this. Your favourites will be the ones I didn't rate so highly and her over there will confound the both of us by picking the ones we didn’t notice. You pays your money and you have loads of choice. This is, without doubt, a definitive album that everyone else is going to have to chase after.
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