Compilations are a great opportunity to discover new artists and to hear rare tracks from bands you already know and love. This compilation satisfies both those goals with tracks from bands you may already be familiar with like Mecca Normal, Xiu Xiu, This Song Is A mess, P:ano and Drekka and Tara Jane O'Neil and features a ton of great bands that I for one was not already familiar with.
The Zephrys turn in a pretty gentle pop song that would appeal to fans of Carissa's Weird, Darren Hayman's "Little Brown Chevette" reminds me of vintage British psyche-pop bands like Orange Bicycle, Grapefruit and Timebox – updated for the 21st century with electro-pop flourishes. Perhaps inspired by Ariel Pink's well-known penchant for mouth percussion, Burd Early's "To Be (Done)" seems to combine Palace Brothers folk with a subtle beatbox rhythm.
Aroah's "Otro Triste Final" is the first Spanish-language track, and is also one of the most beautiful songs on the CD - a gentle female multi-tracked vocal over arpeggio classical guitar worthy of a Leonard Cohen classic.
Embarrassingly, I've never taken time to really check out any of Tara Jane O'Neil's projects – Rodan, Retsin, King Cobra or The Sonora Pine. Hearing the beautiful sixties pop of "They Don't Know" makes me want to dig deeper into her catalog.
Secret Society's gruff folk makes me want to check out their Sad Boys Dance When No One's Looking full-length on Acuarela. And Tex La Homa's sun-and-surf sound is like a great a lost Brian Wilson song.
The album moves in a different direction with the down-tempo electronics of The French, Matt Elliot Vs Many Fingers and Xiu Xiu's rave remix of "Brian The Vampire" – a very nice track. Xiu Xiu friend This Song Is A Mess turns in a song that like most of the work I've heard from him could easily be discounted as derivative of Jamie Stewart – equally grating but without the keen sense of melody, rhythm, arrangement, lyrics or emotional impact.
Blue Sanct head honcho Drekka's "Without Revelation There Is No Love" is a brilliant and haunting song with typically effective production. Every Drekka song I hear on comps every now and then makes me want to hear more, but they've always been hard to find albums.
Taking another serious change in direction, El Sotano's jazzy "Refree" is the second song sung in Spanish, with Rhodes and smooth guitars over a complex snare-driven beat.
In another shameful moment for me –they live in the same city and yet I've never seen a gig or even listened to an album – I was totally blown away by P:ano's "Hiroshima Mon Amour". A very curious beat, horns, and classical guitar make the song sound very unique and pleasant.
Skipping over the lackluster Early Day Miners, the CD ends on two great notes with first a great jazz track, "Mr. Gesus" by 12Twelve, and then a live version of "Throw Silver" by Mecca Normal.
This is a no brainer - a great introduction to the bands on Acuarela and a whole slew of nice tracks from some of your favorite artists. This may break God's heart, but it warmed mine.
