Genre: Various

01 Anne King – Unknown Us Apart
02 Alone Together – Human Beings
03 PNDC – Pick Up Your Tears
04 Oomiaq – Aventure Toi
05 Oldman – Half Brother
06 Kaboon Karavan – Toambertree
07 Harold Nono – A Shining Space
08 Pequena Fiera! – Do Re Mi Fa So I Love You
09 Limbic Somnus – A Candy Coated Slow Down
10 Alfred Brown – As the Dead Ship Sinks
11 James Ross – Study No 1 (Inharmonicity)
12 Linda Bjalla – You Are Alive
13 DM Stith – Be My Baby
14 Sonicbrat – That Little System
15 Hulk – In the Belly of the Hungry White Sea
16 Cahier – Bebe

This compilation is truly an international affair – the record label is based in Scotland, and the artists appearing on here span the entire globe, ranging from Ireland (Hulk), Scotland (Harold Nono), France (Oomiaq, Oldman), Belgium (Kaboom Karavan), Spain (Pequena Fiera!) and Finland (Cahier) right through to Serbia (PNDC), Singapore (Sonicbrat), Japan (Linda Bjalla, Alone Together), Brazil (Anne King) and the USA (Limbic Somnus, Alfred Brown, James Ross, DM Stith). Equally broad-ranging are the styles represented on here – which is not altogether surprising when you consider just how geographically spread out the artists are; and on first hearing it’s probably one of the strangest compilations I have heard in a while (and consequently the strange title is quite fitting really).

We have everything here; upbeat pop-influences, slow Tom Waits-style vocal slurs, electro-pop, experimental, suicidal and psychotic, ambient/environmental, psychedelic feedback workouts, fiery stompers, etc., etc. – you name it then it’s probably on here somewhere. The question now is where to begin?

My original intention was to pick out just those tracks I found interesting or intriguing as I normally do for compilations, but everything here offers us something good and attention-grabbing; so I’ll break with my own tradition and make short notes about every piece. Album opener Anne King’s vaguely Fat Boy Slim-esque ‘Unknown Us Apart’ kicks things off energetically, only to be followed by the even more frenetic and uplifting vocoder ‘n’ electro-pop stomp of ‘Human Beings’ from Alone Together. Next up of note is PNDC’s (Predrag Nedic) ‘Pick Up Your Tears’, with its Charleston flavoured bounce and that in turn is followed by Oomiaq’s bizarre ‘Aventure Toi’, in which village children improvised words, syllables and melody – and strangely affecting for all that. Oldman opt to go for a collision between scratchy guitar fuzz ‘n’ feedback and Tom Waits, while sitting out on the veranda of a house somewhere deep in the Mississippi swamplands.

Belgium’s Kaboom Karavan bring us a slice of slightly fractured ambient, while Bearsuit’s homegrown talent Harold Nono, with his “A Shining Space’, fractures reality even more with a piece that sounds as if it was shattered and then pieced back together exactly as they found it. Meanwhile Pequena Fiera! serenades us with a deranged love song, strangled vocals accompanied by cheesy keyboards and guitar; then in complete contrast we have the soaring cosmic ambient of Limbic Somnus, magnificent chords spiralling into the heights. Following this we have the forlorn reedy organ and bubbling of Alfred Brown, with James Ross’ sinister guitar and bell-tone contribution hot on its heels.

Bringing the pace down even further is the longest piece on here, Linda Bjalla’s beautifully and hauntingly melancholic piece ‘You Are Alive’, written for a friend on the brink of suicide, which perfectly captures the gloom and deep isolation of those in the deepest of despair, and also highlighting the endless greyness of existence for both the still-living and the eternally-dead; it’s not something that’s necessarily to be coveted, even by those who feel it’s the only option. After this DM Stith then gives us the nearest thing to a normal song, but even here it sounds like something from the early 20th century on downers.

We’re now on the home stretch with only three songs left; and the first of those is the lazy winding river of Sonicbrat’s harmonium and acoustic guitar piece ‘That Little Something’, which I vote as being my favourite track on the album. Next is Hulk’s swirling classical string-influenced ode to the eternal sea, slow but solid, yet strangely mournful; and bringing up the rear is the slow tumble piano and reverb of Cahier’s ‘Bebe’, short and penetratingly bell-like.

It’s fair to say that all the tracks on here are nothing short of sparkling, scintillating and cerebral, something which I consider a rare event for a compilation. Every one of these sixteen offerings had me entranced, something which is an even rarer event. As broad a range of styles as is to be found on here the quality of the selection is outstanding and this has certainly found an occasional home in my CD tray – the artists on here are not afraid to experiment and to take the musical format of their choice to new territories; and for that I thank both them and Bearsuit Records for opening up those new vistas for me.