Label compilations should be compulsory in some cases, a necessity imposed on those labels that release too much music for the average college student to keep up with. Unreleased tracks by Kid 606, Tarwater, Charles Atlas, Nudge, Signaldrift, Strategy, The Sems, Stars as Eyes, a killer cover of a Yes song by Grizzly Bear, and many others all help make this compilation truly great, both as an introduction and a retrospective.
Audraglint
One look at the roster put together for this celebratory release had my mouth watering. Perhaps my laziness had gotten the best of me, but I had no idea that Audraglint had released music from so many fantastic bands. Upon listening, I was practically jumping for joy because all those fantastic bands I did know were joined by a gaggle of spectacular sounding bands I was entirely unfamiliar with. If Audraglint is a label that has you scratching your head, then here's the quick rundown: among other things Brian Foote of Nudge is the co-owner and label manager, they've been releasing their music in the same format from the start (white wax vinyl only, matte digipaks for compact discs, and all artwork by David Nakamoto), and they've released music from artists who have also appeared on labels like Kranky, Kitty-Yo, Community Library, Tigerbeat6, and Morr Music.
All songs are exclusive to this compilation and nearly all of them are little gems that run the gamut from sexy and seductive to goofy, funky, and unexpected. Grizzly Bear rises out of a fog of soft vocal delivery and strummed acoustic guitar only to reveal that they are covering a song from one of Yes' worst albums. "Owner of a Lonely Heart" turns out to be one of the highlights on the disc. It is a balladic, minimal interpretation of a song that was known for its excess and remembered fondly by me for its outrageous drum solo and weird use of synthesizer. As the disc continues, the diversity this label has represented really begins to show. Some bands give you what you might expect from a compilation with Kid 606 on it, others deliver a song or a piece of music so unexpected that it's hard to believe the whole comp fits together as well as it does.
Signaldrift contribute a smooth, nocturnal and club oriented track that rumbles with Bowery synthetic work and all manner of twitching glitch accompaniment. Caural invokes a breath of the exotic, Tarwater tap into the robotic and monotonous only to come away with a unexpectedly sweet result, Magwheels bring vocal harmony to a world of drift and desert swarms, Marc Hellner unleashes sweet programmed melodies and feather-soft percussion, and just about every second each of the other bands put to this disc is equally worth mentioning, but if I were to mention them all in the detail they deserve, you'd be looking at a book of a review. All anybody needs to know is that Audraglint and all the bands involved filled up 73 minutes of compact disc with nothing but solid, entertaining, surprising music. The last time I heard this kind of quality all in the same place it was Kranky doing the compiling. A great part about the whole deal is that this is a great place to start with the label, a great way to learn about some bands that obviously need a bit more exposure, and a chance to catch some new material even if all the bands on this disc have already made their way to your ears in one way or another.
samples:
- Grizzly Bear - "Owner of a Lonely Heart"
- Charles Atlas - "The Snow Before Us"
- Magwheels - "Ice Build the Sky"
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