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"SWIM TEAM 2"
An album great enough to play seven times in a row is quite a rarething and a compilation at least seven times rarer. But that's whathappened when I got this second sampler from Colin Newman and MalkaSpigel's Swim label into tbe machine. There are nineteen tracks and nota dud amongst them. Even the previously released tracks from Silo andSymptoms are edited versions, and there is some degree of rarity - theImmersion remix of Flying Saucer Attack is about five years old andappears here for the first time and is quite similar in feel toImmersion's Bowery Electric remix. Colin's sped up remix of Silo's'Prime Movers' appeared on the flipside of a 7" that you might havemissed and another short 'Low Impact' style Immersion track previouslyappeared only on a CD-R compilation 'genuine particle'. However most ofSwim Team 2 comprises brand new tracks. A couple of cuts show off theprogress Colin has made towards his follow up to 'Bastard', and thedriving infectious instrumental 'Tsunami' in particular suggests thathe might eclipse that fine album. However work on new Wire recordingsis taking priority at Swim studios, so it might be a while until thenext Colin Newman album. Maybe his son Ben will get his debut outfirst? Recording under the name Bumpy he also gets a couple of trackswhich display his upbeat inheritance of the Newman rhythm. 'Blokey' and'Bumpy on the Beach' are just as bouncy even catchier than his trackfrom 'Swim Team 1', but display a phenomenal progression. Bumpy'smother Malka Spigel makes a welcome return to singing in her nativeHebrew with one of the most joyous pop songs she's sung, although I saythat without understanding a word of it. She also collaborates on amore understated and haunting track with new artist Dictaphone underthe name of Host, which is the aegis under which collaborations betweenSwim artists will appear in future. Dictaphone's Oliver Doerell livesin Berlin, a city awash in atmospheric beat mongery and his 'esc.Meetings' doesn't disappoint. It's a squiggly little number that clicksaway melodically and prepares the way for the dark vortex of Symptomsin the middle of the disc. Poetess Leonie Heyes-Cercio of Beat Kittenis another new Swim artist who watches a man melting on the pavement ina way that recalls former Swimsters Pablo's Eye but is perhaps a littlelighter in mood than their cinematic 'All She Wants Grows Blue' album.Manchester based tunesmith Dave Scattergood aka Toucaen is another newSwim signing, and like the other newcomers his infectious and emotiveoffering leaves me eager to hear more. Toucaen and Lobe seem to sharequite a similar aesthetic, and a new Lobe track bodes well for the nextalbum, as does the exclusive 'Root' from Denmark's premier machine rocktrio Silo. The CD doesn't hit the shops until early November but youcan get it online now at www.posteverything.com, and for the price of a12" single you'd be silly to let it pass you by, unless of course youhate emotive insistent inventive melodic music that displays severalinteresting modes of forward propulsion.
samples:
- Colin Newman - Tsunami
- Beat Kitten - Bored
- Toucaen - Lecci on the Grande Jatte
