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Another one of those essential must have budget basement type compilations and when we say budget we don’t mean naff, no no no, what you get for your slightly more than a brace of singles worth of money is a pretty smartish 23, yep count ’em, 23 tracks of exclusive cuts from the stars of the un label roster plus a few gems from a select number of gate crashers who’ve snuck through the back door.
UN label is the guitar based older sibling of the more electronic and atmospherics based Awkward Silence resource, in recent months they’ve wowed these very pages with the superb Joeyfat album from last year (their first since reforming after a long hiatus) while not forgetting the recent brace of limited singles from Headquarters and Jason and the Astronauts all of whom feature on this release. Mainly digging for your listening delight the fragmented sounds of the math and post rock genres, ‘un23’ follows up what was by all accounts the highly successful outing in the shape of the label last compilation ‘un17’ from a year or so, again another of those releases that escaped our listening post. 80 minutes in duration and limited to just 500 pressings ‘un23’. Right from the opening sounds of the sweetly noodling ethnic / monastic rhythmic vibrancy of the studio based collective the Ape Choir’s ‘Eaves treasure’ with its almost heartening festive vibe to the closing Chinese burn friction based fraught pop of the un-yielding Charlottefield whose, if memory serves me right, fragmented punk prognosis last hit our decks with a release for Fat Cat, this compilation provides for the best part a blast of tantrum attention seeking which you’d do best not to ignore.
Among the list the best cuts if you had to cheery pick, though every single one is a gem it has to be said, we’d start out with Matra whose debut 10 inch release is imminent if not out and about already kicking sizeable arse, ‘Warming up the machines’ sees them coming across like a snoozing Ampop snuggling up for the chill with Boards of Canada if that was at all possible, lulling stuff which contrasts greatly amid all the fragmented riffs found elsewhere. There’s always the disjointed crooked avant pop of I, coelacanth (which through years of uninteresting education I seem to remember as being a pig ugly fish from prehistoric times that ate ships and stuff or was that Godzilla?), kind of Art of Noise meets Front 242 meets Beefheart, well strange.
Unhome’s ‘Pine Tree’ still sounds totally irresistible, beautiful intertwining circular chords drift delicately to cocoon you, this is an alternative take of the version that made up their split debut with Papa M from a year or two ago on Awkward Silence and talking of Unhome and of course Joeyfat, JD Richards he from both ensembles gets all breezily serene with the nimbly string and steel guitar soaked ‘Head High (until you die)’ his first fruits with a promised long player to come later this year. Then there’s the curiously down tempo post rocking Box whose ‘Mantres’ shows a band undecided whether they want to be Codeine or a more friction based Billy Mahonie and decided to brings both extremes together to a damn smart conclusion, and we also pricked an ear or two to Querelle’s ‘Sore’ a throbbing down cast atmospheric killer cut that sparks with untold agitation. All said and done though our favourite of the collection is the gutter grunge glam of the tastefully named Bilge Pump, who with ‘Dour hogwax’ dish out a dizzying slab of claustrophobic madness that leans heavily into ‘Hex Education Hour’ era Fall though bolstered by dragging Hendrix riffs, T-Rex groove and Ministry attitude and quite possibly worthy of the admission fee alone.
MARK BARTON
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