This review is a little late, but I honestly like to take my time listening to stuff sometimes to get a proper flavour for it.
But anyway, to cut a long story short, Dance to the Radio are this ace little independent record label ran from Leeds (UK) who seem to specially in Leeds based acts.. I first came across them through an interview with This Etal (who Setting Sun interviewed as far back as January 2005 I think!) and although I certainly haven’t enjoyed all of their releases at their worst even, they offer bands which are certainly making a name for themselves at the moment and that can only be a good thing.
Anyway, this as compilations like their first compilation which although in places isn’t always my cup of tea personally with a couple of the tracks certainly straying too close to second rate Indie Rock (which would better than some of the shite you get in the charts but even though it wouldn’t be my cup of tea) as to be expected like with their first compilation CD – there are a number of gems on here, including a wonderfully tense This Etal track “The Loveliest Alarm” which sounded a complete change in gear for them, but probably stood out as one of their best tracks so far.
A nice change of pace was also shown by both Napoleon IIIrd and iLIKETRAINs, with the iLIKETRAINS being a real surprise as I kept expecting the track to almost explode like with their best stuff for example “Stainless Steel”, instead their track “The Beeching Report” seemed a bit more relaxed and didn’t really take off on first listening for me, but repeated listening like with Napoleon’s stuff, (their track excellently named “The Conformist takes it all” which will certainly go down as one of my favourite track names of the year) both tracks sound the bands experimenting with different ideas and pulling them off excellently.
However, with this sort of compilations, even though you may buy the CD for a couple of bands in particular you like, the best bit is always discovering the bands / singers / projects you don’t know and finding some excellent bands who can then become firm favourites off yours.
On this CD, as I expected despite the fact there was a number of tracks I didn’t like there was a number of tracks I quite enjoyed. These included of course tracks by “ “Shut your eyes and you’ll burst into Flames” who recorded a track called Amputee Smile, which kept reminding me of a cross between Bauhaus and Kenckie (honestly!), Whores Whores Whores – which sounded a bit like Napalm Death to mine mixed with a Leeds flavour, Samsa – First, the Lights, Dead Disco – which although went quite close to Coldplay I guess but was on the right side of coolness to make it a enjoyable couple minutes of fun… and lastly “Dead Disco”’s City Place which was a excellent slice of Girl led Indie rock which kind of reminded me of Blondie fronting early P.J.Harvey.
Of course there were a number of tracks that like I said before meant little to me, but even on the tracks that meant little to me – they were better tracks than most of what passes for hit singles in the top 40!
Recommended….
P.S. - PC is totally shagged too folks also..
