Death Before Distemper 2 - The Revenge Of The Iron Ferret

As early '80s electro pop and disco began their popular resurgence recently, it was only a matter of time before someone would find a way to pull it all together and create some sort of new synthesis. In fact, if you enjoyed any of the recent compilations we've carried of vintage French dark wave and post-punk, like Des Jeunes Gens Modernes, BIPP, or IVG, then we're pretty sure you'll like this as well, though it's music from the England of today. What's the difference? Overall, many of the tracks have the staccato, angular melancholy of those scenes, while retaining a more direct, propulsive, and dancey sort of momentum. There's also some definite space disco and hip-hop influence. Depth Charge presents a John Carpenter coming down on mushrooms epic that could be good friends with just about any Notwist song, then there's Kelpe with their skweee-ish take on the downtempo beats of groups like Boards of Canada. With sequenced live instrumentation, live bass, string sounds, and clean guitar riffs, The Oscillation later offer their Verve-like contribution - yes, as in the British pop band. All of the tracks on here have a sense of cohesion, but each project remains distinct enough, with ups and downs, to come across exactly how a good compilation should: a great mixtape. And sampler of sorts to the wares of the excellent DC Recordings label, the same folks who brought us the super cool Padded Cell and The Oscillation albums reviewed here recently, which you probably already realized. And most, maybe all, of the stuff here is previously unreleased, or remixed. By Aquarius Records