Singles

Various - 4x12

Richard Wink 00/06/0003

Rating: 4/5

Turning us on to some of the finest new acts, Leeds\' based label Dance To The Radio release the fourth instalment in their 4x12\" series. The label came out during the time when Yorkshire was hailed as New Yorkshire by the NME due to the amount of bands that were gaining attention around the mid-noughties. Understandably, every hipster wanted to seek out the next big band that was consuming chips and gravy rather than Sasazushi, and weirdly enough for the label that band was The Pigeon Detectives. Of course the label has unearthed many other gems (Grammatics, Sky Larkin), but sometimes you need a cow to supply the milk.

Phillies' finest Drink Up Buttercup open up with 'Even Think', a casual dose of post-Animal Collective merriment, that merges surf and psychedelia. It's a misfit track, one that is hard to place, hard to rate even, because it is scrappy and trashy, but strangely sexy. Milk White White Teeth follow with 'The Calender Will Crawl', a more orthodox proposition. On the evidence of this song they appear to be one of those dour Sounds of Montreal inspired groups that contain more members then instruments. Certainly they offer up the weakest song on the comp.

Next up, Super Extra Bonus Party feat. R.S.A.G with 'Who Are You And What Do You Want?' an eight bit country-tinged ferry ride across the Irish Sea. Paul Thomas Saunders finishes the compilation, his contribution 'Getting Loose With The Obtuse' is an immense, massive sounding ballad that reminds me of Chris Isaak meeting the Fleet Foxes in some grimey Yorkshire Ale house.

Labels like Dance to the Radio need our help, so like George Clooney campaigning for a Third World Country with those earnest dreamboat eyes of his; I urge you all to support the label by getting hold of this release.