This second compilation release from On The Bone showcases the impressively diverse roster of acts they’ve worked with over the last two years, and across its nineteen tracks standout numbers are impressively plentiful. Paul Marshall explains his recent signing to Bella Union with ‘Cross-Stitched Lips’, a gorgeously lilting, superbly crafted exercise in modern folk, while Fran Rodgers experiments with looped harmonies and an expanded palette of instrumentation to create a lush framework to lay a captivating vocal performance over on ‘The Watchman’. Pulled Apart By Horses impress with the raucous, joyful energy which abounds on the wonderfully-named ‘High Five, Swan Dive, Nose Dive’, whilst That Fucking Tank build up quite a head of steam over the nine minutes of ‘Stephen Hawkwind’, managing somewhat improbably to make it feel like time well spent. These Monsters assemble an engaging concoction of squiggly guitar phrases, stuttering breakbeats and saxophone-led melody on ‘The Naked City’ before drowning it all in needless bludgeoning riffage halfway through, while Dinosaur Pile-Up pack ‘Winter Warmer’ full of enough satisfying hooks to take them a very long way indeed. Further leftfield, Hood’s Chris Adams (in his Bracken guise) turns in an impressive remix of I Concur’s ‘Lucky Jack’ which lifts the song out of the realm of worthy art-rock and drops it squarely into Depeche Mode territory, whilst on ‘Shut You Off’ worriedaboutsatan happily demonstrate a willingness to ditch their guitars entirely and delve far deeper into ambient techno than they have done previously. Best of all though, and worth the asking price of this release alone, is This Et Al’s ‘Special Bear’, which rams more ideas into its three electrifying minutes than many a ponderous post-rock band manage in songs three or four times as long.

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