room thirteen

Finding their feet with a club night that's been going since late 2005, On The Bone have now graduated to a record label and this compilation collects together some of the acts who have helped make the night a success. Having never been to the club, it has to be assumed if it is an accurate representation of the night, although the alcohol and cigarette smoke is clearly missing from the experience. Of course, with the laws in England and Wales about to ban smoking indoors this will soon be a thing of the past anyway, so perhaps its best to focus on the tunes as opposed to the night out.

It's a pretty varied collection – varied in genres and styles, although on the whole, the quality seems a decent level. Openers Downdime bring to mind the Arcade Fire if they went a bit crazy with the drums and guitar histrionics while by the time it gets to track three, Mother Vulpine are bringing some dark guitar vibes which propels along at a fast pace, pulling the lyrics along with it.

And funnily enough, getting dragged back to the smoking issue, Smokers Die Younger appear with an intro that leans heavily on the Pixies in the way the bass hangs before the track stumbles into life, looking for a fight.

Four tracks into the record and theres so much to take in that you fancy skipping back to the start and listening to these tracks over again to make sure you're picking everything up but 19 tracks in total, theres so much on offer that theres going to be something of interest to anyone.

Benjamin Wetherill adds a dose of folky whimsicalness, whilst carrying the ethos of Love and Arthur Lee which is the immediately countered by the squalor of It Takes Bridge with 'Braggart', carrying that Suicide or Sonic Youth noise attack on the sense.

You are getting the feeling that this review could continue in this manner for a very long time, and as already stated, its purely down to the variety contained within and its hard to do every act justice in this manner. Price wise it is an absolute steal for the amount of tracks that are available and the law of averages alone would indicate that there would be something of interest to listeners. Okay, it is all steeped in the land of indie and guitars but that still leaves a pretty broad landscape to play on.

If the level of quality found here is truly indicative of whats in store at the club night, you must admit that the regulars have been treated to some great nights over the past year or so.

Andrew Reilly

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