In the mould of the very successful Dance To The Radio and Engine Room compilations of Leeds-related stuff, here is yet another very good collection. Some of the names and one or two of the tracks will be familiar to people who have already dipped into the Leeds scene. But with 19 tracks to go at, there are bound to be some gems you wouldn’t have got by any other means. As a collection it does work very well in a straight run-through. Pacing and selection are thoughtfully done. A bit like the now well-established monthly On The Bone nights you can be confident that there is nothing here that isn’t already in the favourite stuff lists of on the bone perpetrators James Brown and Tom Goodhand. The range is wide. Quality control is tuned up to “only the best will do” and the rule is “No Fillers!”. Potential pop starlets like THE LODGER, WILD BEASTS and THIS ET AL rub along with a determinedly diy awkward squad (THAT FUCKING TANK and QUACK QUACK). Folk missionaries FRAN RODGERS and BENJAMIN WETHERILL share sweet acoustic space with precision smash and rattle punkadelic outfits THE SCARAMANGA SIX (king size) and THE ACUTES ( economically priced duo). Retired-from-action THE SOMATICS give out with the lush “Remote” and perennial lurkers SAMSA do another “how can stuff this good not be better regarded than it is?” (Their "The Fight" is a personal favourite) One or two tricky moments - maybe. MOTHER VULPINE are going to be real contenders very soon, with some good material and a distinctive sound in the loading bay. But here their (very good) song ("We'll Be Detectives For The Day") sounds so much like an early THIS ET AL production that they might as well do a swap and call it quits. MICKEY CHARBAGZ combines the most beautiful tune and voice/guitar delivery with a title and lyric worthy of an ego-defective 15 year old. FUCKABILITY is not so much pointlessly and crowd-followingly vulgar as semantically unpleasant. The beautiful mood is destroyed by the person-as-object scenario. Clumsy – but easily changed. WORRIEDABOUTSATAN’s “The Butterfly Effect” is an unexpected treat. It starts full of simple but racing electronica while mournful guitar avoids the dance for two full minutes Then it bursts out into something more heroic and all the lights blaze on. Go back and listen again – it’s special, and sits happily in QUACK QUACK land. Bath time was never this good. DOWNDIME, SMOKERS DIE YOUNGER, IT TAKES BRIDGES and CHAMPION KICKBOXER are the remaining names to savour. All good. Those ace compilers (Brown and Goodhand) keep “MONSTER KILLED BY LASER’s “Zombi” for a tumultuous finale. Prog voodoo I’d say. It can be bought for not much if you’re quick. Local soundings suggest it will disappear from shelves fairly rapidly.

8/10

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