Various - Dead001
[Dead Pilot Records]

With lovely handmade CD-R packaging, a refreshingly uncluttered website and a clear and concise release schedule, it would appear Buckinghamshire-based label Dead Pilot's priorities lie within the music it releases.

Celebrating its first release, Dead Pilot have gathered nine artists together for this compilation that tries to capture the essence in all that is good about leftfield music. From the gorgeous ambient stylings of The Soul’s Release through to the razor-sharp screamo of HateHeart, “Dead001” attempts to chart every other genre you can think of.

Instruments provide some calculated math-rock, while Men As Trees' schizophrenic nature certainly up’s the intrigue levels. Their “Scenes from a Voyage” effort starts as if it is going to move in a Clinic direction with off-kilter clarinet washes, but towards the end of its epic 12 minute duration veers impressively towards vitriolic post-hardcore territories.

It is obvious that Buckinghamshire-based quintet 1877 has studied the chord structures of Sonic Youth intensely, but still they display enough invention to suggest they could move out of their heroes’ shadow. Both Message To Bears and When Tigers Broke Free, meanwhile, present lovely, but contrasting instrumental compositions. The former is a Jose Gonzalez inspired stroll through acoustic terrains, while the latter excels with its beautiful orchestral-led post-rock.

Truth be told, though, this compilation is worth the meagre price alone, for Londoner Ecka Liena’s stunning “Fire Emerging From Mist”. Aptly titled, this track builds several minutes worth of a glacial guitar and synth progression before literally erupting with waves of monolithic, distorted fury. Absolutely designed for full volume, Ecka Liena is one artist I will be certainly looking out for.

Great stuff from the fledgling Dead Pilot imprint. As the old saying states, always start as you mean to go on.

Tracklisting:

1. Across Wind-Swept Expanses / Wires
2. Unfold / Message To Bears
3. We Didn’t Think It Through, We Just Did It / Instruments
4. Conversation in a Cheap Room / 1877
5. Fire Emerging From Mist / Ecka Liena
6. Dripping Whispers / The Soul’s Release
7. Scenes From A Voyage / Men As Trees
8. Dust In The Eye / HateHeart
9. Farewell...! Farewll...! / When Tigers Broke Free