Various - On The Bone Compilation - Number Two
[On The Bone Records]

In light of some of the quality offered by this 19-track collection from the Leeds-based label On The Bone, the people of Yorkshire can remain justifiably proud of their region’s musical output. The album’s content straddles a noticeably wide range of bases, with exposure given to folk artists and doses of electronica just as readily as to some of the livelier rock bands heard here, and plenty of highlights spring up along the way as a result.

Album-openers This Et Al are on raucous form with ‘Special Bear’, a track which bodes rather well for their soon-to-be-released ‘Figure Eight’ EP, while Pulled Apart By Horses prove their mettle with the fantastic ‘High Five, Swan Dive, Nose Dive’, full of riotous twists and turns and enthralling changes of pace.

Elsewhere Napoleon IIIrd fascinates with ‘The Strong Nuclear Force’, which progressively builds up its layers of instrumentation as the song unravels, culminating in the strings, horns and vocals battling frantically for attention over the top of their weighty, percussive backbone.

As ever, That Fucking Tank frighten and encapsulate in equal measure, such are the levels of intensity and character which pour out from the riffs in ‘Stephen Hawkind’ over the course of its nine minutes.

On the quieter side of things, Fran Rodgers’ voice shines through wonderfully on ‘The Watchman’, and the lush arrangements on Paul Marshall’s ‘Cross Stitched Lips’ do a lot to suggest that he will gain a legion of fans when Bella Union start putting out his stuff in the near future.

Special mention must also be made of Leeds collective Bracken – their remix of the I Concur track ‘Lucky Jack’ is a thing of beauty.

By and large, there is definitely a lot to enjoy on this compilation, and its overall variety should result in the majority of listeners being able to unearth a decent cluster of positives to take away with them and explore further. Priced at under a fiver, it’s certainly worth checking out.

Tracklisting:

1. This Et Al - Special Bear
2. Paul Marshall - Cross Stitched Lips
3. Monty Casino - I Love The Sound Of My Own Voice
4. The Twilight Sad - Watching That Chair Painted Yellow
5. Pulled Apart By Horses - High Five, Swan Dive, Nose Dive
6. Napoleon IIIrd - The Strong Nuclear Force
7. The Lodger - The Conversation
8. Fran Rodgers - The Watchman
9. Wintermute - The Fall Of Hans Gruber
10. Two Minute Noodles - Hit Me
11. These Monsters - The Naked City
12. Bilge Pump - Rise And Fall Of The Alpha Male
13. That Fucking Tank - Stephen Hawkwind
14. I Concur - Lucky jack (Bracken Remix)
15. Mucky Sailor - Drunken Dancer
16. Dinosaur Pile-up - Winter Warmer
17. worriedaboutsatan - Shut You Off
18. Benjamin Wetherill - The Flower Of Magherally
19. Grammatics - Polar Swelling (Remix)