Various Acts - 'Abuse Your Friends' (Volume 4)
4/5
By: Kevin Molloy
If pushed, there should be two purposes for compilations. One is an industry-defying sharing of music; that most personal of gifts as advocated by Cussack/Hornby in 'High Fidelity', a sweeping generalisation of one's own tastes and favourites that can breach decades, taste and convention. The other is epitomised by this. And you can take it that this isn't 'The Best Driving Power Ballad Anthems In The Multiverse Forever And Infinity 7'. No, no, no.
The title is actually quite confusing, as the service offered by the 'Abuse Your Friends' series is exactly the opposite: this is a compilation of newbies, underdogs, unheards and ignoreds. And its purpose? To spread the word, of course. Refreshingly, even profit seems to play the smallest possible of roles: a meagre £7.50 direct from the label, for twenty-one completely fresh tracks... postage included.
The idyllic indie of all this is quite overwhelming... as is the quality. Best of all, there's a fair bit of genre-contention going on... whilst the staple diet of guitar rests unchallenged, its multifarious-ness as an instrument is suitably tested and proved. Pure Reason Revolution don serious faces in their sweeping prog-ish sounds. 100 Bullets Back would give Franz Ferdinand a run for their money in an 80's-themed MC duel (it could happen...), and S'Cool Girls feel like a revamped Rolling Stones crossbred with Gary Glitter.
From these highlights there are yet loftier peaks. Three Litre's 'Girl From The Industry' adds welcome touches of acoustics and humour ('I wanted her to share in my euphoria, when I headlined the Astoria') sung with such sincerity you're unsure whether to laugh or cry, and just end up thinking it's a bloody great song. The Souls give a rollicking mash of Madness and something entirely their own, a 20th Century version of The Specials, with riffs. We Start Fires are a poppier version of Pretty Girls Make Graves; sexy vocals, sultry guitar and primary school keyboard sounds. Off The Radar's vocal hails back to Britpop, with some strategic '60s songwriting and licks on the guitar, but a much more up-to-date understanding of the peculiar beauty of discordance. And, lastly, the sheer brutish elegance of Roger; we need say no more than their anthemic, brash-pop ego lyrics say for themselves: 'Don't f**k with Roger... stand up and worship at the feet of Roger.'
It's a sad but unavoidable fact that a minority of the listing transpires to be fairly mindless and emulating - our complaint is that one or two of the tracks seem to have taken lo-fi to grave new lows. Whilst there's beauty and spontaneity in a simple approach to recording, Major Major's contribution has the resonance of a karaoke microphone in the middle of an empty aircraft-hanger hooked up to a Fisher Price cassette deck. Basically unlistenable, then. But it's a small spot on a shimmering whole, and only proves the compilation's intent: many of the tracks are first-time releases for the bands, and we're prepared to put up with a few blemishes given the superlatives that resonate throughout the rest of the LP.
And whilst it's a truism, we know: we do wonder how so many great bands can rest thus unchampioned? Suffice that we may advocate this compilation, and leave their impeccable indie ethic and applaudable quality control as our conclusion ringing a contradictory but welcoming message: abuse your friends, or you will never get to hear them at all.
Artists in this article: Various Acts
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