Review by: Chris Bress
Another great comp from Soul Jazz, a label that normally dabbles in Jazz, Reggae, Dub, Soul etc (always picking the totally great stuff) which branched out even more by putting out two A Certain Ratio records, a post punk comp LP (featuring This Heat, The Pop Group etc) but also started up a dance side label (Which has already produced records by Sutekh and Kit Clayton). Phew!
With this record being on Soul Jazz you know your going to get a load of information with the record, here there’s four whole 12″ sides covering all aspects of the bands and the clubs as well as pictures. Right now to the music:
Liquid Liquid: What a band, I cant wait till the day that their records get reissued or I stumble across some. Totally great danceable punk, The Rapture wish they could be as good as them. “Optimo” is an amazing track.
ESG: On the more soul side of the tracks here, Soul Jazz’s favourites ESG contribute the classic “You make no sense”. It’s not their best song but its still fucking amazing!
Konk: I’d never heard of these, and surprise surprise they’re fucking ace. “Baby Dee” is like Liquid Liquid doing an Ultramagnetic Mcs track, and you know! You KNOW that means its fucking good!
Contortions: In my opinion the Contortions were ace, they went a bit shit later on but this is classic Contortions, “Contort yourself” is as brutal now as it was back in the day. If you see “Buy” get it, its an ace fucking LP.
Material: “Reduction” isn’t that good a track in my opinion, although I played their best of cd the other day and I couldn’t find one good track so maybe this is their best?? Bill Laswell was in this band.
Lizzy Mercier Descloux: Never heard of this lady either, “Wawa” sounds alright, a bit silly maybe. It might be funny dancing to this in a club but it’s no Teenage Jesus And The Jerks.
Rammelzee Vs K. Rob: Totally funky old school rap with strange violin parts, “Beat Bop” belongs on the “Breakdance” soundtrack, and by that I mean it’s ace.
Bush Tetras: “Can’t be funky” sounds pretty fucking great, took me a few listens till the Bush Tetras swung me but their dark undercurrent got me in the end.
Glenn Branca: If “Lesson No 1″ Doesn’t grab you and shake you into post punk submission then you might wanna read a Less Than Jake review instead.
The Bloods: Haha, “Button Up” sounds like a fucking amazing funky Hanson. No Shit. But is really good!!
DNA: “5.30″ is a fall down the stairs crazy punk rock explosion. Pity its almost impossible to get any of their records.
Dinosaur L: Another track on the more funk edge, and at times I get horrible memories of stupid students going to funk nights at the social because they know all the words to some shit James Brown song. “Clean on the bean #1″ however has such a cool name I can forget about it.
Theoretical Girls: I can hear where bands like Shellac might have started. “You got me” is a post punk noisy stomper.
The Dance: Man, this band so much like a dance version of the Slits. “Do Dada” is a dance floor classic if I ever heard one.
Mars: “Helen Forsdale” is pretty bleak and cracked. Its also one of the best songs on here, even though its totally no-wave crazy for some reason I can imagine them all having Mohawks and being covered in sick at Gilman. This is one of the best tracks on here.
Defunkt: “Defunkt” sounds stupid after the Mars track. It sounds like something from the Fresh Prince of Bell Air soundtrack meets !!!. I secretly like it though.