The first thing to note is that the CD we’ve received is a hand written disk and not a professional pressing. What does this tell me about the company which sent it I wonder?
I’ve never reviewed a compilation before, so when making my notes (yes I make notes before jamming my paws over the keyboard) I jotted down a sentence or two about each and every track. However, as a pattern emerged, I’ll boil my thoughts down and give you the highlights.
Overall this is a horrible collection of sounds, and I use the phrase as very few of the tracks could be described as music. For most of the contributors ideas like tune, structure or rhythm seem like alien concepts and even one out of three would be an improvement for most of them. Dull soundscapes, random bleeps and homemade samples are the signature of these bedroom produced ‘art’ pieces. The worst waste of time and electronics is Suppa Micro Pamchopp’s track; it sounds like a two year old got hold of Steven Hawking’s voice box while throwing a sampler down the stairs. At least when HAL had a breakdown it could sing Daisy Daisy! Talking of songs, the nearest we get to one is Bunny and the Electric Horsemen, but even this is marred by vocals in the chorus which are so out of tune as to be painful to the ears. The last track is provided by Aging Children and I had to ask if this was recorded on a wax cylinder because the quality of the sound is that poor and barely audible.
Has Mr Bearsuit Records any idea of quality control, or is his raison d'etre to produce unlistenable (and ultimately unsellable) records? Only the first track has any merit. Auskeur’s “Open Ground” could have been lifted from a horror soundtrack, as evil sounding strings and horns fight each other in a dramatic piece which only adds to the disappointment of having to listen to the rest of this bilge.