Album Review – Recorded At The Automat: The Best Of Rough Trade Records

Rough Trade at the automat

Various Artists -‘Recorded At The Automat: The Best Of Rough Trade Records’ (Rough Trade Shops)

The legendary Rough Trade record shops in London have been putting together awesome compilations for well over a decade now – and it was surely only a matter of time before they came up with one that focused on the label that grew out of the original shop (though shop and label have been separate for many years now).

The band that took Rough Trade into the bigtime were, of course, The Smiths. It’s quite telling that the Smiths’ contribution here is a b-side, ‘London,’ which shows how shop and label tended to think out of the box and of course, just how wonderful The SMiths were during their brief four year run of making records.

There’s some wonderful records that may have passed many of us by (Rainy Day’s take on ‘I’ll Keep It With Mine’), and records that are well-known (Scritti Politti, The Strokes and Pete Doherty is represented by both the Libertines and Babyshambles). There’s a nod to a number of the great Scottish artists that have been on the label over the years – Belle & Sebastian, Life Without Buildings, The Prats and Motorcycle Boy, though it’s criminal that Aberfeldy are missing. There are tracks from the lies of Antony and the Johnsons, The Fall and The Pop Group which show (amongst many others) how Rough Trade understood that indie music was -and still is, to those of us of a certain age – about being independent in your approach to making music as much as how it was released.

I could list numerous artists who’ve been on the label – but that might end up serving as more of a criticism than I intend this to be. The reality is that this is a very comprehensive overview of a wonderful label that over nearly forty years has helped discover unknown and original talent and help them reach a wider audience. Sure, you’d hope any label would do this, but they’ve managed to do it with style and panache. Mostly!

****1/2

Recorded At The Automat: The Best Of Rough Trade Records is out now on Rough Trade Shops

Album Review: A Psychedelic Guide To Monsterism Island

a-psychedelic-guide-to-monsterism-island

Various Artists -‘A Psychedelic Guide To Monsterism Island’ (Lo Recordings)

A Psychedelic Guide To Monsterism Island has been assembled by one Pete Fowler, who has bought together a collection of some very cool and hip names from the underground (but also chart-botherers as well) to ‘make your trip to Monsterism Island an unforgettable one.’

One of the best known contributors here is Super Furry Animals; Gruff Rhys who has indeed been making wonderful out-there pop songs for well over a decade now. Other contributors include Jonny Trunk (no stranger to compilation godlike status himself), Amorphous Androgynouos (an alter-ego of members of Future Sound Of London), Luke Vibert, Richard Norris (of the Grid)…I could go on. The thing is, as impressive as the list of names is, the album doesn’t quite hit the spot.

It isn’t a weak album, it’s nice in the background, without ever becoming aural wallpaper, and nor is it offensive by its’ very inoffensiveness. It’s worth hearing…but I think the Je Ne Sais Quoi… that it lacks comes down to the fact that as irish website State pointed out, “the names that appear on the compilation however as they are about as incidental as the songs. It would be hard to tell Gruff Rhys’ contribution from Dammers’.”

***

A Psychedelic Guide To Monsterism Island is out now.

To stream click here

www.monsterism.net