Rough Trade Shops - Electronic Vol.1

Here we get 41 tracks that prove electronic music has always been the way forward & is a million times more real than dross like Stereophonics.

Disc One opens with Eno's 'Signals'- a previously uncharted gem for me; this is followed by the amusing 'I Hear a New World'-from 1960!!! Oval & Barbara Morgenstern fuse well- then we get the great Throbbing Gristle: a much overlooked band...'Marseille 2' is soundFX-heavy- sort of John McEntire meets Gonzales. The 'Dr?' theme is reason alone to buy this and works well next to i-f's seminal 'Space Invaders are smoking grass' which is one of the most influential songs ever (already) & model for Human League's excellent 'All I Ever Wanted'.The Raymond Scott track makes me think of early Orb,'THX1138' or '2001'. 'The Light 3000' is an electronic cover of The Smiths 'There is a Light that Never Goes Out'- really this is perfect! Thomas Leer is very under-rated-nice to see him represented,prior to autechre's 'basscadet' from the timeless 'incunnubla' album. We get the 'Blue Monday'-precursor '5-8-6' from 'Power,Corruption&Lies' which is quite important (though I think 'Everything's Gone Green' or 'Hurt' would have been better choices. Or 'the Kraftwerk One': 'Your Silent Face'...Bjork-collaborator Matmos is next & proves why 'Vespertine' is one of the best albums of all time (already). Uusitalo is somewhere between Kid 606 & Squarepusher, while 'atelier' is what Daft Punk should sound like (from 1984!). we get a brief analogue bubblebath sounding AFX-twin; the terre thaemlitz track is something i'm glad to have discovered!...Next up is the great 'Robots'- pity we don't have any Moroder next to it! 'Radio Music' by John Cage is fantastic & fuses well with the non track- who my memory of involves a record that you couldn't play without it flying off the deck!...Disc Two opens with the great Faust- whose spacerock was a vital progression, the great to rococo rot bridge the gap between Faust & Can. 'I Want More' was Can's suprise UK hit- there is a TOTP-performance- imagine a fusion of Chic & 'Ege Bamyasi'. The Stereolab track is great, as ever; the pan sonic piece is more sinister ambience in the 'ventolin'-mode...'Tascel 7' is as moving as Boards of Canada or Polygon Window's 'If it Really is Me'. 'Superbad' is a great vocoderinhell track- very early Cabs meets NOW; 'Firspk' is whitenoise- imagine Leaf meets Rephlex. We get the classic Fast-version of 'Being Boiled'- an absolute classic that Midge Ure ripped off for 'Fade to Grey'. And it has the word 'sericulture' in it!!...'Direct Drive' sounds like Kraftwerk should have, if they'd released any records.'Mean Old Devil' is creepy vocoder mess that has a great sense of humour & sadly exhibits a Kingsley Amis reference. Best comedy track since 'Runaround'...'Peanuts' is strange percussive noise in the 'afxremixed'mode; fischerspooner are very 'Neon Lights'. Which is nice!...'Trixie' is strange electrofunk that precedes the great JG Ballard tribute, 'Warm Leatherette'- which leads logically to Daniel Miller's protege's, Depeche Mode (though 'Photographic' (some bizarre) or 'Shout' would have been better choices than,er, 'big muff'). 'Senderwahl' is more Kid 606 meets ATR meets Rephlex dance/noise; the fennesz track is rather forgettable- a poor man's 'dazzleships'...The Farben track is a great history lesson that bookends the final track, 'Ended'- a nice collaboration between elph & coil.

This is a great must-have cd- that is immense value & always intrigueing. Hope we get 'Vol 2' & it includes 'Nag Nag Nag', 'Shadazz', 'State of Independence', 'I don't depend on you', 'White Car in Germany', 'Situation', 'P-machinery', 'Radiochio', 'Quoth', 'Montblanc','Memorabilia'&
loads of tracks I've never heard of before. Proof that looking backwards & forwards at the same time pays dividends!