Various Artists
Andy
Pure Pop For Now People

This is a compilation of four tracks with artists from four different countries, well almost.

German s/t sets the standard with the 21 minutes "Das Alpha Tier", a space rock monster in the tradition of Hawkwind and maybe even Amon Düül II, too, on a happy day. The beast rolls along at constant velocity like a steam locomotive at top speed with a wall of distorted guitars and more playful keyboards, to some extent. It's only brought to a halt by some sound collages at the start, middle and end, war sounds like a march band, military trumpet, bombs, gunshots and sirens. It ends quietly after the rooster has crowed for the third time.

Ectogram from Wales is up a nearby street of s/t, at least as far as distorted guitars go. But they are more song oriented. "If I Can Catch A Train" is the fuzzpop song of the album, if ever there was one. Quite fun. Phil Wilson (England) on the other hand is the acoustic alibi. "Traum" is more home made with a strange backwards guitar, maybe a little bit tribal oriented in the Current 93 kind of way? Ronny Wærnes (Norway) on the other hand goes towards the extreme. His "Heilandsbächle" starts somewhat conventional with noisy guitars (or keyboards?) and metallic percussion, moves into distorted overdrive on the way to complete white noise. It dies a slow tormented death after almost 11 minutes.

I'm not sure if I am a now person anymore or if this really is pure pop. But Andy is kind of fun and interesting all the same. And if you're not into metal of any kind, the contributions by s/t and Ronny Wærnes are useful means to shake your earwax. Like s/t's Gorp, Andy is a limited edition, at least there are only 50 copies of the CDR version available. But there is a vinyl version, too, less limited. Check out more Andy-info at The Pure Pop For Now People pages.

Copyright © 2009 JP