Various - Invisible Shield

  by Tommy Gunnarsson

published: 3 / 9 / 2003

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Review

There seems to be something in the air in Olympia, Washington, USA. The little town is packed with great bands, artists and labels, and the most famous of all must be Calvin Johnson’s K Records. For more than 20 years they have released great music, mostly spanning within what I like to call indiepop, or maybe indierock. But occasionally they walk away from this field and explore other parts of the music scene. A compilation like this is a great proof of their breadth and also a great way to introduce all these talented bands to those who might be interested. Calvin himself appears on at least three tracks (it might be more, I have hard time to keep up with all his projects), and among these I must say that I enjoy Beat Happening the most. I have never really understood the experimental works of Dub Narcotic Sound System, and even though his solo song here, 'Love Will Come Back Again', is good I prefer the amateurish shamblings of the Beat Happening. Looking through the play list, I realise that I am quite familiar with 6 of the 16 bands here. All Girl Summer Fun Band are already favourites of mine, and with their latest release, '2', they proved to be even better than what they suggested on the first album. The song here, 'Dear Mr. & Mrs. Troublemaker' is one of the best off the album, and also shows the girl’s new found affection for distorted guitars. Mirah and Dennis Driscoll might not need further presentation either. Both played here in my home country of Sweden last year, and even though I just got to see Dennis play, I can assure you they were both very good (at least if I can trust my friends, and I hope I can). Finally, Tender Trap, the new Amelia Fletcher vehicle, was a great disappointment to me, and even though the song featured here, “Oh, Katrina” is very good, that was more or less the only good song on the album. I am rather sure that this band would never have received much attention if it wasn’t for Fletcher's past in Talulah Gosh and Heavenly. Sad, but true. Moving over to the “new” bands, at least for me, I must say that too many of them play a strange kind of experimental synth-pop-rock, and most of the time I just find it hard to listen to. But apart from these, there are some nice acts for me to look up. The Microphones is one of those bands I have read a lot about, but have never bothered to listen to, but the song here, 'Get The Hell Out of the Way of the Volcano' sounds quite promising. Also, Wolf Colonel sounds quite good. But all in all, I can’t help but to think that K Records seemed but better a couple of years ago, with bands like the Softies in the roster. Although, if they keep releasing bands like All Girl Summer Fun Band, I am happy enough…

Track Listing:-

1 Dub Narcotic Sound System– Sabley Goodness
2 Little Wings– Next Time
3 COCO– Out Of Time
4 [[[[VVRSSNN]]]]– Bruise Blood
5 The Blow– Democracy Of Small Things
6 All Girl Summer Fun Band– Dear Mr. & Mrs. Troublemaker
7 Yume Bitsu– Part 8
8 Mirah – Recommendation
9 Beat Happening– Angel Gone
10 Old Time Relijun– Kettle
11 Tender Trap– Oh, Katrina
12 Microphones– Get The Hell Out Of The Way Of The Volcano
13 Landing– Wings Of Light
14 Dennis Driscoll– Sarah Jane, Part II
15 Wolf Colonel– The Most Delicious Part
16 Calvin Johnson– Love Will Come Back Again