[Hip Priest]

Wake The Dead (by a certain boardie, 2006)

First thing to say: good cut ‘n’ paste cover art, very nice, which most pleasingly features a rather aloof-looking fish. I listened to the tape first without glancing at the accompanying tracklist and recognised approximately half of the artists concerned. For the second listen I referred to the tracklist, of course.

Side A

I’m not a fan of the Rolling Stones, who open this compilation with two live tracks (Bitch and Satisfaction). I can opine that Bitch is by some way the better of the two songs though, with good lyrics, and I can at least be positive and say that if you’re a fan then the Stones are clearly a considerable presence live. Good performances.

Three – three – tracks by Shonen Knife next. Fun, in the good old-fashioned Shonen Knife way, with Antonio Baka Guy being the standout piece.

Next was the first band I didn’t recognize, but who I enjoyed a fair bit: Th’ Faith Healers. They have four tracks in all; two on side A, and another two on side B.The tracks are This Time, Reptile Smile, Moona Ina Joona and I’m Ready, all Peel session tracks – which is nice – and all pretty good. Possible future purchase…

…as are Dub Trio, whose single piece on this tape, Illegal Dub, is one of the best tracks on the whole thing. Great stuff, and I will definitely look into them further.

Spooncurve are Spooncurve, not bad, you know, a nice track called She Doesn’t Know with good lyrics and vocals. An outfit called Stilluppsteypa get a couple next; they’re very good indeed, and after them side A ends with some FM radio play that reveals the tape to have come from to me from the US. A little further investigation leads me to the identity of the taper. There’s a tiny bit of some awful soft rock, but then we get a very nice snatch of jazz and, shortly after, a weird but good-sounding thing with little beepy noises that I’d quite like to know the identity of.

Side B

Some more Stilluppsetya, who really are rather impressive, then the sheer horror of Teenage Fanclub (sorry) on MY stereo. The volume is turned down a couple of notches, although out of respect for my fellow tape-making boardie I listen to the whole thing. However, whereas I can muster a new-found, albeit minor respect for the Rolling Stones, I can summon up no positive comments towards Teenage Fanclub other then they were never the Foo Fighters. Lungfish next, then George Harrison before Th’ Faith Healers make a welcome return with the second half of their contribution.

Two bands next whom I’ve always heard much about without hearing much by, if you see what I mean: Velvet Underground and Royal Trux. Both make a good stab at winning me over, I must admit. I’m not going to rush straight out and buy any records based on these tracks, but I’d be happy to download something by either of them and give it a go. The Royal Trux one – Hot and Cold Skulls – is the nicer. Is that one typical of their music? I’d like to know.

A combo called Double Leopards finish the whole thing off. The original ‘double leopard’ was a short-lived 14th century gold coin, an attempt by the then King of England Edward III (I think) to introduce a form of currency that might be used across Europe. The coin,however, much like the band, failed miserably HA HA HA that’s just a joke, the coinage did fail but the band strike me as being quite cool. In fact, Inner Light is a very nice serene, meditative noise piece that ends the tape beautifully.

Which artist, new to me, am I most likely to purchase something by? Stilluppsteypa, and maybe Double Leopards.
Who do I dislike the most? Teenage Fanclub

All in all, not bad: I liked a lot of it and disliked very little. Thanks are due: to Pookie and to you, taper. I’ll leave it to you to identify yourself!

Looking forward to round 2...