This latest sampler from Brixton’s electro-experimentalists Projector Records is a right mixed bag of nuts with tracks from an eclectric bunch that have played the label’s club nights over the past year.
Man From Uranus’ “Medical Report” is not the best of openers, a moog wig out soundtrack to a 60s idea of what the 80s would be like and far too twee and kitsch for comfort. Find it accompanying a projection of PVC-coated, turquoise-haired shoppers on the yellowing screen of a dilapidated science museum near you now.
Thankfully all is not kitsch and things pick up considerably with Volunteer’s brooding lo-fi synth-pop contributions, like Visage or Gary Numan dragged through a hedge, twigs and gravel mixed in with the hairspray and makeup. “Safety in Numbers” seems to be an electro call to the apathetic, while “Street” is more upbeat and wiry, more akin to a good complete version of recent DFA output.
More highlights come from Now with a twitchy breathy echo of Talking Heads on their track “We will come untamed” and some sparse electro-soothing from Victor Peach’s “Nothing But You”.
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Spanish Karavan provide the back to ’98 Bentley Rhythm Ace moment, after promising so much more with a cascading waterfall of an intro before losing it. Already tipping a hat to Marshall Jefferson or Robert Hood at their most balearic, a few of the right tweaks could easily turn “Polanesia” into a dancefloor stormer.
Elsewhere, Death Biscuit provide a Thomas Dolby moment, Yimkin pop out a bit of Coldcut style sample trickery with their funk and soul breaks replaced with daft glam beats crafted from industrial white noise and Lady Golfers nicely fry the brain in acid.
Certainly one of the most eclectic bits of vinyl you’ll get your hands on this year, “We are stupid” is a decent collection that will certainly impress that lovely arty girl/boy and a very good advert for Projector’s club nights. I’m definitely going to pop down anyway.
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