V/A – Psychopop Vol. 1 / 2006 Acidsoxx / 15 Tracks / http://www.acidsoxx.com / Reviewed 21 January 2006

The shambling beat of Jtiom on “Bloated Floater” mixes together a heavily distorted set of vocals with something that would seem fitting for an early nineties rap track. Where there are a lot of distinct sounds on this track, the styles all morph together to come up with something cohesive and enjoyable at about the minute mark. The multiple vocals present on Falter Bramnk’s “Blind Circle” are almost dissonant in their sound, but this tension is defused by the circus like atmosphere that plays as the backdrop for the track.

This fancy free type of sound is continued with Norm Scott’s “The Sandbox Legacy”. “The Sandbox Legacy” has a lounge-like beat, with Norm pretty much talking throughout everything besides the chorus. In a sense, Norm comes close to They Might Ber Giants, but this connection is only tenuous at best. The sort of influence of They Might Be Giants on Norm Scott is mirrored in the light Bjork influence on Maisie’s “Universal”. “Girl in the Kafka T-Shirt”, by B. Hama and the New Hobos again links itself slightly to a specific act, coming close to Baz Luhrmann. However, unlike the “Sunscreen” track by Luhrmann, there is a very active sense of instrumentation that is prevalent throughout the entire track. While the Happy Lawn Gnomes track is more of the same type of talking that was present on the Norm Scott track, there seems to be another repetition of the sound on this compilation with the circus atmosphere created by Klimperei’s “Hippopotemes Sous L’eau”. The first track that really breaks itself away from the general sound of the disc has to be Pope John Paul III’s “I Like Girls”. “I Like Girls” comes through like some of the retro-sounding nineties alt-pop, especially coming through like the misshapen cousin of Harvey Danger and Fastball.

“Mars in a Mouse + Red Planet” by The Orange is another sea change from the general sound of the disc. While it is linked to the body of tracks on the disc by some industrial influence, the screamed out chaos and noise that opens up the track is the equivalent to a neutron bomb, one that really opens up the second half of the track. The tracks continue this same shifting with Padding Attack, and Acidsoxx really gives the genre Psychopop an entire stable of different-sounding acts. If you want to hear some music that would normally be well off the radar and even the most independent radio stations, pick this up.

Top Tracks: Padding Attack’s “She’s A Nymph When She Talks”, Klimperei’s “Hippopotames Sous L’Eau”

Rating : 6.2/10

[JMcQ]