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Album Review

Various Artists
Indiepop 09 Cooperative Music

Article written by Ged M - Dec 15, 2009

Indiepop 09

Two cheers for Rough Trade’s new Indiepop 09 compilation. One for the funny, evocative sleeve notes from Delia (Sparrow), doyenne of London’s indie scene; and two for making generally available records that mainly came out in editions of 500 and didn’t linger long in the shops. There’s an excellent unreleased track from Veronica Falls (‘Beachy Head’) that won’t be unreleased for long, and the Dum Dum Girls’ ‘Longhair’ is as great as it is rare. But apart from value for money considerations, the selection tries to cover too many bases - from twinkly tweepop to astringent lo-fi US noise to fuzz pop - and loses the coherence that its title tries to suggest. Individual tracks will find favour but which ones will be a matter of individual taste. I have an aversion to over-sweetened pop and there are some bands here whose tunes rot teeth as soon as you whistle their chorus so my highlights tend to the high-fibre tunes: Betty & The Werewolves’ fearsomely good punk-pop ‘David Cassidy’, the scratchy spookiness of the Girls At Dawn's 'Never Enough' and the School's immaculate baroque pop on 'And Suddenly', plus fine songs from Liechtenstein, the Manhattan Love Suicides (although it’s ‘Clusterfuck’ again) and the reliably ace Vivian Girls. It’s great to dip into, but it’s a record that reinforces rather than smashes preconceptions.

Links:
http://www.roughtrade.com/site/shop_detail.lasso?sku=318780