Various Artists

An 18 Track sampler album from a new Leeds label.

The first track is by This Et Al and they are maturing into a very fine band indeed - any questions their early demos may have raised are answered in their song Catscan which is a display of passion and dynamics. They sound like very much their own band having absorbed and transformed earlier influences into something new. Looks like they will be on an early 7" release from this label and I look forward to that.

There are some wonderful songs: The Terminals are wild and percussive on Diagnosis. Robochrist use every trick in the book - an array of samples and dance electronics to sow discord and disturbance in their ambitious ghosttrainnosebleed. iLIKETRAINS's brooding and vengeful Stainless Steel stopped me in my tracks even if it could have done with being three minutes shorter.

There seems to be a very definite influence from Franz Ferdinand (a band so defined by their own influences that they can be enjoyed as purely nostalgia). O Fracas, The Scaramanga Six, Being 747, Forward Russia! and I Love Poland all take elements from post punk to mid-80s - but I remember those days fondly anyway and in this case particulary admire Scaramaga Six's The Poison Fang as it recalls Heaven 17, Monochrome Set, and Bowie's Diamond Dogs in a potent mix of Torch theatrics.

Sorry to all the bands I haven't mentioned by name because this is an astonishingly consistent 18 track sampler - much more so than some of the classic Liverpool, Manchester, and Sheffield collections I remember from the 70s and 80s. It's hard to believe there are so many good bands working in one city - I would happily go to see about 10 of these live.