POP
Well the Bungalow records are classic Pop, as already mentioned, but there’s other sounds that I’d care to coral into some ultimately irrelevant gang for you to take a pick from. First up is The Future Sound of Paris 2, the best compilation record I’ve heard all year, bar the Suite : 98 collection. The date on the sleeve says 1997, but I didn’t pick it up until March, so I’m going to talk about it now. And now might seem a bit like jumping the Gallic bandwagon, given the supply of Air overdosing that is going on these days in the vapour trail of their disappointingly flimsy Moon Safari LP , but whatever. There’s names here that you should recognise as being purveyors of quality: Motorbass, Dimitri From Paris and Etienne De Crecy (who closes the collection with the beautifully drifting ‘Affaires a Faire’) are all present and correct and providing tunes that connect, but it’s the convincing breadth of quality that’s so welcome with this collection. Not a piece of filler in sight, and in Dance or Dead’s ‘The Struggle’ there is a strong contender for track of the year, and damn the fact that it has a 1997 dating. It never stopped everyone putting Belle and Sebastian’s ’96 opus If You’re Feeling Sinister in the 1997 lists. ‘The Struggle’ is just simple beats over what I presume is a vocal tracking lifted from some archive. Whatever, it is heartfelt, poignant and to the bone. Class.