Does The Word “Duh” Mean Anything To You?

(Che)
by Joshua Brown

This is a compilation that has barely left my CD player since I got it, from an amazing British indie label that deserves more Stateside recognition. The common theme is entrancing beauty rock that straddles the line between lo- and hi-fi. The pleasant feeling has many dimensions, like any good psychedelic or otherwise spiritual experience.

Each of the bands involved – Dart, 18th Dye, Magic Hour, Urusei Yatsura, The Bardots, Slipstream, Bardo Pond, Kirk Lake, and Disco Inferno – contributes two tracks. There are no losers here, but the bands who are highlighted for me at the moment are 18th Dye, Bardo Pond, and Magic Hour.

Magic Hour picks up where the ’60s bands that filled the Nuggets comps left off, with spaced out instrumental jams. They don’t sound like a ’90s version of the Byrds, but rather like a ’90s version of a Byrds soundalike from the ’60s (I hope that made some sense). Bardo Pond play a darker, in a sense deeper, rendition of Spacemen 3’s sound (no ex-members, though. Slipstream is the only token ex-Spacemen band to be found). As far as 18th Dye are concerned, they are a three-piece (two guys and a girl) from Holland who are beginning to be recognized as the treasure they truly are due to their signing to Matador. Once in a while you come across a certain melody that has an undefined personal significance, and it becomes the theme song for a specific period of your life. This is the case for me with the 18th Dye tune “Poolside Blue.”