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Various Artists
Class aA: Beyond Entertainment
Akoustik Anarkhy
Article
written by Ged M
Dec 19, 2005.
“If it’s about anything, [it’s] about playing music, having a party, being totally carefree and living life like there’s no tomorrow”: that’s the hedonistic philosophy of Akoustik Anarkhy. It began as a live night in 1999 and developed into a label (rather like London’s Track and Field…). Their compilation contains a real range of music, including fierce punk-pop from The Harrisons (‘Man of the Hour’), groovy 60s flavoured pop courtesy of Jack Cooper and the Beep Seals (‘Love Letters’) and Soft Priest’s weird instrumental mixture of synths and effects (‘Patchwork Guilt’), like the Simpsons’ theme played by a fax machine. But while they’re good, there are also two outstanding tracks: the Longcut’s ‘Transition’ (live version) is firmly in Manchester’s tradition of mixing indie rock and dance rhythms to mob-rousing effect, with vocals that slightly remind you of Shaun Ryder. In contrast, Autokat’s ‘The Driver’ - which was out as a 7” in the summer - is darker and more intense. A pounding hypnobeat with short lyrical bursts (“to love/to learn/ with no return”), it’s as if Kraftwerk’s autobahn terminated at Piccadilly Gardens with the robots exchanging machines for guitars but retaining their love of patterned sounds. It’s hard to do this single justice but there were few finer records in 2005. And on this evidence, Akoustik Anarkhy will keep bringing gems like it to us.