Luke White - Girl Arms (Coach and Four Remix)
Makeshift Music recently released a two disc compilation with an incredible amount of great Memphis music. Here's a review from Mark Jordan:
Makeshift #4
Various Artists
Makeshift Records
It's hard to review a disc like Makeshift #4, the new compilation from Memphis indie label Makeshift Records. It is, after all, a huge, sprawling collection of disparate music that has no unifying artistic vision save the loosely connected sensibilities of some of the artists and the instincts of whomever did the sequencing, here credited just to J.D. Reager's Unclaimed Recordings studio. So best to think of the two-disc set as a sampler, a snapshot of the live music scene in Midtown on any given weekend and a platform for several artists who otherwise would have slipped into obscurity.
With 46 songs by as many artists, this is by far the biggest compilation Makeshift has issued. It's not as eclectic a mix as some in the series have been, with representation of the city's hip-hop scene being the most glaring omission. There are contributions from highly-touted Makeshift artists such as the Glass, Augustine and label founder Brad Postlethwaite, as well as appearances from non-Makeshift heavyweights like Cory Branan, David Shouse (of the Bloodthirsty Lovers, here appearing under his own name with a bit of inspired big-beat electronic studio experimentation), Alicja Trout (with superb tracks from Black Sunday and Mouserocket), and the dependably rocking Monsieur Jeffrey Evans.
Several tracks only serve to whet the appetite for highly anticipated full-length releases due later this year, including Blair Combest (here sounding a bit more like Vic Chesnutt than Dylan but with his own unique flair for a winning folk-rock melody), Holly Cole (in a surprising, layered, gothic turn), and the whimsical art-pop group Walkie Talkie.
But most fun are the discoveries, bands that for whatever reason have escaped my attention. There are too many to list -- unknowns and one-offs dominate the disc -- but favorites include the New Wave act Esque, Echo & the Bunnymen fans who have been playing around town under-recognized for awhile, and the Hometown Nobodies, a partnership between Aaron Brame and John Fox Burks (veterans of bands such as Living Room and the Great Depression) who, "tired of playing empty shows to lonely soundmen and bartenders" have decided to issue their recordings for free on MySpace.
Luke White's remix of the Coach and Four's Girl Arms wears it's Postal Service influence on it's sleeve, but it's still one of my favorite tracks from the compilation. The original version can be found in the sidebar of this blog.
And since she gets a mention in the review, you can read a profile I wrote on Alicja Trout here.
