As major labels continue to exist behind the times, artists and labels with little capital and lesser reputations are producing some of the most innovative, interesting, and inspiring music. Whether it’s creating a new niche in digital technology or looking to once obsolete formats, Agitated Atmosphere hopes to pull back the curtain on a wealth of sights and sound from the artists on the compilation, Your Victorian Breasts.
Compilations are often a trick of the senses. Much like those stacks of old mix tapes obscured by boxes brimming with the sundries of fad, the art of curating music to fit a motif, motive, or mood is often left to slap dashed playlists on digital devices or keenly attuned labels.
This is the latter, three:four now a stalwart of pitting artists together on splits and comps with little worry that such arrangements will fail. Your Victorian Breasts does not disappoint due to the carefree attitude of its creation. Expanding upon the label’s four-year old Err on the Good Side compilation, this double vinyl beast double the prequel’s content and is just as weighty and significant in capturing tossed aside and forgotten gems from new and old. The one-two of Ignatz and Filipe Felizardo, both playfully deconstructing the guitar, all but dispels concerns in just a few moments of A-side bliss.
But that doesn’t exclude multiple emerging styles. Side B explores the multitudes of drone, from Robert Hampson’s atmospherics to Robert Tellier-Craig’s spatial. Sides C and D relax their grip, showcasing the softer side of experimentation. The loudest point is Syracuse Ear (featuring drummer extraordinaire, Chris Corsano), but it’s lost at sea among the gentle fluctuations of Circuit Des Yeux and Raajmahal.
Your Victorian Breasts proves that motif, motive, and mood can all be part of one compilation, but it’s a feat in daft pacing and maneuvered patience. The payoff is slow but steady, and with each turn of the long-player, a new discovery awaits.
Justin Spicer is a freelance journalist whose work can be viewed at his website. You can also find him on Twitter.
As major labels continue to exist behind the times, artists and labels with little capital and lesser reputations are producing some of the most innovative, interesting, and inspiring music. Whether it’s creating a new niche in digital technology or looking to once obsolete formats, Agitated Atmosp…
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As major labels continue to exist behind the times, artists and labels with little capital and lesser reputations are producing some of the most innovative, interesting, and inspiring music. Whether it’s creating a new niche in digital technology or looking to once obsolete formats, Agitated Atmosp…
