Various Artists – A Psychedelic Guide to Monsterism Island

Almost an exercise in redundancy, A Psychedelic Guide to Monsterism Island is scarcely psychedelic at all, but what it is is a "soundtrack" to accompany the works of artist and cartoonist Pete Fowler, known for his work with Super Furry Animals. Assembling a variety of presumably hip and largely underground musicians (but also including SFA's own Gruff Rhys) is all very well, but when the compositions sound so similar and you could never distinguish which is by whom, that reduncancy begins to become apparent, and that's on top of the simple fact that most people don't know anything at all about Fowler's Monsterism Island concept anyway.This instrumental compilation approaches a wide range of genres, including jazz, electronica, and 70-esque rock of a CCR B-side quality, but there's almost nothing of any interest here at all. There are a few tracks where pleasant sounds catch the attention briefly, as on "Final Froog", but nothing every resolves, ever goes anywhere, ever becomes a worthwhile track in its own right. For the vast bulk of the listening time, this is frustratingly inoffensive background music, rarely worthy of any real attention.All this is linked together with a number of aptly titled "links" in which a gravelly-voiced creature-beast introduces us to new areas of the "island" which ostensibly give some shred of logic to this nonsensical, scattershot, and tedious collection of sounds. This is the worst kind of muzak - it's elevator drivel audaciously but poorly disguised as real music and linked into a farcical faux-concept record. The only people I could concieve of that might want to possess or hear this are SFA die-hards or major fans of Fowler's - A Psychedelic Guide to Monsterism Island is to music what Ricky Gervais' Flanimals is to literature - a cartoonish joke, diverting for a few moments, but nothing more. 15%