Various artists – ID08 Independents Day

In theory, this is a great idea. Get a bunch of known alternative bands to do a cover version for CD1, then get them (and some record labels) to recommend a bunch of ‘new’ bands, and fill CD2 with songs by said recommendations. In theory.

In the wider context, Independents Day 08 was a worldwide event raising money for the independent music community, as well as some charities, which included the largest ever auction of independent music memorabilia on eBay, a series of one-off music shows and retrospectives across TV and radio, plus this CD. Its all very worthy, and you can check out more details at www.independentsday08.com

Credit where it’s due, CD1 is packed full of names; the likes of Feeder, The Futureheads, The Charlatans, Jarvis Cocker & Beth Ditto, Maximo Park and Infidels queue up to offer bland, pointless cover versions that range from deathly dull to downright awful. Of the fourteen tracks on offer, I was only partially taken by The Prodigy’s version of ‘Ghost Town’, The Replacements’ ‘Bastards of Young’ as played by the Cribs, a sickly sweet ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ in the style of Jose Gonzalez (by, well, Jose Gonzalez) and ‘Dub Be Good to Me’ turned crusty rock by Jack Penate. And even these weren’t really anything to write home about.

CD2 proved more enjoyable, but not by much, unfortunately. I guess if you ask a bunch of music industry types to name a band that should be on a compilation with potentially huge circulation and media exposure, they’re not going to go off on a soul-searching tour of MySpace. No, they’re going to do what we’d all do, and pick our mates’ band (OK, they might not have done this, but it would certainly explain the paucity of talent on show). Of the fifteen tracks on offer, I reckon six are worth a mention, so here goes.

A Human started things off really well with ‘Black Moon’, a brooding gothy indie rock story of oddness that I really do like a lot. They were followed by ‘Swan Lake’ by Thomas Tantrum, a lovely girly indie thing that was bouncy, poppy and fun enough to cover the sickly sweetness. Near the end, The Tenderfoot weigh in with a complete Boo-Radleys-at-their-weirdest rip-off called ‘People are the Problem’, closely followed by Goose’s ‘Black Glove’, which does an equally good job of ‘borrowing’ from mid-eighties Devo. ‘Twice’ by Little Dragon is a moment of sparse soul, trip hop-ish piano lovliness, while Laura Groves’ ‘I Am Leaving’ is the good stuff that acoustic singer-songwriting is made of (it’s a bit like the sadly defunct Pooka, which can only be a good thing).

So, overall, ID08 isn’t the sum of its parts, or nearly as good as it should’ve been, but at least it has introduced me to a few bands that I’ll be keeping my beady eye on. And as it’s for a good cause, and because you probably have much better taste than me, perhaps you should do the same.