Various Artists – Rough Trade Shops: Indiepop 09

There is a calculated nod to both the past and the future of music on Rough Trade Shops enjoyable new compilation Indiepop 09, with the various bands represented choosing to take old styles and making them seem new again, as well as giving us a listen to the energetic sound of what lies ahead. With most of the songs chosen for the album already quite familiar to most listeners, one has to listen instead for the unifying theme and spirit of these tracks in order to fully assimilate the vitality and zeal found within this mini-movement.These vibrant subjects are laid out quite clearly on the first song on the record, Tullycraft's insanely catchy 'The Punks Are Writing Love Songs,' which fuses an indelible melody with edgier subject matter, and also suggests that even the harder edged members of society have started to wear their hearts on their sleeves. From there the album breezes by with a smooth mixture of brief, propulsive pop songs from artists both familiar (Girls, Los Campesinos! and the Pains Of Being Pure At Heart) and those unsung groups just waiting to become better known (Veronica Falls, School and Moscow Olympics). But there is a youthful urgency and attitude to all of these songs which keeps the record moving along briskly, so even when a song doesn't quite strike the right chord it's at least over quickly, and the next tune more than likely will pick the momentum back up again.The simplicity of these songs often adds to their appeal, with the spare production and minimal arrangements found throughout the compilation allowing the various songs to shine, rather than glossy overdubs and auto-tune smoothing out the rough edges. These tracks hearken back to a simpler time, both musically and thematically, and epitomizes influences from both sides of the pond on bands as disparate as their role models. But somehow the album congeals, and flows like a solid party mix. So the driving rhythms of 'David Cassidy' by Betty and the Werewolves blends fluidly into the buoyant pop bliss of Pocketbooks 'Fleeting Moments,' which is as surely swayed by the sound of Belle and Sebastian as the previous number was affected by the splendor of the Partridge Family. And the My Bloody Valentine guitar fuzz of The Legends 'Seconds Away' fuses well with the Velvet Undergound-like discord of the Manhattan Love Suicides 'Clusterfuck.' The album works well because the songs aren't trying too hard, and neither is the compilation; simple songs for straightforward times, then.The songs on Indiepop 09 all pulse with a genuine earnestness and a pressing desire to be heard but not to be defined. For while there are similarities threaded throughout the moods and the melodies of these tracks, labeling them anything other than pop music would be disingenuous and reaching for something that isn't quite there yet. Rough Trade Shops should be applauded for compiling a strong sampling of the carefree sounds of this year for us, and while you listen you find that its just as easy to get transported back as it is to be taken forward. But instead we should just settle in to the sounds of right now, for today proves to be just fine, thank you.

Buy the album from Amazon