Various Artists: SMM: Context (Compilation CD, Ghostly International, February 2011)

I was pretty much sold on this compilation from the first three artists: Goldmund, Leyland Kirby, and Svarte Greiner are all favourites around these parts. The (previously unreleased) tracks are all as lovely as you'd expect. The downside is that lovely tracks is just what they are: call me an old rockist, but I find that albums from artists like these are greater than the sum of their parts, and that doesn't happen here. Nevertheless, it's a very appealing listen, and it works as a sampler (I'll definitely keep an eye out for Christina Vantzou — who, I learn, is half of The Dead Texan, of which the other half is half of Stars Of The Lid). The only bum note, for me, is The Fun Years, whose contribution is just a bit annoying (but then I knew I didn't like them). The record closes with the laptop Americana of Peter Broderick's Pause, and that is truly something special

I bought this from Boomkat. They call it Dark Ambient / Drone / Metal (which seems a bit too doomy to me).

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