Now I’m going to get all meta with this post and blog about a blog because my e-friend Emmanuel down at the Delicious Scopitone has put together an awesome compilation chronicling some of his favorite found tracks of 2009. Now if you are one of the unfortunate people who haven’t heard about this French blog, the brief rundown is that it’s a website whose chief priority is to discover new talent on a daily basis — regardless of the location or the obscurity of the band. With mp3s or video samples accompanying each post, there’s really no reason why you shouldn’t be checking them out right now. Now I know what you’re going to say, “but Bryant, there are PLENTY of sites like that”. While that might be the case, where the Delicious Scopitone is different is that it doesn’t suck, and I’m not the only one to notice this.
Emmanuel’s twenty-song mix, going by the quasi-Latin title of Ecliptic Odious One, features a different Scopitone-unearthed artist for each track. Certainly there are some duds in the bunch (but even the less talented bands have charming characteristics that make them better than about 90% of the acts out there), but the compilation as a whole is a wonderful listen that would make for a great spin at the next get-together with your friends.
While the compilation opens up nicely (the Grizzly Bear/Fleet Foxes sounding “All Packed Up” by Lexington’s Idiot Glee especially), it doesn’t really start getting the ball rolling until the fifth track, the beautiful constructed “The Watcher”, gets to the plate. Sounding like some sort of incantation full of repetitive Gregorian-like chants and isolated drums, Fielded is able to slowly gain momentum and reach a satisfying climax using only layered vocals and scant instrumentation — something that few bands are successfully able to pull off. In similiar haunting fashion, Michigan’s Creepy Crawl’s “Pretty Tendrils” starts off with a sound akin to a Grouper and Burial crossbreed — dark and, as the band name would suggest, definitely creepy — however, when vocals are entered into the equation, the song morphs into an interestingly bizarre track reminiscent of Gang Gang Dance’s “Afoot”.
The mix also features the Washington-based band Pill Wonder, whom I’ve had the ability to see live when they played alongside Real Estate back in November. The song chosen, the animalistic “What We Know”, certainly was a set highlight from that night, causing a slight stir in the form of some “hipster head-nodding” that broke the ice off of the typically motionless crowd.
Now I don’t know if Emanuel or his partner-in-crime Leslie, who has put out an awesome mix of her own, trudges the deep dark depths of the myspace graveyard to find these acts (most have under 50,000 profile views which, for a band, is not that much) or if they happen upon them by chance. One thing’s for certain though, at the rate their going you’re going to be seeing a lot more [via: Delicious Scopitone] credits on your favorite blogs in 2010.
You can hear a sample of the compilation with the mp3s below and, if you like what you hear, you can download Emanuel’s mix here.
