Released
April - June 2010
- Frankly, I find it hard to understand how Seed have managed to go on for 10 years without succumbing to social or economic pressures and developing some kind of a stylistic agenda. Instead, they've stayed true to their original goal of launching new talent by releasing them alongside more established artists. They've even got a motto to that effect: "To Seed, To Grow." It'd work well in Latin. They've also had parties in some of the coolest locations you can imagine: A disused tube station, prison and converted cinema, to name a few. Seed is serious about innovation—not, as is sometimes the case, to look "cutting edge" or make money (their Coronet party lost so much money it almost finished them altogether), but for the love of something new, of progression.
That much is clear from everything—the music, sequencing and artwork—in this fantastic three disc anniversary series. If the contents had to be pinned down, you could probably say that there's a lot of deep, heady '80s DX7 bass numbers, distorted sound collages and gritty 4/4, with the occasional curveball. This doesn't really suffice, though. Seed's output has always been unfeasibly diverse, and this comp features cascading analogue downbeat, Fall-esque post punk, insectoid glitch funk, breathy dub techno, an Amen mashup of the Eastenders theme tune... Each disc is expertly sequenced, and contains its own mood: the first offers playful experimentation, the second is more incidental and less defined, and the third is the most serious.
The last disc notwithstanding, most of Seed's output is characterized by a sense of humour. There's no self-indulgent artistic snobbery, or pretence: It's just open-minded. Some tracks hang around in the general vicinity of recognisable genres, like Antoni Maiovvi's "La Vincenda di Amore," which is synthy '80s disco with a big snare, but then hits all the right spots later on with a chord progression that takes you on a shimmering journey into tomorrow. There's also a lot of emotive music: "Reichatronics" by The Shepardtones is a highlight, with a similar standing-on-a-mountain-staring-into-the-face-of-infinity epicness.
Sleeps In Oysters, a recent signing, offers two lovely remixes which are melodic, delicate and fragile vocal tracks. "Meat Beat" by Dave Tarrida has galloping kicks and a wicked hypnotic bassline, then switches into digital hardstep funk. There are weak points like Cursor Miner's "Devils in the Details" when the inspiration slips, in this case with lyrics that don't contain the irony that you'd hope for, considering the song's title. And many will be turned off by some of the abrasive digital mish-mashes, namely Company Fuck + The Toilet's contribution. Such is the price that must be paid for a label intent on variety and innovation.
TracklistCD 1
01. Jazzfinger - Bumblepump
02. The Dagger Brothers - Release the Thunderball
03. The Shepardtones - Reichatronics
04. Romvelope - Timbalandrover
05. Skitanja - Sedan
06. Reels - Work That
07. Company Fuck + The Toilet - Vaginas Or Not
08. Andreas Tilliander - Juno Chords
09. Tobias D. Schmidt & Lady Miss C. - Some Kind of Disco
10. Arthur Mittens - Ordinary Spell to Cure How I'm Feeling (Sleeps In Oysters Remix)
CD 2
01. Machars Action - Viscous Attacks
02. Unit Black Flight - Not Named
03. Dressed In Wires - Let the World Be Wary
04. Dethscalator - You Know Nothing About Cars Or Martial Arts
05. EYES - Reptyle
06. Cursor Miner - Devils in the Details
07. Posthuman - One Wrong Turn Deserves Another
08. Ola Bergman - Blane Glamor
09. Antoni Maiovvi - La Vincenda Di Amore
10. Dave Tarrida - Meat Beat
CD 3
01. Snakefork - Untitled
02. Mary And Polly - Ice Cream (Sleeps In Oysters Remix)
03. Capracara - Panic Beats
04. Standard Planets - Countdown to the Mouth O'Bourne
05. Yard - Waves Of Love
06. Bauri - You Are Not Here
07. Jaques Lueder - Crash
08. The Doubtful Guest - Noxic
09. Woody McBride - Der Wierd
10. [Snyzch] - Eastendface
11. Unknown Artist - Untitled