poppedmusic

Leave Them All Behind 4

Released 12th March 2012

One of the problems with compilations is that they can be a bit like films; the first one is great, the second one can still be great, or in exceptional cases better than the first, but from there on in they can dry up a little bit. I’m sad to say that this 4th Leave Them All Behind compilation album from Modular feels a little bit like the norm for a film sequel. There are hints of greatness here but nothing feels truly awesome. That is perhaps because the bands are further down the track now, releasing stuff that isn’t quite as good as the stuff from their first/second albums. It’s all a bit complicated really. You should know that disc one is all original tracks and disc two features remixes by

Some labels get it right, Something In Construction always release fresh compilations and I totally champion Kitsune compilations until the cows come home. I wanted to do this with Modular but to be honest I don’t really want to. What I will do instead is talk about the stand out tracks, because they deserve it.

I’ll begin with the ferocious You’re An Animal by Jonathan Boulet. The track uses great percussion to conjure up the sights of a zoo or safari, which fits in so well with the theme of the track. It starts off like this too, chaotic and fast pace and catches your attention from the get go. The vocals might not be the strongest, in fact there’s a clever technique used, half the time I can’t quite figure out if it’s layers of his vocal or other people singing behind him. Whatever it is I really quite like it and it makes me think, never a bad thing.

Lovely Bloodflow by Baths is another stand out track for me. With this one it’s the textures in the sounds which are almost totally conflicting with the melody and the pitch of the vocal. It’s almost not a song at times, at least not in the traditional sense. It isn’t the sort of track I would usually listen to so I’m pleased that Modular have used it here. It’s a really crunchy track, search it out and you’ll hear just what I mean.

Now I need to talk about The Rapture here. Anyone who can keep my interest for over 6 minutes long with one track needs to be talked about. I’m not quite sure how they managed to do it. At first I wasn’t even entirely sure that I liked it, it had a really 90s house sort of vibe to start with and the vocal didn’t sound great and then it grew on me, pretty quickly. It’s called How Deep Is Your Love... and trust me if you, like me, automatically thought of something else all together then you’re very much of the wrong impression.

Now onto the second CD, the remix disc. I LOVE  bloody good remix, I really do. Sometimes I like them more than the original track even and at times they just bring a great fresh take on something I already love meaning I get twice the love.  The slight problem I have with this disc is that I don’t actually know any of the tracks they’re remixing. I clearly have taken my eye off the ball a bit since I stopped DJing, but none the less, it makes it difficult to know if any of these tracks are good remixes or not. As such I’m not really going to review it – it would be a bit wrong I think.

I am going to say though that there are some thoroughly enjoyable, not to mention thoroughly danceable, tracks on this disc. I can hardly sit still listening to some of it. Other parts I’m not so fond of but find me a compilation that is perfect for any one person and well… I’ll eat my Easter Bonnet.

Overall, OK, there is some good stuff here, but equally I’m not finding myself eager to sing and shout about it from the rooftops. Even one of my faves, Cut Copy, don’t do it for me on this compilation. Maybe number 5 will push my buttons more… we’ll just have to wait and see.