Various

What a brilliantly tangled web. Dainty Deathy's third release continues the label's transatlantic love affair, presenting a compilation of artists from the UK and from our fair shore (with one American tossed in for the sake of free trade). Collectively, the music doesn't fit conveniently in any one mode or scene. The tracks by Bristol natives Sam Jones and Chris Cole (both of Crescent and Movietone) use tools of abstract, IDM-style electronics, but also good old human powered drums, pianos and strings. Ken Lillico, of Ontario, takes the human touch a step further and actually builds the instruments he uses to play his three short, bluesy/droney pieces on the disc. Other tracks feature Piedmont Sorpid, whose previous output includes Dainty Deathy's first two releases, The Sugars Of The Eyes and Estes Places. As on those releases, the track here provides a fractured soundscape of loops and samples that are held together with the promise of ambience to come. The album itself is physically held together by a hand-woven, honest-to-goodness thatched divider! To hold the flow of the divergent sounds together, there are musical vignettes provided by "mock band" the Sinuses. These mostly under-a-minute meanderings are effective at first, but after the first couple or three (there are eight of them) you develop itchy track-skipping fingers. Overall, the release shows the promise of a developing stable of diverse and imaginative artists. Let's keep an eye on the shores for new sightings.