Inner City get to the nitty gritty of what music should be.
Compilation albums are always difficult to judge on their own merits because by design you won't like every track. This is especially the case for compilations from a record label and quadruply so when the roster of artists is as varied as Inner City Grit. This first volume is being offered free of charge by the label to raise interest and further prove to the major labels they are no longer needed to provide quality music to the people.
Based in Bristol, the label is also committed to fighting the unfair treatment of musicians whilst battling the homogenisation of the mainstream music scene. With a credo that strong I was expecting an album full of art house inaccessible pretension. Instead Volume 1 is an intriguing mix of genres, moods and styles.
Volume 1 opens with a bang thanks to The Black Bloc, whose song 'Death of a Culture' mixes a funky indie style with paranoid pessimistic lyrics, managing to be catchy whilst delivering a stark social commentary. Next is Pint O Spirit whose quirky punk is led by a low rumbling bass and a hook big enough to snare a whale. Big Joan distribute slow crunching bass heavy industrial noise on 'Here Comes the Flood'. They are almost a decade old and in that time Big Joan have crafted a unique sound which makes them stand out. Person X have the tricky task of following Joan, the song 'Lack of Vision' continues the electronic progression. A track filled to the brim with glitchy emotion and drenched through to its black core in desolate sounding progressive flashes. Avacate's 'Magdalene' begins with messy metal riffing before giving way to minimalist dub rhythm coupled with soft feminine vocals floating like driftwood upon the grooves. It's a beautifully chaotic track mixing emotions and genres perfectly, Avacate recall Mike Patton at his softest, heaviest and best.
The album changes pace dramatically with the next few tracks providing a simpler, mellower channel. Cradle and I Wish I Knew, donate ambient tracks with gentle vocals. Both tracks aren't bad but they don't offer anything interesting after the innovation of the first few tracks. Vibratronics, provide a funky synth based electronic affair which is solid but flawed and at seven minutes overstays its welcome. Viso Nero's track 'Hexo Gram' is based around sound clips of outspoken radio host Alex Jones, the samples are powerfully emotive and used effectively over the drum and bass backing beat filling you with anger and a sense of indignation. Thor's '1984' is filled to the brim with eerie backmasked pianos and violins creating a sinister mash of unnatural sounds. '5dark3' by Miss Anthropy is even more menacing with whispered vocals, thundering bass and more backwards noises. I wish I knew why backmasked sound creeps me out so much but I can't figure it out. All I know is it puts me on edge and they are used perfectly here.
'So it Was You' by Mamuschka is another highlight with a morphing beat lying below soulful vocal patterns and lyrics. Unfortunately the album ends with a whimper as closers 'Ok Ok Ok' by Spirez/Emily Teague and 'Prophet Dub' by Dark Chemist fail to ignite. Each track has its merits (the overlapping moving vocals of 'Ok Ok Ok' are wasted over a plodding unimaginative piano) whilst 'Prophet Dub' are strangely uplifting but don't provide enough variation or interesting content to sustain the song.
"Inner City Grit Volume 1" is an odd listen, the variety means there is something for everyone but this strength is also its weakness, very few people will enjoy the whole thing but I suppose that isn't the point of Volume 1. It exists as a promotional tool (in a good way) to introduce the wider world to these artists and this record label, to that extent the album is a huge success. This album contains some really good songs, highlights come from Avacate, Big Joan, Person X and Viso Nero these four songs alone make this FREE album worth an hour of your time. It's well worth a listen and you never know you might find something you really like, I know I did.