A Fifty Gallon Drum of Savage Customs, Fresh Flesh and Random Pop Album

Melbourne’s artist-run label Brothersister Records has issued an astonishing new pop compilation. Like its complicated and beautiful sleeve art– masses of shards from a psychedelic canvas are rearranged to look alive in an unnatural way – the twelve tracks included here are stupefying in ingenuity and effortless to enjoy. Like all the best label compilations and nature documentaries, A Fifty Gallon Drum of Savage Customs Fresh Flesh and Random Pop works as a key to an unheard, secret world that is highly developed and wildly attractive. The camp’s talent seems to flow untapped below street level and across continents.
Local secrets Pompey, Inquiet, Emperors of Blefusc and France’s terrifically named Brutal Vainquer open proceedings with tranced out electro-acousmatics worthy of anything Paw Tracks has ever released. Japan’s Squimaoto continue with what could be a version track off Sonic Youth’s A Thousand Leaves, and Design A Wave‘s ‘Compy’ is a tripped-out kitchen dance masterpiece. The Andersens’ ‘Ether’ is a gorgeous, crying string arrangement, and LA’s Super Creep brings a tropical come-down vibe to closer, ‘Get Of My Beach’. Suffice to say Brothersister are a rare Melbourne treasure; go to their launch this Thursday at Gertrudes.
-- Mark Gomes, Threethousand