There are certain small record labels whose output, whether it rings my particular bell or not, is consistently interesting. It's like unwrapping Christmas prezzies, finding that one that's CD shaped and wondering whether it's going to be the CD you really wanted or one that a well-meaning relative picked up in the bargain bin at Morrisons under the impression you'll listen to any old shit so it doesn't matter. Or maybe it's a CD-shaped bar of soap, if such things exist.
Not that myhand.thanx records would ever unearth anything so crass or disposable, but there is that thrill, when encountering a new release on the label, that you never quite know what you're going to get; and I like it that way.
On their most recent release they've done even better, putting out a veritable selection box of previously unheard recordings from artists who've recorded for the label in the past under the title theirhands.thanks#1 Featuring seven tracks in all, it's predictably varied and predictably great. Personal favourites Zoomonk and Hangin Freud certainly don't disappoint and Thomas W, to my knowledge the only artist ever to put a sample of my voice on a recording, produces one of his customary off-kilter masterpieces.
It's hearing all seven tracks together that's the real pleasure though, hearing seven artists, all challenging and innovative in their own right, rubbing up against each other on a single release is for me exactly how music ought to be presented. I've attempted to imitate this spirit in the varied selection on offer in the three-volume Into The Light compilation on Unwashed Territories, to which Thomas W contributes another typically obtuse and brilliant offering, and also in my Dandelion Radio show, where this month I perhaps predictably include the Hangin Freud track from this album, and less predictably a track from Jacques de Villiers, whose music I admit hasn't really grabbed me previously but I shall listen to him with renewed attention after hearing his track on this compilation.
Better still, you can get this sampler of the new, innovative and darkly refreshing entirely for free here. I hope you'll take the opportunity to grab a copy and bask in the often strange, always challenging but forever intoxicating world of myhand.thanx.
Mark W
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