This CDR label showcase compilation from Hartley, New South Wales-based electronic music imprint Petridish Of Sound originally emerged right at the end of 2005, but for some curious reason, it’s only just dropped into my Cyclic review pile in the last couple of weeks. While I must confess that I hadn’t heard of the label prior to picking up this compilation, unfolding the accompanying sleeve reveals a graphic depiction of the label’s backcatalogue, with no less than 13 albums previously released by a corresponding number of different artists. While all of this doubtless sounds impressive and leaves you scratching your head as to why you haven’t encountered one of the label’s releases before now, a quick scan of the tracklisting confirms that all of the different projects here are in fact different aliases of label founder Boris Hunt, apart from two appearances by co-founder Andrew Barnum. While it’s a factor that perhaps doesn’t bode well from the outset, this sampler certainly shows Hunt going some way to justify his myriad division of different projects by covering a wide range of territory over his many contributions.
Opening track ‘The Strangest Secret (credited to Screwheads) opens this compilation on a dark tech-house note that calls to mind Tom Ellard’s more dance-oriented Cok*La*Coma side alias, scattering evil-sounding bass pads and staccato programmed snares beneath eerily disembodied samples of motivational speaker outlining “the keys to success”, and while it’s certainly satisfying in a Horrorist kinda way, it’s let down by an abysmal mastering job that succeeds in robbing the track of much of its kick. ‘It’s Just A Shirt’ by contrast shows Hunt adopting his Mad Dog Boy persona for a downbeat slice of jazzy instrumental hiphop that sounds like it could have walked in straight off ‘Evolutionary Vibes’, with Hunt laying down live horn over a chilled backing of sampled hiphop breaks and jangling keys, before ‘D Kind Of Night’ (credited to Hunt as Finding Mr Fisk) takes things down into eerily sparse downbeat digi-dub that calls to mind a more subdued Techno Animal or 2nd Gen, but ends up dragging slightly over its full running length.
Andrew Barnum’s appearance as Historic Boatshed 3 on ‘You Only Go Round Once’ meanwhile manages to introduce some jangling guitar elements, with Barnum’s laconic vocal delivery calling to mind a more narcotised LCD Soundsystem in one of this collection’s more intriguing moments, while Hunt’s contribution as Pagan Circus ‘Are You Happy’ takes things out into disco-infused big beat that sounds like something Wall Of Sound would’ve released around 1996, sampled orchestral flourishes, cheesy house beats and all. While there’s certainly more than the odd interesting moment packed into this compilation, there’s perhaps an overriding sense of Hunt clearing all of his recording archive with little sense of focus, as well as the background suspicion that combining some of his obviously prolific ideas into a smaller number of different pseudonyms might result in a more memorable listening experience.
Chris Downton
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