Various Artists - UNITED WORLD UNDERGROUND (MMATTCD 2)

15 tracks from Into The Abyss, Dark Star, Eye, Earth, Grass Harp, Ras Al Ghul, Idiom, Blacklight Braille, Lord Litter, The Stinking Badger of Java, Neo, T.M.R, Cosmic Dance Society, Love In A Plague, Steve Andrews & Ned Zero

The only man with a slower work rate than us, Marzipan Mick, is back with one of theose new fangled shiny disc things. After several attempts to shove it into my trusty old tape recorder, a more hi-fi savvy acquaintance suggested I might want to put it in a ceedee player. Eureka!

Leaving aside old UWU friends and family, which takes out Blacklight Braille, Lord Litter, The Stinking Badger Of Java and Steve Andrews, let us see what new delights we have on offer.

Into The Abyss come from Athens (the original one, not the REM one, unless you count the original one as the one destroyed during the Greco-Persian wars, in which case this is the replacement one). Excellent space rock, we like. Dark Star (not the one formed by the bloke who used to be in Levitation?) are rather marvellous. Drone cum psych guaranteed to mess with your mind. Eye (not the US 80s AORsters) are Australian political nutters who leap tall buildings with single bounds and dish out nasty electronica (but in a good way). You know, Mode before Gahan became a smackhead and thought he was Jim Morrison, but from Essex.

Earth (not Black Sabbath reforming under their original guise) are indie, but in a German Emetrex kind of way. Lo-fi, in German which is rather pleasant. You know, slow then fast, then slow then fast. Grass Harp - impractical idea but not the Swedish band of the same name. German, yep more Germans. However, here we go all mellow and jangly and psychedelic and mystical and marvellous. Portugese ambient psych up your strasse? (see, we're all German now). Well Ras Al Ghul can provide it and more. Truly awesome stuff. Idiom spell Jock incorrectly but then they are from Yorkshire. And the Scottish accent is something to behold (behear?). Gentle Giant meet Mel Gibson and discuss The Brothers Grimm. Neo. Hmmm. The 3 Tenors cover EMF. And why not. Interesting, very interesting. T.M.R. are part Thamesmead Rollers, part Blessing. This is more Blessing than Rollers (phew!) and is a nice little dubtastic ditty.

Cosmic Dance Society are more dance than cosmic. Wave your hans in the air like you just don't care. Heh, heh. They're German you see. Hans? Hands. Geddit. I don't know why I bother sometimes. If you're into the whole techo thang, you';; like this. Don't know what the bpms are, but then I'm on (prescribed) medication just now. Love In A Plague. Craaazy name, craaazy guys. Come from Stourbridge. Which isn't in Germany. Stayed there once, the Robin Hood I think it was. Got very drunk in a pub just up the hill, then had a top curry in what passes for a main street. Bring your own lager, marvellous. WHich has nothing to do with the fact that this is a top goth/electronic hybrid which scared the bejesus out of me. Now despite my attempts to avoid Steve Andrews (previously reviewed you know), this is a collaboration with Ned Zero so counts as being new, even if it is a reworking of one of his old choons. Bloody good too. For a Welshman, It's called "Real Love And Communication", and ups the dance quotient in place of the acousticy stuff.

So, excellent ceedee. Yours for a paltry £7.99 inc global shipping (universal is extra). If you're in the UK a cheque payable to S J Taylor will sort you out. Everywhere else, drop Mick an e-mail and he'll get his abacus out and work out exchange things. At the last count he was accepting about 20 foreign type things. Or if you want to use plastic, order it from Zeitgeist Distro at www.the-rocker.co.uk. If you're reading this on the web, there should be an order button somewhere about here.

Mick Magic, United World Underpants, 6 Farm Court, Frimley, Surrey GU16 8TJ, UK
magic@uwunderground.fsnet.co.uk
http://music-elsewhere.hypermart.net