"Hello, We Heart Arts Volume 1" Compilation [review]
Earlier today I got this message if I want to write about "Hello, We Heart Arts Volume 1". It's a compilation from a non-profit charity called We Heart Arts and of course I can't say no. This compilation (besides that 100 % of the monies goes to charity) features a lot of bands I already love, some I have heard of and some I haven't known so far. And it has a cover created by one of my favourite designers Mark Gamble (also known as Secretly Swedish) - he did most of Stagecoach's artwork and there are some pretty awesome posters of his hanging up in my room. The design for the compilation reminds me a bit (a lot to be honest) of cones with ice cream* which fits the cause of this charity organisation. We Heart Arts set out to support creative art programs for young persons and also they want to raise awareness for the importance of such programs (among other things). They make books, t-shirts, gigs and as the now they released a compilation for this cause. Or in their own words said:
"'Hello, We Heart Arts Volume One' is the first in a series of compilation albums scheduled to be released by and to benefit 'We Heart Arts' young person's creative arts non-profit featuring the best UK bands of 2012. All of the bands involved were invited to contribute a track to the compilation to showcase how important it is to be able to access creative outlets and how far the next generations can go to express themselves."
It combines having this good cause with a lot of fantastic music. Hold Your Horse Is and Tall Ships (who are both about to release their debut album in just a few days/weeks), The Attika State, Olympians, Tellison are the ones I have mentioned so often already and I don't need you to tell you how awesome they are. But that are just a few of the 22 bands who donated a song to this compilation. I may just tell you about the ones I haven't mentioned on here so far.
Evarose is an all girls band by which I am not saying they are a girls band. They make Rock/Pop music and just recently came to my full attention with a hilarious video for "Change" in which they have their take on several styles and bands. "Cough It Up" is featured on this compilation and I already had to listen to it on repeat. Another one I felt in love with instantly is Boxer and his song "Hey Hey Honeybee" - because of Mike Bissetts voice and using the words "Honeypie" and "Honeybee" and loud interludes mixed with only guitar/voice parts.
The singer of Polio (he might hate me for this) kind of reminds me of the Rocky Horror Picture Show's "Time Warp" but that's just in the beginning and this shaky talking he does and probably I will be the only one to ever have this thought and the thought vanishes very fast again and they become Punk Rock with some heaviness and shouting. Followed by even more shouting and Harder Rock of Lay It On The Line.
When you like a bit of Electro Pop they have Arp Attack's "Crocodile Tears" for you - combining electro fiddle with "normal" singer-songwriter lyrics and a female voice fitting to the latter one. The result is a contrasting but interesting sound. Signals is another band with a female singer. And on the heavier note we have female punk rockers Hearts Under Fire. Why to point that out? It happens that on most compilations (and in the bands) that I have listened to lately were dominated by men. That is kind of sad, isn't it? However, that Signals have Ellie to sing is not the only reason to like them. It's the piano and the guitars and maybe if I listen often enough I will hear the "math" of their self describtion "post indie math".
They are followed by energetic and up tempo acoustic act Mikee J Reds. Placed between Signals "One Day We'll Burn Out" and Olympians rather quite "Barnacle/Wake Up Old" his song "As A Part Of Life" is almost an unreal loud acoustic explosion.
I love the first 30 seconds of Beware Wolf's "High Horse" - and the rest is nice, too. They do sound a bit different from the first song I heard which was "Big Teeth" as part of the BSM '11 collection. The new single seems to be more elaborated in its sound**. I like the pattern of the song and how it almost sounds like too many different things are put into one song. I said almost because it fits together. I guess they make what it called Math Rock. They way they sing reminds me of something but I can't really put it anywhere at the moment but I the development of their sound is right into my direction.
And then there is Goodbye Stereo and the beautiful and sad "Funeral Song" - a song about relationship that broke (probably). It's a quiet pop song, very vocal driven - the beginning is almost a capella underlined with a bit of piano here and there. I love the vocal harmonies.
There are a few bands (Hold The Fight, Mayors Of Miyasaki, Yearbook, The Afterparty, The Munroe Effect, The Bottom Line and an acoustic track by Follow You Home) I didn't say something about but you surely should be allowed to discover the rest yourself. And just in case words aren't enough for you, here is a little teaser video:
To sum it up: this album is a wonderful collection of bands from England, rich in variety of sound and genre with a wonderful reason behind it. It's just the first of hopefully a lot of great series of compilations.
Don't forget to check out We Heart Arts:
"Hello, We Heart Arts Volume 1" can be purchased and heard on their bandcamp:
http://weheartarts.bandcamp.com/album/hello-we-heart-arts-volume-1
Thank you for reading and now go and buy it,
*If it should be something else then this imagination comes from the temperature in my room and the sweaty fingers while typing these words on my laptop....
**hopes are high that "elaborated" is the right English word for what I wanted to say.
