Tracks for Horses album
various artists

' First electronic music was the new punk - now it's the new folk, thanks to Mancunian label melodic and their bag of acoustic-toting Airs and yokel Aphex Twins. A blissful, bucolic listen. ' - Q

Tracks For Horses is a CD-only 14-track album, but before you yawn and go ' not another compilation album ' have a listen cos it's very good.

The melodic label began in 1999 with the release of the Pedro EP and Tracks For Horses is the 20th release. The last compilation A Room Full Of Tuneful met high critical acclaim and was, like Horses, a platform for the label roster. Which means tracks from Baikonour, Gavouna, Lucky Pierre, Pedro, Minotaur Shock, Psapp and Topo Gigio but also the inclusion of some of melodic's favourite, as yet un-released tracks from demos and friends etc.

What's different this time around from the folktonica-fest of the last compilation is a larger spread of diversity. Notes' 'It's A Good Thing' is quirky old skool hip hop from Texas. The Memory Band provide a 70s jazz/folk hit in 'Catch As Catch Can' taken from their most recent 7" single on the Hungry Hill label. Audiowhore's track is a classic in waiting; a paen to possibly the greatest (or worst) game show of all time. No Talent Kid provides some too authentic-to-be-true Rick James / Prince-influenced P-Funk.

Opening the album is the prog opus that is Baikonour's 'Lick Lokoum' written when asked by Louis Vuitton Japan to provide music influenced by the Bay of Persia. Erm? Yeah, that's what we thought. But beautiful, big and overblown ambience - it just had to be the opener. Gavouna provides full-on live strings and the kind of instrumental music we all dream of being able to make. Pedro's first new track since his album makes us think of what a Japanese version of the Neptunes might sound like. The Earlies have their debut album released next year (at last) and we reckon Lambchop meets Minotaur Shock meets Mercury Rev - 'Bing It Back Again' is the title track from their latest EP. Psapp provide their trademark quirky and wistful pop-driven electronica. Topo Gigio breaks a musical silence with the shimmering 'Lezard'. Minotaur Shock delivers (we reckon) something like a sexed-up version of the theme from Country File (as he would). Finland's Noos deliver a gentle ambient instrumental that Boards Of Canada would be proud of. Lucky Pierre previews a new track from his 2nd album to be released next year. The closing track comes from Micah Paul Hinson soon to be released on the Sketchbook label and currently collaborating with Gavouna and the Earlies.

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