VARIOUS ARTISTS
'The Orphans Project Vol. 4'
UNSOUND AMERICA
Over the past few years the Unsound America label has been releasing some very interesting content, especially when it comes to compilation albums. Tributes to H.R. Giger and David Bowie have been a couple of the gems, but it is their 'Orphans Project' that has proven to be their annual highlight.
Volume 4 features Fusion Faktor (who provided guitar work on most of the tracks), 회사AUTO and Koira, Fyre Withenue, Gerald GothiCello Nicks, Andrew Chapman, Spirit Lifter, Acid Bass, Shadow Cast Me, Creeps, and Vox Mod. Always experimental and collaborative in nature the sounds swing between idm, industrial pop, ebm and darkwave to create a varied and dynamic track list.
While it isn't the longest compilation you could download, it is thematically unified and offerings such as 'Dawn Chorus' by Shadow Cast Me, 'Superradiance' by Vox Mod, 'Blue Dragon' by Gerald GothiCello Nicks, 'Shyne' by Fusion Faktor, and 'Viral' by Acid Bass alone make this worth the bandwidth of a download.
Production wise the compilation maintains a strong and cohesive presence throughout the running time. Each song has been mixed and mastered well with the track list flowing as though it was conceived as an album rather than a collection of songs.
This is a great addition to an already strong compilation series that highlights some great talents in the electronic underground. Hopefully the series will continue into the future and keep on presenting these great collaborative efforts and new names for a long time to come.