After a couple of decent singles last year, This Et Al have managed to produce an album that has improved on the expectations from their singles. Recording with Richard Green (formerly of Ultrasound) they have managed to capture that wide and dramatic sound, that hasn’t been so obvious in their previous recordings.

The greatest thing about this album is the way there is a great variety in the styles of the songs. From the singles like Wardens and He Shoots President, which are immediate and straightforward, there are also more ambitious songs. In Catscan, the song is constantly changing, and never settling to one theme, while they try for a TV on the Radio type dreaminess in Sabbatical.

At times, the ‘journey’ of the album is a lot like the albums by Mansun. There is a similar balance between the intensity and accessibility. They are also very similar in the way how both bands clearly enjoy throwing as many instruments into the background as possible, without losing the melody edge of the songs.

2006 may have been the year for some of their Leeds contemporaries, but 2007 could very well be This Et Al’s year instead.

This Et Al

This is a simple idea. Ask 50 artists to contribute tracks which cannot be longer than 60 seconds, and put them together to raise money for charity. (In case you were wondering, the charity benefiting from this is The Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture). Some of the artists will be familiar to anyone who listens to this level of underground music, and it also features quite a few acts with links to Oxford (Trademark, Piney Gir, Chris McMath, Half Rabbits, Mr G and Rich, MC Lars and Youthmovies).

The trouble with this album can be traced to its ambitious nature. Jumping between 50 acts there are moments when one song finishes abruptly, to be followed by another song in a completely different style. It can be quite an unsettling thing to listen to. Instead of being able to put this album on, and leave it running while you carry on with other things, it demands your full attention. As soon as your concentration drifts away, you could very well lose your way.

However the variation in the acts help to keep you alert as you listen. To prove this, in a randomly selected section of five minutes, the music goes from countryish rock, to more straightforward indie rock, some electro sampling based song, to folk (twice). The acts that come off well on this album are the ones who have conquered the challenge of writing a one minute song (instead of writing something that seems like an introduction that finishes suddenly). After Christmas does this by squeezing their 3 part song into the time allowed, as do Sennen, Jeremy Warmsley, Bobby McGees, Captain Black, Attack + Defend and roughly about 50 percent of the acts on this album.

This album makes a very useful source for those awkward minutes in mixtapes, but you should also clear 50 minutes in your day to give this your full attention.

Exercise 1 Records

It has to be a very trusting band to ask 15 different people to remix their songs. As a result of this trust, what is produced is a CD of extremes. There are some who have taken the instructions seriously and produced quite ‘normal’ remixes. On the other hand there are those whose tracks are just so wierd you have to question their understanding of the term remix. The finest example of this is Twizz Twangle’s remix of Let’s Go, which just sounds like Twizz switching between a copy of the Evenings’ record and some r n’ b records.

Another interesting result of this project is how far the remixers have let loose their musical fantasies. The track remix by Lee from Smilex is immediately recognisable as it makes the Evenings’ track into something that would be suitable for the Prince back catalogue. In fact, guessing the remixer is a game that could be played while listening to the CD. Another remixer that can be identified quite easily Sunnyvale Noise Sub-Element, whose remix is suitably dark and industrial sounding.

The joy of listening to this record is in teasing out the bits of the Evenings’ songs in amongst all the other bits that the remixers have thrown in. And also to see just how many ways a single track can be re-interpreted. The ambitious nature of this remix project means that not all the remixes work well. There are some that have cast a new angle on the Evenings’ songs, but there are also some remixes that makes me reach for my unremixed Evenings CDs.

The Evenings
Freedom Road Records