D.I.Y. - Do It Yourself

The ever excellent Soul Jazz Records has a great new compilation out that takes a look at the rise of the U.K.'s independent music industry after punk. Spanning the years 1977 to 1986, it's called D-I-Y Do It Yourself and features 22 tracks from a broad variety of artists and styles. There are some things any hardcore post-punk fan will already have (Scritti Politti, Buzzcocks, Swell Maps and Throbbing Gristle) but there are some relatively unknown gems too. You get punk, funk, dub, electronic experiments and scrappy, edgy post-punk. It is a great snapshot of a fertile indie scene exploding all over the place. It comes packaged with a thick little booklet that is chock full of photos, extensive liner notes and interviews with label owners, bands, studios, mastering and pressing plants and printers. Today's picks show the variety available; APB bring the white boy funkateer thing, Icon A.D. bring the (punk) noise with an antiwar anthem which rings true today, and Thomas Leer brings the futurist synth experimentation. Excellent.

1 The Buzzcocks - Boredom
2 Kleenex - Ain't You
3 A.P.B. - All Your Life With Me
4 Fire Engines - Everything's Roses
5 The Naffis - Slice 1
6 Swell Maps - Let's Build A Car
7 Patrick Fitzgerald - Babysitter
8 Artery - The Slide
9 Blurt - The Fish Needs A Bike
10 Glaxo Babies - Shake The Foundations
11 The Flys - Love And A Molotov Cocktail
12 Russ McDonald - Looking From The Cooking Pot
13 Scritti Politti - Skank Bloc Bologna
14 Windows - Creation Rebel
15 Icon A.D. - Fight For Peace
16 Thomas Leer - Tight As A Drum
17 The Frantic Elevators - Every Day I Die
18 Throbbing Gristle - Distant Dreams (Part Two)
19 The Last Gang - Spirit Of Youth
20 Biting Tongues - You Can Choke Like That
21 Tom Lucy - Paris, France
22 Red Lorry Yellow Lorry - Paint Your Wagon