NO! -Various Artists C64 (No! Records)

 Exceptional new compilation from Indiana (Bloomington and surrounding areas) tape label NO!, featuring some of the area's finest local experimental electronic, industrial and ambient acts. Approached as a cohesive cross-stitch sound collage, rather than just another label sampler, the artists featured all share a similar gloom and ache, yet they all have their own slightly unique vibe.

   

  Drekka tips this off with a dark and brooding wash of deep tone drifts and minimal percussion, heaps of low end magic akin to recent Lustmord or Peter Kyed scores. My personal favorite. The NOON and John Flannelly works that follow, pull you in quite different and quite manic directions, as Canid and Assimilation provide some very heady, live power electronics.  

  Agakus closes the mix with "Last Reichs," a track dedicated to Wilhelm Reich, respectively. Slabs of what sound to me like treated voices (or tugboat horns) swell up in a deep and haunting melody, atop a gurgling wash of mysterious field recordings. It's undeniably the most "musical" of the bunch, and an really nice closer.

  

  Something interesting is clearly happening in this part of the country, and NO! has done a fine job of getting these local artists' work out there. Recommended. Edition of 75, includes download code. 

Get one from NO! here.

Http://norecordlabel.bandcamp.com