The perfect, personal mix of friends and family – few are fortunate to realise and release such a compilation. With his second, very intimate grasp of music’s status quo (after »Putting the Morr Back Into Morrissey«) Thomas Morr again delves deep into his own musical history. Now that many electronic musicians begin to (re-)discover guitars and especially the clever layering of My Bloody Valentine’s finest tracks, »Blue Skied An’ Clear« presents us with a truly loving homage to all time favourites Slowdive. Their eponymous secret hit perfectly describes the label’s overall mood and direction.
After initial, unfortunately unsuccessful attempts to re-release Slowdive’s former oevre (originally put out by the legendary Creation Records), disc #1 of this compilation allows label acts as well as guests (Komeit, Skanfrom, múm etc.) to breathe new life into shoegazing with their carefully crafted cover versions. Here, long-term fans as well as new believers rediscover these damn fine songs, mingling them with their own substance while offering ample room to the ethereal, the audible silence of the originals. Inspired by Slowdive’s output even sworn instrumentalists like ISAN unearthed hidden vocal talents and disc #2, with its collection of original tracks by Morr Music artists, hints at a similar return to classic band techniques.
Amongst known favourites we spot glimpses of future releases by Populous, a young Italian pitching his clean, reduced sound against sharp hip hop beats, the anonymous one-man-project Guitar, a master of layering vocals (a.o. the singer of Donna Regina) and guitars over straight, simple beats, Future 3, the poppier offshoot of System (a joint effort by Dub tTractor, Opiate and Acustic) as well as the successful, well-rounded sum of selected parts of Couch, The Notwist, Tied & Tickled Trio and FSK, as well as Ms. John Soda.
Narrow-minded pidgeonholers and style purists are firmly sent back to the bench for a little extra-curricular revision – all tracks on »Blue Skied An’ Clear« bask in a touching, quiet melancholy unafraid of extraordinary beauty, telling us about those little details that can make every day life very, very special.
