This compilation is the result of a long and rather convoluted gestation process. I initially began throwing it together after visiting Japan last year, as a gift for some friends over there who had expressed an interest in hearing some contemporary British bands.

I chose 2015 as a cut off point for ‘new-ness’ pretty arbitrarily, and, as noted on the back cover scan above, decided to concentrate on shorter, more song-based stuff rather than the gargantuan psyche/doom stuff I often favour, primarily for space reasons (although I’ve done my best to throw in a few stylistic curveballs along the way too, particularly in the second half).

As I began gradually knocking the tracklist into shape however, it occurred to me that the period covered by the music herein actually marked out a very specific period in the cultural history of the British Isles. From the Cameron government’s dispiriting election victory in 2015 and the ridiculous/fateful referendum which followed, to the ensuing wave of hate-filled, populist xenophobia, through the ultimately doomed attempts at a fight-back, to the surreal political chaos which consumed so much of last year, and the crushing, no-hope full stop of last December’s general election result.

Could some of this spiralling ugliness, uncertainty and frustration be heard reflected in the output of the UK and Ireland’s underground rock scenes during this period? I don’t know. But suffice to say, my selections herein couldn’t help but take on a certain political bent as I remained glued to the hell-ish, hour-by-hour parliamentary ruckus which characterised the latter half of 2019.

Little did I know at that point of course, that the music herein was about to acquire a whole new level of historical potency, as the fragile cultural ecosystem which allowed it to exist in the first place found itself obliterated more-or-less overnight in March 2020.

Eight months on, it’s still fairly mind-boggling to consider that, for the first time in history, the collective creation and performance of popular music has effectively been shut down, by virtue of both governmental decree and accepted common sense, with the kind of non-profit-making / DIY musical cultures represented on this comp potentially suffering most severe and sustained damage, as a result of being both deprived of industry/government hand-outs and existing almost by definition within the confines of small, unventilated rooms.

Of course, things will come back in 2021, in some as-yet-unguessed-at form. With a bit of luck, the vast majority of the bands and musicians featured on this comp will still be active in some form. But whatever happens, all will be changed.

The faces and the places we’ve all got to know over the past few years, the forms and norms we’d all grown to expect as we’ve trudged out on cold dark evening on our way to venues or practice rooms or other weird autonomous spaces of one kind of another -- all of that is now gone. When the time to rebuild comes, new faces will be gluing foam to walls and carrying boxes of Red Stripe into new places, and new things will be happening within when OGs like you(?) and I emerge from hiding to knock upon their doors.

To a certain extent then, the music featured herein can be seen to represent the last gasp of a certain strand of DIY culture, caught in amber and filtered through my own individual tastes, before things screeched to a halt. A final burst of amplified discontent before the universe hit the ‘pause’, and then ‘restart’, buttons.

I realise that’s a pretty heavy burden of significance for a humble mix CD to carry, but what can you do? Ladies and gents, a tiny slice of the sound of the UK and Ireland, 2015-2019. Enjoy.

(NB - As the keen-eyed/eared amongst you will note, this online version of the comp contains a very important bonus track not included on the initial CD version run off for friends in Dec 2019, from which the cover scans above are taken. Apols for confusion.)

(As is now traditional, I’ve linked to relevant bandcamp pages in the tracklist below. Whether these bands are still active or otherwise, your financial contributions will almost certainly reach someone who deserves a few quid.)

Labels: mixcloud, mixtapes, recent social history, UK Freak Rock