Rock Back For Nepal - Patetico Recordings

I'm not going to 'review' these albums in the traditional sense as that would imply a degree of 'I may buy it if it sounds good'...... this is a project aimed solely at raising money to provide relief to the victims of the catastrophic earthquakes in Nepal...so just buy it yeah!

Patetico Recordings have brought together 60 artists/bands from small independent labels for this project, and has the backing of some high profile names in the indie/shoegaze scene; Dean Garcia (from Curve and SPC ECO) and Oliver Ackermann from ace noisy gazers A Place To Bury Strangers who said “It is a horrible tragedy this destruction of culture and life. I feel lucky that I can use my craft and contribute a song to this fund to help them raise money for relief. If we can all do something to help and give relief for the people of Nepal we should do it now.” - 'nuff said!

For those who may need some convincing (shame on you!) the three albums that make up the project are chock filled with some of the best shoegaze/indie bands around, if you want a full list:

Volume 1 features SPC ECO (UK), A Place to Bury Strangers (USA), Ummagma (Canada-Ukraine), Lights That Change (UK), Sounds of Sputnik (Russia), Stellarscope (USA), The Manhattan Love Suicides (UK), Clustersun (Italy), The One2s (USA), Panophonic (USA), Death Valley Rally (USA), The Virgance (UK), Purple Bloom (Japan), Arirang (Italy), The Artificial Shadow Band (Puerto Rico), Kitsch (Panama), and Revolution, I love you (USA)

Volume 2 features Malka (NYC-Peru), Asalto al Parque Zoologico (Argentina), Stella Diana (Italy), Chatham Rise (USA), Tape Runs Out (UK), Under the Wire (USA), Psiconautas (Puerto Rico), Car Crash Sisters (Mexico), Last Remaining Pinnacle (USA), The Narentines (Switzerland), Human Colonies (Italy), Sueño con belugas (Puerto Rico), Blackfeather Jane, Dead Parties (Spain-Australia), Estrella Oscura (UK), Mayflower Madame (Norway), and Los Sub (Argentina)

Volume 3 features Novanta (Italy), Lunar Twin (USA), Joaquim Barato (Portugal-Peru), Withershins (USA), Un-Reason (Italy), The Long Knives (USA), Lazarus (USA), Salvia (Chile), This Forever Sky (UK), Clarence Mayhew (USA), Corrosive Water (USA), Sonora Coisa (Brazil), The Paper Road (Portugal), Hijos de Paul (Argentina), Drass (Argentina), Cthulhu Martini (USA), Fovea (USA), Matotumba (Puerto Rico), Bergegas Mati (Indonesia), and Get Lost, Wire Avenue (Slovakia)

I do have my faves on the albums, but as I said, I'm not going to 'review' - all the artists deserve much kudos for donating their material/time/efforts for this project, and mucho credit to Patetico for bringing it all together and curating..great work guys.

The three albums are only $5 apiece, so for $15 dollars you get over 50 tracks of top-notch shoegaze, indie and general fuzzy goodness. There are some familiar favourites and some new names that, like me, you will want to investigate further. So dig deep peeps - ALL the money goes to the Nepal relief efforts. As Alexx Kretov of Canadian-Ukrainian duo Ummagma "May the common freebie attitude fall to the wayside for this project. We really hope that people will support a higher cause by spending a few dollars and spreading this music far and wide."

The albums can be bought via the Patetico Recording Bandcam pages: Vol 1, Vol 2 and Vol 3.