Lope, Yellow6, Absent Without Leave, Kimonophonic - 4-Way Split (BSBTA)

This is a delightful, little release from Danish label BSTBA (or Bloated Sasquatch Beer Theatre Audio as they are otherwise known) bringing together some of the nicest, most delicate sounds of 2006. This release celebrates the music of 4 like-minded artists from different parts of the globe . Of course, some are instantly recognisible, such as Yellow6, while there are others you may not know about, but will want to after hearing their offerings, most notably Lope.

Sweden's Lope kicks proceedings off and easily reinforces what I said about him a month ago. The gentle "Just There", glides effortlessly coming across like a more optimistic Labradford, with some soothing slide guitar and rhodes piano. While the barely audible beats in "The Crane" provide one of the many exceptional moments of this 4-way split. Leaving us with "A Thousand Leaves", Lope returns to thr Rhodes piano sound, this time over-lapping it with some Album Leaf style programming. All in all, Lope has provided more evidence that he is one talented individual and provides an excellent start to this release.

A lesser musician may have baulked at the challenge of following such an excellent start, but England's Yellow6 is no ordinary musician. He has provided his name to more than 50 releases, but his music never suffers from lethargy. "(I Wish I Could) Start Over" is just so damn gorgeous that I was upset when it ended. It features a highly infectious melody, but its tinged with sadness and brings to mind the Bladerunner Soundtrack's shimmering beauty. Having being disappointed that Yellow6's first offering actually ended, he serves up the exquisite ambient/electro rock of "Start Over Again" An absolute gem of a track that features snappy, incessant beats, brilliant guitar work and wails of feedback. It has everything you could possibly want in a track and is capped off with some furious guitar riffing. Ending his contribution with the slow-burning "I Know I Shouldn't But I Do", Yellow6's three offerings are, in a word, immense.

Next up is Greece's Absent Without Leave, co-owner of Sound In Silence Records. Although there are some nice moments, I was left slightly disappointed with his efforts, having heard a good bit of his back catalogue. Having said that "Achromatic" features some eerie synths, that evokes images of a dark and misty graveyard. I was enjoying this track until the drums kicked in unexpectedly around the 5.30 mark. It kind of ruined the menacing atmosphere that was being built up. However, AWL's does provide the excellent, "Weasel Words" which is a great track, full of inventive programming and dark, brooding synths.

The final inclusion on this 4-way split is Canadian-born Kimonophonic, whose music I am aware of through myspace. While, those songs posted on myspace are thoroughly enjoyable slices of uptempo electronica, the 6 tracks on this 4-way split are either badly recorded live versions or the equivelent of a Nintendo game soundtrack. Its pretty poor stuff and, sadly brings down the score for this split release.

Overall this one is well worth getting a hold, especially for the inspiring perfomances of Lope and Yellow6 and to a lesser extent Absent Without Leave. Order it here.

Rating = 75%