Tigerbeat6 Inc                                                         Various

The cuddly tiger cub on the cover of Tigerbeat6's latest compilation, Tigerbeat6 Inc., is the antithesis of every logo that electronic labels slap on their releases.  Looking up from his sketchpad and happy to see that we've finally come over to play, he just doesn't project the attitude of exclusiveness and elitism that has come to characterize the IDM community.  Then again, Tigerbeat6 has never made it their mission to ponder to the Autechre crowd.  As heard at a Cex show: �This isn�t brain music, it�s booty music!�

For the most part, that�s the case over the 44 tracks spanning these two discs, which offer up so many styles and sounds that anyone will be hard pressed not to find something they would want to hear again.  While there are a handful of cuts requiring some deep listening, (contributions from Pisstank, Stilluppsteypa, and Mikael Stavostrand don�t lend themselves to the dancefloor or Saturday night cruising in the Prelude), the majority of the tracks are much more beat-driven and lighthearted.  A profoundly original and goofy sense of humor pervades throughout.  By using sounds that could have (and just may have) been sampled from video games and toys, Dat Politics, Kevin Blechdom and (Jay) Lesser will furrow more than a few brows, not by making academic, �difficult� music, but by defying expectations to do so.  One of the more bizarre tracks is Max Tundra�s �The Bill�, a song that sounds straight out of a video game: think Sega Saturn, circa 1996.  Surrounded by dozens of harder, better-produced tracks, you�ll be left asking yourself, �Is he serious?�

Elsewhere, Knifehandchop hijack DMX�s rants into their bizarrely titled gabba track �Sun Jammer is my Favorite Pokemon Trainer�, Blectum from Blechdom turn in their best (vocal) track ever over a stuttering synth line in �Always Frank,� and Brad Laner, recording under the guise of Electric Company, veers closer to ambient techno than any of his labelmates with �Lit Up and Protruding�, the most ominous and reflective piece of the nearly two and a half hour long album.  Ultimately though, props must to go to label head Miguel Depedro.  As Kid 606, his aptly titled �You Just Don�t Understand� is the album�s centerpiece, sounding just as ambitious as any of the tracks on his 2000 magnum opus Down With the Scene.  The Tigerboy also appears with Lesser and Matmos in Disc and Kevin Blectum in Nut n� Honey.

It�s rare that so many similar-minded musicians can come together on an album (if you can use that word to describe self-serving compilations like this) and produce such a diverse and yet cohesive final product.  Anyone willing (and able, for it is a daunting task) to listen from beginning to end will come away with their perceptions about electronic music turned upside down.  And probably with a smile on their face too.  Everyone else who skips to their favorite tracks � hey, that�s what these are for.

http://www.tigerbeat6.com

Joe Niemczyk