Locusts, Roaches & Ants: The WRC Compilation

Locusts, Roaches & Ants: The WRC Compilation

Best song: probably The Drapes, but there’s a handful of greats that are pretty much equal

Worst song: I feel bad doing this on a compilation… but, Fun Festival

Overall grade: 5

I don’t normally review compilations, but I’ll make an exception for this one, because I know (or at least know of) all these artists in another capacity. Specifically, they all are or were members of the Web Reviewing Community, a group of people who all ran music review websites much like this one (but generally better) mostly in the early 2000s. At some point, somebody noticed that as well as writing about music, a lot of these reviewers also liked to make music, and out of that came the bright idea to put some of these songs onto a compilation album and share it with everyone in the community. Thirteen different reviewers got involved, and this is the end product.

Credit where credit’s due: Chris Willie Williams from the Disclaimer Music Review Archive is the guy who put all these songs together and still offers this as a free download if you ask him very nicely, and Steve Knowlton of Steve and Dennis and Abe’s Record Reviews is the guy who did title and cover art.

‘Ritalin Rock’ (The Other Leading Brand) – From the title, I expected this to sound like a pretty straightforward rock song, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. It’s percussion-heavy, which keeps the whole thing feeling focused and driven, and seems to have a purposeful bootleg quality to it. Over the top, there’s a lot of spoken vocal samples which somehow manage to be catchy, repeated and layered on top of each other to create something really compelling.

‘Saskatchewan’ (Steve Knowlton and the Knowl-Tones) – In a prime example of good positioning, this song is a lot more melodic, and chilled vs. the anger of the last one. It’s very pretty, dreamy and nostalgic with some interesting jazz influences and has a cool relaxed guitar solo at the end. I like it, but it’s a bit too consistent in its tempo to reach greatness.

‘Dead in 41’ (Willie Simpson) – This is very folk-rock singer-songwriter, and Simpson has the Dylan-esque voice down to a T. This is the song that most makes me wish the album came with a lyric booklet, since I can’t quite work out all of them, but the ones I can hear sound really good, kind of a World War 2 theme going on there. One of those things you start singing along to, and then you realise you’re singing about shooting a Nazi between the eyes. Great tune.

‘Hell’ (Disclaimer) – this icy, dark, rhythmic, no-nonsense first couple of minutes recalls… but then the chorus swells and is smoother, more content even as it’s talking about going to hell. These two approaches are juxtaposed against each other throughout the song. Oh, and it’s a brilliant song, did I mention? Very skilful songwriting – taking pop and distorting it to give it an edge. I can imagine myself recommending this song to someone who wasn’t familiar with the WRC.

‘Walk Me Home’ (Mike Kozak) – A slowly developing instrumental, but as the longest track on the album at almost seven minutes, it’s able to take its time somewhat. I’m very impressed with the fact that all the instruments are played by one guy, and for the most part it’s very well structured too, with the same symphonic theme carrying us through all the way, coupled with the odd moment of dissonant anarchy that prevent it from becoming too…

‘Gamle Klassiker’ (Joel Larsson and Adam Johansson) – A brief interlude in the overall context of the album, it seems like an odd choice for the pair to include, because it has the feel of a novelty song. I don’t know if that’s in the non-English lyrics or the delivery or the lack of any real instrumentation, but I’m not a huge fan of this.

‘Heterosapiens’ – If you want an example of a successful joke song, look no further. This track manages to successfully parody a bunch of aspects of 70s hard rock by making it all just a tiny bit too ridiculous, and its purpose is obvious here, but the beauty of it is that in a compilation of ‘fantasy rock songs’ it probably wouldn’t stick out as being the one imposter. Right up there with clever parodies and highly enjoyable for anyone who knows a little of music history.

Mark Prindle’s three long-titled songs – Mark Prindle, the sneaky fellow, managed to combine three of his songs into one high energy track that’s no longer than anything else on here. You could actually jog to the fast-paced but steady ‘Jogging Is The Bestest’ and its riffs are really entertaining. ‘A Guy Who Said My Web Site Is Overrated (Why Does Everybody Hate Me So Much?)’ displays some of the classic humour that makes his site so unique, and ‘My Songs Would Be Significantly Less Sucky If I Bothered To Save Up For More Powerful Recording Equipment’ might just be my favourite – my brain can’t even keep up with the tempo it’s played at but it’s just so much fun!

‘The Drapes’ (Daniel Fjall) – a depressing and strangely captivating tale of a pathetic man who’s lost his girlfriend and now sits at home not doing anything with his life. Even the whispered vocals add to this; it’s almost like it’s been so long since he’s sung anything that he’s forgotten how (in a good way) This is one of the songs that feels the most professional and also stays with me the most. People would wave their lighters to this at a concert, at one with the pain and moodiness of the narrator, and I always come away from the song thinking a bit more about life.

‘Fun Festival’ (Poly Lite Plus) – A space-rock style instrumental that doesn’t feel as though it’s really a very fun place to be. I think this could be something if it was worked on, and would probably also be better in the context of an album of similar stuff, but here it feels a bit clunky and random.

‘Tantric New Romantic’ (The Hector Collectors) – Catchy, short but still feels like a full song. This synth-pop song wins by having nothing more than a great hook, lots of random and cute rhymes in its lyrics, and a singer with a great accent. It’s hardly meant to be taken seriously, but I honestly can’t get enough of it, the humour not getting old after quite a few listens.

‘The Open Window’ (Physical Illusion) – Home-made art rock such as this is automatically at a disadvantage compared to other stuff in the genre, considering Nick Karn probably doesn’t have access to the same range of instruments and studio effects as well-established bands, but this doesn’t show here. It might not be my absolute favourite song here, but this mini-epic is definitely the one that most inspires me to get more from the same artist, since it’s great but also hints at so much more.

‘Mercury’s Star’ – I love this as a closer. It’s an unhurried and beautiful ballad that feels very comfortable in its own skin, helped by the fact that it’s probably the best produced song here. I honestly don’t think any other song could effectively follow this one, the guitar is so gorgeous. It ends with a sample of ‘Everybody Hurts’ and another song that I recognise but can’t place. Its skilful summation of this compilation always leaves me wanting more.

Overall, I think it was Chris Willie Williams who said it best of all, in the liner notes: ‘the unqualified love of rock music is evident in each track here’. The songs display a definite knowledge of what works in music and what elements make up a good song, and I think that’s why there aren’t any huge failures here. Maybe the most important skill you need to make music is to know music.