4 out of 5

Label: Suction Records

Produced by: D’Arcangelo

Compiles the D’Arcangelo EP and its imagined followup, II, with new bookends tracks. The rating is for the value of the compilation, since the material was mostly previously released.

I’m a sucker for an odds and ends comp, and this puts a harder-to-find Rephlex release together with a vinyl only release on an arguably more accessible CD format. Setting aside my take on the contents – the old EP rocks; the sequel is pretty weak in comparison – having them back to back is a lot of fun, though it would’ve been interesting to maybe shuffle up the sequence and put the Diagram tracks together and etc., but that’s debateable.

The intro / outro additions: I can’t say they belong, really, but the intro (‘Main Theme’) is totally worth it alongside the value of the compilation, standing aside the strong Diagram tracks from EP as compellingly nervy, pretty electro. The outro – ‘Wane’ – is correctly labeled as a reprise, and it revisits the theme.

Smarter ears can tell you if there’s shared melodies between these and the music they contain, but even if I’m not hearing that – I dig the tune(s).