February 24, 1999

Across Uneven Terrain

And now the real [B]Future Pilots[/B]: young and not-so-young astral travellers plotting courses through genres invariably prefixed with a 'post'...

8 / 10 And now the real Future Pilots: young and not-so-young astral travellers plotting courses through genres invariably prefixed with a 'post'; disparate souls united by their commission from London's conceptually solid Fat Cat Records stable.

We've heard similar before - in Boards Of Canada, Mogwai and, yes, in Slowdive - but this compilation of music previously available only on vinyl drags it deeper and then thinks about it some more. Take Bristol's Immense, for example. Post-Mogwai, post-rock and, quite probably, postmen, their 'Spontaneous Combustion', as you can imagine, positively smoulders.

And for the first time, Transient Waves handle the discovery of a tune with breathless grace, while Live Human and Mice Parade tackle the much-derided avant-jazz discipline and emerge with dignity intact.

Fat Cat play the populist card with Funkstvrung's dismantling of Bjvrk's 'All Is Full Of Love', though they redress the balance with techno-based assaults from Grain and Insync V Mysteron; abstract affairs with which the label is most commonly associated.

A dense journey then. Just throw away the map and follow your instincts.