Album Notes

West4East, a musical benefit aid organization created in response to the tsunami tragedy, teamed up with Chapel Hill-based Unschooled Records to release a series of compilations to benefit the victims. This volume includes tracks from experimental electronic favorites Books on Tape, Decomposure, Plat and more, while the second will feature indie rock bands from the renowned Chapel Hill scene. In the words of Howard Hecht (Unschooled), "West4East started the same way that every other benefit project does - we sat and watched with horror the initial accounts of the devastation and knew we had to help... The answer was a benefit album - not one of those 'portion of the proceeds' affairs - one where ALL money collected goes straight to the charity. So a call was put out to a broad spectrum of electronic musicians and the response was nothing short of incredible."

Bio:
West4East is a project dedicated to producing recorded musical benefits to offer financial aid to the victims of the Asian Tsunami tragedy. A growing group of musicians, artists, promotion and production people have converged to devote their energies to this most worthy cause. All monies received from the sale of these CDs will be donated by the West4East project to Direct Relief International. Volume 1 features 16 fresh tracks from 16 leading electronic musicians from 5 countries.

One of the most impressive aspects of the compilation is that each track manages to convey the artists' sense of optimism about the global response to the crisis. Los Angeles based electronic super-showman Books on Tapes sheds his characteristic heaviness for the hopeful sounds in "Of Chaos Comes Beauty". The typically dense and chewy tones that characterize a Doofgoblin track are fairly traded for the lightened and sweetened "Tsuleighbelles" but the creator's identity remains indelibly stamped in every note. Dutch organic/electronic wunderkind Kettel manages to weave a profoundly naturalistic tapestry into "The Tree That Got Fired" while KatastatiK dances on several boundaries simultaneously by juxtaposing 70s style guitar god licks over a relentless breakbeat in his contribution "I Love You Totally, But I Love Me More".

Rusuden's "Soft Launch" is anything but; this soundtrack to foreign intrigue draws the listener in and refuses to let go. On the other side of the equation, Robokoneko's "Smile and Dream" is a humanistic love story gently unfolding before our ears. A Bit Crusher, another Netherlander, provides a frenetic blistering beat parade punctuated by classic Asian rhythms in "Cookies for All". Rounding out the list is double Icelandic affair - Iceland's pop heroes Ampop offer their classic "(re)Made for Market" remixed by the noted multi-instrumentalist duo Plat. The other 8 tracks are no less important, but this IS a 1-sheet. Please be sure to check out the unique copy protection technology employed on this disc (as noted on the tray card) - a bold step forward in the marriage of technology, legality and spirituality.