The Beat Surrender

I don’t just love this album, I love what it stands for and what it celebrates as well as the concept behind it. In a world that is over run by cynical marketing and hastily thrown together compilations, it’s so refreshing to come across an album like this.

Not only are any proceeds going to charity which makes it a worthwhile event in itself, it’s also drawing attention to the huge role that Independent Music has played in shaping the course of music history and of the rich array of talent that is around at the moment as well.

The first disc is chock full of independent bands covering tracks by independent artists, they don’t all work as we llk as the tracks by British Sea Power, Tom Smith (Editors), Maximo Park and The Charlatans but they are really interesting covers.

The second disc is the real gem though, giving us tracks by up and coming independent artists chosen by independent bands and labels. So we get introductions to people like The Tenderfoot, Laura Groves, Cougar, Electricity In Our Homes and Morbius Band and we also get reminders of just how good Goose, Little Dragon, Oceansize and Basia Bulat are.

It was released on July 4th this year, lets hope this becomes an annual event that gives us Brits something to celebrate on this date. The album is released by AIM who provide a superb service to bands, promoters, recxord labels and any other person connected with Independent music.