various artists - independents day

The best performances, however, make up for weaknesses elsewhere on the record: The Futureheads’s choppy ‘With Every Heartbeat’ is quickly followed by an elegiac ‘Tug Boat’ from British Sea Power. Maximo Park play a faithful version of the woeful relationship in ‘Was There Anything I Could Do?’, while Devendra Banhart turns ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ into a folky strumalong. Rodrigo y Gabriela, the Mexican guitar duo who started out in heavy metal bands back home, relish in their alternately furious and subtle take of ‘Orion’. On the second CD, the cream of the crop are probably Thomas Tantrum (whose ‘Swan Lake’ cheekily drops in some Tchaikovsky), The Tenderfoot (the whimsical neurotic in ‘People Are The Problem’ sounds so much like Gruff Rhys I’m amazed they hadn’t borrowed him for the day) and Basia Bulat (not Bullit, as my preview CD had it – the galloping, country-tinged ‘In The Night’ has a lyrical sting worth listening for). It’s all for charity, so if you want to stick your hand in your pocket – and stick it to The Major Label Man at the same time – get yourself a copy.