Various Artists - 'I Can Count Vol 1' (I Can Count) Released 8/5/06

We can count too, and had to use all our fingers and thumbs to calculate that, out of a whopping 18 tracks on this “organic electronica” compilation, eight of them are decent. That’s a percentage of 44.44 recurring (ok, so we had to use a calculator for that bit). However, whilst that’s not the best hit rate for an album to boast, 'I Can Count' is the first collection from a new Leeds/London team intent on getting their favourite artists and songs out of the bedroom and into your record collections – and we at Gigwise like to encourage such behaviour (however belatedly), so let’s accentuate the positives folks!

First tune up, 'Go Now' by Mica ft Taz, opens with the rather novel combination of a door bell and ‘hee-har’ sound resembling a cross between a Intercity 125 on speed and that kid on The Simpson’s who delights in highlighting the misfortunes of others. This is a good thing, as is the rest of the R&B, garage-tinged track. It’s certainly as ‘urban’ as I Can Count gets.

Fast forward a couple of tracks and we get four good songs in a row, kicked off by David Sugar’s cunningly hectic 'We Weren’t Put Together'. Frighteningly accurately described as “Gameboy pop for the people”, Sounding very much like Liverpool’s To My Boy, (who, like Sugar, have been getting airplay on Xfm and 6Music), 'We Weren’t Put Together 'assaults the ears with a rush of garish sounds and beats any frenzied Japanese computer programmer would be proud of. The song’s so crammed with sonic mania it takes a couple of listens to extract the fact that the lyric is (kind of) about the July 7th bombings. Judging from the blurb picture the 23-year-old (already a poster child of the burgeoning ‘chipmusic’ scene – no, we’d never heard of it either) could also be mistaken for Jude Law – which all adds up (get it?) to the most promising act on the album.

Next up, Kawaii are one of I Can Count’s international contingent. The Norwegian duo’s engagingly entitled ‘They Would Probably Talk, Sleep Or ****’, is a neat little ditty following a template sketched out by acts such as Stereolab or, to a lesser extent, Belle & Sebastian. Grand Prix ’86’s 'Brother' is a nice little song which never even threatens to outstay its welcome at a bright and breezy 131 seconds. However, it does seem to stretch the premise of the album with synth chords being a lone concession to the electronic world. Scottish three-piece Otterley firmly grab back the computer-generated nettle with their dreamily insular ‘Tweeks’. It’s all quite down-beat, but the song contains some electronic flourishes which could be straight from Hot Chip’s new album – which is obviously a very good thing indeed.

Fast-forward, fast-forward, fast-forward to Loren P. Nikkel’s 'Me & Green'. The most guitar heavy song on the compilation, it certainly isn’t the greatest thing since sliced bread but it makes a pretty nice crust. Quip’s ‘Irresistible_neu’ falls into the same category at a meandering 389 seconds. However, the gentle, ambient number contains some pleasing melodies none the less. The final track we’ll pick out - ‘Done Deal’ by Glasgow’s Nut Bros - could also benefit from a bit of trim, or more accurately, a third act. The song promisingly introduces a sparse yet funky verse, and a warmly catchy chorus – but, just as you expect another element to kick in and pop the cherry on the cake… nothing happens. Simply alternating between the two for nearly five minutes leaves one a little frustrated.

Does such a sentiment deftly signal a suitable note to conclude the review? Well, yes and no. Little on I Can Count is bad (although honourable mention should be made to Fingers On Whip’s 'Love Injection', which encapsulates everything that’s risible about the coldly-stylistic Nag Nag Nag electronica the compilation mercifully avoids), but, in our humble opinion, the eight tracks detailed above are the only ones which stand up to repeated listens. However, such endeavours should be supported wherever possible and seeing as you can pick up the album for £5.99, and we’ve recommended half an hour of decent music…. well, you do the math.