Domino - 'They'll Have To Catch Us First' (Domino) Released 17/04/06

Domino Records, one of the UK’s most successful independent labels made its name with the American underground likes of Pavement. But of late they have been riding high on home grown talent, in particular bank rolled by the art-disco behemoth that is Franz Ferdinand. This sample compilation celebrates a range of the label’s current stable of artists with both current and forthcoming releases.

The aforementioned Franz boys are in there of course with ‘L Wells’ which, with a lyric that goes “In the bright cold air you seem as innocent of Rita Tushingham in 1961” and riffs a bit funkier and fatter than usual they prove they are worth the units shifted. Sexy, doom-blues is provided by The Kills with ‘Love is a Deserter’. They’re another act that gets a lot of good press showing they are up to the job, however dark that job may be while Archie Bronson Outfit manage to sound like The Kills playing Franz which, trust me, is a good thing.

Other highlights include the recently spilt was-it-a-piss-take-all-along Test Icicles reminding us that there was something behind the daft name with ‘Circle. Square. Triangle’. Clearlake’s ‘It’s Getting Light Outside’, like an eastern-tinged Belle and Sebastian and Four Tet’s ominous beats on ‘A Joy’ and The Televisiosn Personalities mesmerising journey ‘My Dark Places’. All polished off nicely by Juana Monila’s ‘La Verad’, a cut of dark, electro-folk.

So is there a Domino sound? Jerky guitars, nuts lyrics and electronic inserts are common themes, but an even more universal thread is that it is all very, ****ing, good.