'Rough Trade Shops: Counter Culture 08' (V2/Co-Operative Music) Released 02/02/09

For a good while now, Rough Trade shops have put together an annual 2-CD overview of the most noteworthy sounds to hit the stores’ racks and in-store stereo system in the last twelve months. Essentially, these yearly comps act as an alternative to mainstream hit parades; a ‘Now That’s What I Call Indie Music’, if you like, a reminder of the best stuff you might have missed in the last year, and a handy pointer to names to keep an eye on in the new year.

Major labels may be having a hearty communal weep whilst staring at the slumping sales figures, and a nationwide, music-orientated home entertainment hovers on the brink of abyss. Judging by the generous 44 tracks gathered on ‘Counter Culture 08’, though, indie music keeps going strong despite the economic deep-freeze. The reason for the indie sector’s ongoing renaissance is on this evidence straightforward: put simply, there’s tons of cracking stuff around, produced by songwriters and musicians who clearly – refreshingly – couldn’t give two hoots about what the hot and happening thing’s supposed to be this month. Knowledgeable, dedicated stores like Rough Trade, alongside the more discerning parts of music media, act as an invaluable filter, picking out the keepers floating in an ocean of indie releases.

Keeping with Rough Trade’s leftfield ethos, the typically diverse – anything and everything from vintage punk fury to cutting-edge electro gets in a look in – 2008 edition of the ‘Counter Culture’ series embraces the alternative, the imaginative, the marginal, the odd, the experimental, even the downright mental at the expense of anything you’d bet your hard-earned will be within a sniffing distance of the top 10 anytime soon (apart from the indescribably lovely Fleet Foxes and the winningly heartbroken Bon Iver, both of whom appear here) - unless the music world finally becomes a just place, that is.

Offering any kind of detailed description of such an epic load of quality music isn’t possible here. Yet even a quick glance of the contents  - the heavenly harmonies of Peter Broderick, the expansive travelogues of the Acorn; the dust-blown Americana of the Low Anthem and Headless Heroes; Atlas Sound’s breathtakingly beautiful, shoegazery haze and the homespun dream-pop of High Places on the folk-orientated first disc; the disorientating beat bonanza of HEALTH; Boris’ scruffy speed metal eulogies; minimalistic techno-dub of Alva Noto; the brooding territory in the middle of a triangle formed by dubstep, grime and abstract hip hop occupied by Dusk and Blackdown; Chris Corsano’s clanging percussion breakdown and Flying Lotus’ ultra-futuristic, sleazy high-tech hip hop gloss on the dancefloor-geared second dosage, to nominate just a few highlights – should convince anyone that ‘Counter Culture 08’ deserves – no, demands – your prompt attention.