This My Bloody Valentine

A collection of ambient breakbeat and soundtrack-influenced rock, Offbeat is an appropriately titled left-field venture of the Red Hot + Blue benefit series. Included are tracks from "alternative" acts like Soul Coughing, My Bloody Valentine, Spookey Ruben, Barry Adamson and Laika, plus more dancefloor-oriented producers like Skylab, DJ Krush, Meat Beat Manifesto, Moby, DJ Spooky and others. As can usually be counted on, this edition in the Red Hot series is a must for fans of the music, and an easy recommendation as an important starting point for neophytes.

Collection includes: Pikul (2005); Carnavas (2006); Swoon (2009); Neck Of The Woods (2012).

Ben Curtis' desertion of Secret Machines and the breakup of On!Air!Library! was justified by this group's first single, a sky-gliding confection that modernized the sighing, swirling, private dancefloor sides of Medicine, Seefeel, and My Bloody Valentine. Included as the finale on Alpinisms, the debut album from Curtis and O!A!L!'s singing Deheza twins, "My Cabal" has the feel of a bonus track; the later recordings that precede it, despite remaining squarely within the domain of late-'80s/early-'90s dream pop in terms of inspiration, are relatively individualist, going well beyond the lucid psychedelia and discreet flickers of Afro-beat and contemporary pop. What pushes these songs past mere worship involves cunning collisions of robust rhythm, caressing noise, and heavenly melody, with each element equally crucial. Good shoegaze/dream pop bands mastered one of them; the most exceptional of the heap, like this group, had all three down. The most striking example here is "Wired for Light," seemingly spawned by Siouxsie and the Banshees' "Peek-A-Boo" and M/A/R/R/S' "Anitina," full of clacking percussion that rattles the ribs, Middle Eastern accents, gale-force atmospherics, and layered vocals that could be casting a spell.

The first collection to present this decade's musical creation and evolution, Whatever includes radio regulars and chart-toppers such as Boyz II Men, Aaliyah, En Vogue, Collective Soul, Spin Doctors, Joan Osborne, Duran Duran, Hanson, Jewel, Kris Kross, Sarah McLachlan and more. Whatever also rocks back to Lollapalooza's early pioneers Primus with 'My Name Is Mud', Babes In Toyland's 'Sweet 69', Luscious Jackson's hit 'Naked Eye', Dinosaur Jr.'s 'Start Choppin', and The Flaming Lips' single 'She Don't Use Jelly'.

Souvenirs D'un Autre Monde (2007). The relationship between heavy metal and the so-called "shoegazer" movement of the early '90s might not be apparent in writing, but with Justin Broaderick's amazing transmutation of his grinding industrial metal in Napalm Death and Godflesh into the dark, sonic bliss of his current incarnation as Jesu, it doesn't seem so far-fetched anymore. Immediately upon first listen the connection between one-man band Neige's French "black metal" roots and his current neo-psychedelic explorations under the Alcest moniker doesn't seem so far-fetched, natural even. Playing all the instruments on Alcest's debut full-length Souvenirs d'Un Autre Monde, Neige builds layers upon layers of ecstatically distorted guitars that evoke obvious comparisons to My Bloody Valentine's sonic extravaganzas and less obvious nods to the brooding minor-key post-metal of Jesu, only perhaps a bit sunnier…

Collection includes 6 solo studio albums and 1 compilation by British singer-songwriter Ian Brown, best known as the lead singer of the alternative rock band The Stone Roses.