What's so interesting about compilation CDs is how they reflect the label's own tastes and what the owners find to be interesting and entertaining in the music world. Up's "Up In Orbit" compilation generously chooses from the Up catalog and seasons the track listing with a few tunes from outside the Up realm of interest. Land of the Loops launches the mission with a drum-machine cadence of bassy synthesizer and hypnotic samples. Indeed, a refreshing take on "the world of rock," as LOL smoothly combines drum and bass finesse without grandiose electronica flashes. 764-HERO's brooding and irritable emittances are like a personal exorcism, as "High School Poetry", suggesting a post-Pavement assessment on indie rock, displays John Atkin’s whiny and impressionable vocals. Satisfact’s "Escapism for the Future" embodies the present’s use of past melodious stylings for post-modern consumption. "Up In Orbit" fortunately reveals that music down here on Earth has not reached a terminal point in creativity and expressionism. Hit the record store, grab this comp, then check out some of the individual artists' own aluminum disc ventures!
Various Artists Up in Orbit! Up Records (CD)
			Review by Andrew Magilow

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