There's something wistful and sad about this release, which I picked up at the Modal conference in 2001. It's a compilation of tracks from studios and bands, the majority of whose members are under 24 and unemployed or low waged, supported by grants from Yorkshire and Humberside Arts. Eight years on, AMMA doesn't exist, and I don't think any of the bands or artists are still active under the same names. Even Yorkshire and Humberside Arts has had its wings clipped, and is now part of the Arts Council. Though Darnall Music Factory, the Sheffield studio in the consortium, still seems to be there.
It wouldn't be so sad if the artists and the songs were all crap, but they're not. Our old friends Dummy Head Stereo are included, and are my favourite by some margin. Leanne isn't my kind of thing, and The Unknown could be called The Anodyne, but you can hear in The Makers the seeds of the Arctic Monkeys sound four years before the latter sang, "You're not from New York City, you're from Rotherham."
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