DOUBLE LP - HANDNUMBERED + A5 INSERT - LIMITED TO 250 COPIES
Shop-affiliated new London-based Ó Mhaidin imprint launches with an improbably titled 16 track dbl LP compilation of tracks that reflect the irregular nature of its given name. Perhaps as an overhang from second wave punk self-determination, I've long considered a compilation an effective means of launching a new label or unifying a scene, acting as a flag in the ground for a specific set of ideals or energy. Where does Toothpaste For Your Elephant exist in that lineage? Its purpose isn't overtly expressed and aesthetically it's a mixed bag of underground digressions and experiments that places the familiar (Old Saw, Thorn Wych, Kulku) alongside the lesser known, and older recordings amidst the new in ways that don't necessarily follow any regional or chronological arc. If this is seemingly haphazard, it's also a good thing, an art-for-arts-sake endeavour that seeks to connect passions and interests because, well, that's a wholly rewarding thing to do. Compilations also have another function - to introduce the listener to something new. Toothpaste For Your Elephant certainly delivers on that front, an open door to an unexpected constellation of avant-folk, drone, psych, post-punk and beyond that were it not for the energies of its creator would otherwise not have existed. Contrary to what the Desperate Bicycles might have implored, it wasn't easy, it wasn't cheap, but someone went and did it anyway. High praise always for such initiative.
FFO: Old Saw, Thorn Wych, Sun City Girls, Freshly Wrapped Candies, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma
