Quantcast
Music
cover art

Various Artists

Little Darla Has a Treat for You, V.27: Eternal Spring Edition

(Darla; US: 26 May 2009; UK: 26 May 2009)

The eclectic, bliss-dealing Darla Records has been putting out various artists compilations entitled Little Darla Has a Treat for You on a yearly/bi-yearly basis for several years now. Presumably they’ve kept the title because it fits: With a track list comprised entirely of exclusive songs and a great many artists not on Darla’s roster (but who share the label’s indie pop and mellow electronic leanings) coming to the party, these records may as well be big ol’ sacks of treats. It’s like a classmate tossing you a cherry Starburst from across the room without precedent. Hey, thanks!


Thing is, not all treats are created equal in the mouth of the beholder. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Good & Plenty are both candies, and I’m bound to see each on Halloween, but I’ll do anything for a Reese’s (likeability rating: 10!) and think of Good & Plenty basically as punishment (likeability rating: 2). Your ratings will vary from mine. It’s a point worth considering, since just about all of the tracks on V.27 aim for some kind of sweet spot as they cover everything from dub techno meditations (Yagya’s “A Small Offering”) to retro indie rock (New Radiant Storm King’s “Refused”) to the gothic proto-shoegaze most often associated with the Cocteau Twins (Rumskib’s “Secrets”)—and that doesn’t even scratch the surface. There’s a whopping 32 tracks here, spanning two discs, so happy hunting. Not everything’s going to do it for you, but spend some time rifling through this bag, and you’re bound to discover the tastiest thing you’ll have all week.

Rating:

Mike has been a staff writer at PopMatters since 2009. He began writing music reviews for his college paper in 2005, where he cut his teeth as an arts editor and weekly columnist. He graduated from Vassar in 2008 and is pursuing a doctoral degree in clinical psychology. He is currently writing his dissertation on the role of rejection sensitivity in online infidelity, and lives with his incredible girlfriend in a wonderful shoebox apartment in Washington, DC.


Media
Comments
Now on PopMatters
Short Ends and Leader: 10 Alternative Cinematic Valentines
Will we always love Whitney? (PopWire) [Tue, 12:35 pm]
Tough Like Glue: An Interview with V.V. Brown (Sound Affects) [Tue, 12:00 pm]
10 Alternative Cinematic Valentines (Short Ends and Leader) [Tue, 9:00 am]
  1. 'Nebraska': Bruce Springsteen's 'Heart of Darkness' (Columns)
  2. The 10 Greatest Shakespeare Film Adaptations of All Time (Short Ends and Leader)
  3. Not-So-Central Casting: Kevin Smith and the Birth of the Reality Podcast (Features)
  4. The 10 Greatest Movie Spies Ever (Short Ends and Leader)
  5. Bored This Way: The 54th Annual Grammy Awards (Features)
  6. Slipped Discs 2011 - Part 2: From the Go! Team to the Phoenix Foundation (Features)
  7. Slipped Discs 2011 - Part 3: From Real Estate to Youth Lagoon (Features)
  8. Lana Del Rey: Born to Die (Reviews)
  9. The Top 15 Madonna Singles of All Time (Sound Affects)
  10. Google and the Production of Curiosity (Marginal Utility)
  11. Your Anti-Valentine's Day Playlist. (Mixed Media)
  12. Carole E. Barrowman’s Authorial Journey to Hollow Earth (Features)
  13. Van Halen: A Different Kind of Truth (Reviews)
  14. “Don’t Let Me Fall”: Hip-Hop in the Age of Austerity (Features)
  15. Tower Songs: Townes Van Zandt (Columns)
  16. Black Bananas: Rad Times Xpress IV (Reviews)
  17. Paul McCartney: Kisses on the Bottom (Reviews)
  18. The Gay Ole Countryside (Columns)
  19. Of Montreal: Paralytic Stalks (Reviews)
  20. Rating the Performances at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards (Mixed Media)
  21. Nick Cave’s The Death of Bunny Munro: A Rock Star’s Midlife Crisis or Valid Literature? (Features)
  22. Counterbalance No. 67: John Coltrane’s 'A Love Supreme' (Sound Affects)
  23. A Look to the Past, An Insight Into the Present: The Use of Gender in 'Mad Men' (Features)
  24. The 10 Best John Coltrane Solos (Sound Affects)
  25. A Tale of How Great Journalism Became Revisionist History: Grambling State U Football (Columns)
  26. Mark Lanegan Band: Blues Funeral (Reviews)
  27. Chairlift: Something (Reviews)
  28. Mitt Romney Can Reside at Today's Proverbial 'Downton Abbey'... Newt Gingrich Cannot (Features)
  29. After Cease to Exist: The Far-from-Final Report of Throbbing Gristle (Features)
  30. Die Antwoord: Ten$ion (Reviews)
PM Picks
Music Archive
Announcements

© 1999-2012 PopMatters.com. All rights reserved.
PopMatters.com™ and PopMatters™ are trademarks
of PopMatters Media, Inc.

PopMatters is wholly independently owned and operated.
PopMatters is a member of BUZZMEDIA Music, MOG and Guardian Select.