various: a short illness from which he never recovered

New vinyl-only compilation from Blackest Ever Black, consisting of all-new recordings unavailable elsewhere, plus a pair of tracks -- Carla dal Forno's much-loved cover of The Kiwi Animal's "Blue Morning", and Scythe's zero gravity blues "Flower, Drop" -- appearing on this format for the first time. Jonas Tiljander (Brainbombs, Bremen) dons his solo Brainman guise for the corrosive synth-scaping of "Kilonova"; Ian Martin, whose SEER radio broadcasts were a significant early influence on the label, manifests the pure astral melancholia of "Missing Realism"; Hypnotic Sleep and associated band The Fulmars offer two iterations of bittersweet Low-German DIY pop, and Unchained a gorgeous, evergreen-dazed guitar instrumental in "Gray d'Aboukir". "Dawn Swoop", a suspenseful miniature from Jam Money (Spillage Fete), might just be one the most perfect two minutes in the label's catalog. There are contributions too from two superheroes in the BEB universe: Bobby Wratten (The Field Mice), with the gorgeous, tremulous "The Munich Post" from his current project Lightning In A Twilight Hour, and Bridget Hayden, who offer the heart-stopping, elegiac drowned-folk of "Solace".