Various Artists - 'Moshi Moshi Singles 2006-2008' (Moshi Moshi) Released 07/04/2008

What’s a Moshi Moshi? I hear you exclaim! Well, random bullshit alert (!) because if you’re Japanese, it’s probably how you answer your phone; it’s also a conveyor friendly, sushi eatery in Liverpool Street. In this instance, however, it’s a UK based record label, instrumental in launching the careers of Hot Chip, Bloc Party, Architecture in Helsinki, and Tilly and the Wall, amongst others.

It’s been ten years since Moshi Moshi was originally conceived as a singles’ label; presumably, in ‘a fit of nostalgia’ for the good old days, founders Michael McClatchey and Stephen Bass decided to “revive their relationship with the one night stand of record deals”. Eighteen months after the initial creation of the ‘Moshi Moshi Singles’ Club’ (Yes, they really called it that. Yes, we know it’s twee as ****), they are releasing a compilation of those original 7” singles.

With that in mind, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that this album is going to be pretty twee and indie, and will probably enlighten your wispy ears to new (and decent) music. Mega woo for that alone! This is the singles’ club that pivoted Kate Nash into the limelight with ‘Caroline’s A Victim’ (found here), way before Nash herself blew us out of the water with ‘Foundations’. Thank God! Because ‘Caroline is a…’ big pile of turd, if we ever saw one, stinking out the corner. Yes, this single is gash Miss Nash.

Let’s move swiftly on to the rest of the compilation, which (thank ****) is just so damn cute and indie. Danananaykroyd sounds a little Johnny Foreigner, via Cap n Jazz, of course; Matt and Kim provide a thumping electro bass line and a thudding dreambeat; Ra:att:agg take us into Kaiser Chief’s terrain, with stadium friendly indie; Breakbot disseminate robot rhythms; Slow Club appropriates the twee song writing of a certain Ben Marwood; Pacific! provides soothing soundscapes; incoming superstars, Late of the Pier infuse electro 80s synths with one melodramatic nod to The Human League and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark; The Wave Pictures bring us a cutesy track which sounds like (Phantom Planet’s) Alex Greenwald has gone a bit twee and insular, shouting ‘David is the monster!’ round his garden, where all his eight year old friends sit cross legged; Elle s’appelle has presumably nabbed Nena’s punk inspired, ‘shouty (80s) pop’ for their debut; Friendly Fires go a bit post- modern on us, slapping their samba drum to a rather groovesome beat; Lykke Li’s single sounds minimalist and fresh backed to what sounds like steel chimes (but probably isn’t); Dels rips it up for the hip hop massive, sounding a bit less Dizzee and a bit more Bizzle; and, lastly Team Polo bring us indie pop in the form of one big, fat, epic chorus.

I’d imagine this compilation is the musical equivalent of Marmite. If you’re a big fan of cute, indie pop, you’ll love it. If that kind of thing grinds at your vertebrae, best leave off. My personal thoughts are that it’s just so eighties inspired they should rename it ‘Fourteen tales from your childhood’. Or, maybe that’s just my childhood! Good stuff mind. Just please don’t release a gash Nash single next time, eh boys?!