VARIOUS ARTISTS 5 YEARS OF PROGRESS COMPILATION PROGRESS PRODUCTIONS RELEASE: MAY 16, 2009 REVIEW: MAY 21, 2009

To celebrate their first five years, Swedish label Progress Productions issues this compilation with new or rare tracks from their entire roster, in connection to their Gothenburg festival 5 Years of Progress. It's a varied affair, with everything from harsh noise to synthpop, and it's a great showcase for the label. It's nice to see that Sweden still has a living and breathing electronic scene, with a lot of high quality output.

I have to give a special mention to Necro Facility's "Do You Feel the Same". It's their best track ever, and shows a move from Skinny Puppy to something with more conventional song structures. Still heavy, but with its own flair to it. Great stuff indeed.

Another surprise is the acoustic version Red Cell's "Grace" which works very well with just guitars and vocals, and considering it's a full on electronic dance track from the beginning, it's quite impressive.

This compilation also sees a newcomer to the Progress camp, namely Dupont. Starting out as an oldschool EBM band, they have grown into a more sophisticated electropop sound and "Like We Never Loved" shows much promise for the future album.

The album is dragged down by some less interesting tracks, and unfortunately also bad mixing, on the Kite live track and 8kHz Mono's "Weight of Wisdom". In both cases, the mixing is very uneven, and in the latter you can't even hear the drums. It's a shame since you know I love Kite, and the 8kHz track is good too.

To get a feeling of where the Swedish scene is today, get this album.

JOHAN CARLSSON