Yourcodenameis:milo - Print Is Dead Vol. 1

Akin to Josh Homme's 'Desert Sessions', 'Print Is Dead' plays as a who's who of the current and all too recent indie elite. Bloc Party, Reuben, Futureheads, The Automatic and Hot Club De Paris all put in an appearance on the 'write it, practise it, record it in one day' experiment. The results are often shocking. The Trapeze Artist is brutal and comes with chopped, heavy riffing and manic wails, yet features The Automatic. Captain Of Lies is similarly violent but more akin to the usual sounds of contributors Reuben. 'Print Is Dead Vol. 1' ranges between genius and banality. At times, inspired, at others, bland and trite. As I Remember The Summer Isles crawls on for nearly seven minutes, it becomes obvious that when 'Print Is Dead' fails, it is the contributors, and not the idea itself, who are found lacking. [Neil Ferguson]