All I previously knew about Sorted Records was that The Freed Unit were on the label, and I mistakenly believed that it was their own label (as they used it as their contact address, I suppose). But no, it's run by Dave Dixey, who has released a whole stack of other stuff besides Freed Unit records! Ashtray Heart is a compilation of some of the other bands on the label, plus a few "guest" bands. The music tends to be indie-pop/noise-pop, often with a quirky/strange feel. Sometimes it's too odd to be called indie-pop. Features Super Eight (pre-Freed Unit), Kooky Monster, Wrinkly Pink Catsuits, Lazarus Clamp, Prolapse, Performance, Gonzo Salvage Company, John Sims, Lid, Animalskintin, The K-Stars, Fish From Tahiti, The Council, Cha Cha 2000, Slinky, Whizzbang, Bloom and My Heads Going To Blow Up.

There are also some compilation 7"s out, The Sorted EP, Frownland and Tous-Ar-Fit. These have some real DIY sleeves, the cover of The Sorted EP even has letraset - haven't seen any artwork like this for ages! The Sorted EP has tracks from Prolapse (who I guess you're all familiar with, here's some more of their strange noisepop with spoken/shouted lyrics), Fish From Tahiti (experimental and possibly improvisational pop with odd noises/all-over-the-place piano playing in the background. But hey! there's tunes too), Gonzo Salvage Company (upbeat, tongue-in-cheek pop-punk), and The Mighty Silence (melodic guitar pop contrasts with semi-shouted vocals).

Frownland has four more tracks from four more bands. Cornershop (another band everyone's probably familiar with), Lid (who I don't think are the same band who had a single out on Quixotic about 3 or 4 years ago), and Kooky Monster could vaguely be described as indie-pop, but with extra quirkiness that makes them sound nothing like the bland, so-called 'indie' bands the mainstream kids seem to like so much. There's also The K-Stars, who are more punk.

There's also four tracks on Tous-Ar-Fit. John Sims is not a solo artist but a five-piece band who play an odd mixture of pop, trip-hop, spacerock and who knows what else. This is another band featuring Gary Gilchrist, who is/was in PO!, Super Eight, The Freed Unit and The Blue Smarties. Kevin Hewick is, however, a solo artist, who appears here with a minimal guitar-based ballad. Moon Equipped's track also starts off as a minimal guitar-based ballad, but then some spacey/atmospheric keyboards come in, and some percussion comes in near the end, changing the overall mood of the song. Slinky's contribution to this EP is a 70s-ish, glam-ish type thing. These last three tracks are less quirky than most stuff on Sorted, but none of them are bland.

I reviewed The Freed Unit's album, Field Reports From Out-There, a couple of issues ago. They have a new single out now, Getting Used To Not Fitting In. The first track is quirky pop with chiming/plinky-plonky and spacey keyboards, the second track is more guitar based and sounds slightly nearer to their former band Super Eight. (That's the Super Eight who had singles out on Fluff, Rutland and Orgasm, not to be confused with the other two bands with the same name). Neither of these tracks appear on Field Reports From Out-There, and this single is limited to 300 copies, so get a copy before it sells out! Also available are 7"s by Lid, Kooky Monster, Performance and Gonzo Salvage Company, and tapes by Teenage Lust and Fish From Tahiti. I haven't heard any of these yet but if the other releases are anything to go by, they should be good.

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