Music Review: "Indoor Picnic Music" - Various Artists

Nettwerk's iTunes-only compilation, "Indoor Picnic Music", is a grab-bag of indie's best-kept secrets. It's a mix-and-match of all those artists that don't make it to those arbitrary lists of "big in (this year)" but really, really should. This collection, which compiles fifteen of Nettwerk's finest indie acts, is available for just £3.16 ($3.99 in the US) on iTunes - frankly, beyond a bargain. It'd be worth that if just a third of the tracks were worthy listens. Thankfully, however, the hit-to-miss ratio is far more favourable than that.

The set opens, perhaps unsurprisingly, with the label's best-known act, the Barenaked Ladies. Present here is the acoustic version of "Easy", a ballad from their stellar 2006 "Barenaked Ladies Are Me". It's a solid start, but I'd gravitate towards the original if asked to choose one version over the other; it was never an all-out rocker but the acoustic version here lacks the electric punch of the "Are Me " cut.

The remainder of the compilation's tracks are presented in their original form; a wise decision, given the obvious intention of the set to serve as a taster designed to provoke listeners to delve into the back catalogues of the array of artists on display here.

It's certainly successful in that respect; every track here is immediately likeable, and there are few forgettable songs - from the Sixpence None The Richer-esque "Angel Tonight" by Leigh Nash, to "The Guy That Says Goodbye To You Is Out Of His Mind" by the Sufjan Stevens-inspired Griffin House, every melody is memorable, every .

While the set is firmly grounded in the indie subset of popular music, there's still a fair range of music here. Old Crow Medicine Show are fine representatives of the country set; Matt Wertz checks in with Geoff Byrd-style power pop and The Weepies' "Gotta Have You" fulfills the compilation's "lovelorn ballad" quota.

Conjure One's "Extraordinary Way" is perhaps the standout track from the collection, a vaguely hypnotic pop-trance tune vaguely reminiscent of Sia's "Breathe Me". But choosing the high point of such a consistent album is an impossible task; each and every track is a winner. There is no real sense of depth, challenge or profundity here. But that is not necessary. This is not a Captain Beefheart concept album; it's a collection of songs. And in that sense, the set cannot be faulted. For the indie-inclined, there is unlikely to be a finer "sample set" out there.

4/5

Standouts:
Conjure One - "Extraordinary Way"
Hem - "Not California"
Jars Of Clay - "Carry Me (Dead Man)"