Various Artists - Alley of the Sun (2024)

Raise a glass to 20 years of Not Not Fun with their 400th (!!!) release, a sublime cross-section of sidelong psych, lower case club music and new new age ambient by a constellation of alumni and affiliates who all chime with the sound.

For two decades NNF has been a reliable source of lysergic sauce from the peripheries and blind spots of the 3rd eye, weathering multiple vibe shifts and playing instrumental roles in movements such as vaporware, lo-fi house (both on main and sister label 100% Silk), and knew age ambient. We’ve long marvelled at their constant stream of releases, replete with great press releases that reflect the label’s none-too-selfserious approach to surfing the waves of underground, popular-adjacent musics. ‘Alley of the Sun’ epitomises their tenacity and tastes with 16 morsels that give newcomers a bird’s eye view of their sun-kissed soundscape and jog memories of those who’ve followed them thus far, or picked up along the way from whatever junction, thumbing up along their endless highway.

Old faithfuls, X.Y.R., and Robedoor - aka label co-founders Alex & Britt Brown w/ M. Geddes Gengras - bookend the set with a prologue of pseudo-Amazonian ambient made on old Soviet synths, and a sky-razing, 12’ drone rock excursion, respectively, that ideally characterise the label’s aesthetic contrasts and mutualities. Between those poles they refract the spangled imagination across multiple dimensions spanning Frunk29’s lo-fi echoes of Silver Apples in ‘Journey In Search of the Holy Gray’, the scuzzy Skaters-esque psych gauze of ‘Headlights in Rearview’ by New Mexican Stargazers, and onwards, ever outwards, thru a lilting psych-rock beauty ‘On Love’ from White Poppy, to smudged boogie sleaze by Essential Key, thru David Eden’s imaginative new age synth planes, the BoC-like nostalgic wow and flutter of Golden Hallway Music, and effervescent 4th world infusions of of Vague Imaginaires, with a really piquant twist of synth magic in ‘Flesh Tectonics’ by Severed+Said.

Tracklist:
1-1. X. Y. R - Wind Chimes Voices (07:54)
1-2. Frunk29 - Journey In Seach Of The Holy Gray (04:37)
1-3. sip - Grand Avenue (03:21)
1-4. New Mexican Stargazers - Headlights In Rearview (06:59)
1-5. White Poppy - On Love (04:31)
1-6. Essential Key - Cold City (03:29)
1-7. UNKNOWN ME - Mirage Of Ocean (04:38)
1-8. Magnétophonique - V50 Tone Transfer (01:23)
1-9. David Edren - Vienya (03:17)
1-10. Andra Ljos - Silver Wings And A Drop Of Blood (06:01)
1-11. Wave Temples - Side Quest (06:39)
1-12. Golden Hallway Music - Evening Sky People (Yaman Dream) (06:46)
1-13. Vague Imaginaires - VI: La Corniche (09:32)
1-14. Filthy Huns - Bleached Skull In The Desert Moonlight (05:18)
1-15. Severed+Said - Flesh Tectonics (05:26)
1-16. Robedoor - Drainage (12:48)