Various Artists – Let’s Go Somewhere Quiet (Projecting Nothing/Invisible Records)

In the heady days of discovering that there were other people who liked those week-long Weatherall One Dove remixes just as much as you, one name stood out, the Acid Ted blog, an essential bookmark for anybody who grew up on, and never quite grew out of Boy’s Own, Guerrilla, Hard Hands etc.

It wasn’t until after three years of following Acid Ted that I realised he had another blog, this one, in which he talked about his little boy’s ultimately unsuccessful fight against a brain tumour. It’s heartbreaking. I’m a parent and there are times I’ve felt more like the unwilling father out of Eraserhead than the grinning gimp in a credit card advert, but reading what Ted had to say, well, firstly I read it through eyes divided by diamonds and fired off an email to tell him so; secondly, it put me straight on a few priorities in my own life.

Today marks the release of a compilation curated by Acid Ted, a collection inspired by what he and his family have been through, with profits going to brain tumour charities. Let’s Go Somewhere Quiet: A Compilation For Hope is a mix of ‘raucous dance, delicate house, acoustic indie and downtempo chill’, and it comes with the stamp of one of the internet’s most reliable selectors. Beginning with the sublimely fried thump of Crystal Castles’ producer Alex Zelenka, through the cinematic breaks of Coventry’s QTheSuit, the album also ventures into more reflective, folksy pastures. Given the context, Stylusboy’s A Song For Noah, with the lyric ‘every time I look upon those eyes, I say thank you for your life’ is truly shattering. Oh, and just in case you were wondering where the Acid be at, well, you’ll find it present and correct in Larry Jefferson’s Welcome, a 303 workout straight from some vault in Chicago, locked there since 1986.

According to AT, the album’s intent is to ‘heal the soul’, to take you on a rollercoaster – the pain of hurt through to the blistering joy of being alive. Well, it does that. With humour and idiosyncrasy and without ever bludgeoning you with the sheer emotional wallop of the project, it does that brilliantly.

Of course, Acid Ted has blogged about it today, here, so what remains to be said is that all the artists have given their tracks free, all profits go to brain tumour charities in the USA and UK: http://braintumourtrust.co.uk/ – http://www.cbtf.org/, and that the compilation is available on Available to buy on iTunes and Juno. And in the meantime, here’s that Acid joint.

http://soundcloud.com/pausemusicmix/10-larry-jefferson-welcome

Benji & CeriSuss, Quad – Audio Eargasm 01 (AER01)

Love this long time. On what will hopefully be a new netlabel, Audio Eargasm, Benji303 has curated two full-on acid tracks. The A-side, Untitled (Benji’s Live Acid Mix), is one of those unashamedly Nineties-sounding tracks where the kick sits back and the acid lines slowly develop. Ravey horns join the fray on but this is all about that 303. I prefer the B-side, Razor Wire by Quad (aka Benji303, Nesbit, Kas and Owen Acid, with production by Jared Blyth) not because it’s the superior tune, it’s not, but because it fits better with what else is around at the moment, with tougher, more intricately patterned drums, and more obvious section changes and breaks.

Get it from: Audio Eargasm at Bandcamp

A.P, Josh Inc., Bonz, Graham Acidic, OB1, MK303 – CDJ303 03 EP (CDJ303)

Conspiracy by AP & Josh Inc. kicks off the EP with two acid lines that tussle and scratch like fat lady wrestlers, before another one joins them and things get real messy. Meanwhile in the background a sampled John F Kennedy talks about being opposed to secrecy and secret societies. I used to love it when Acid Techno felt like a political force as well as a party on plastic, and this is a return to those happy, happy days, when hangovers only lasted till Wednesday.

What’s to love on No Idea by Bonz & Josh Inc.? Everything. The lowness, the fatness of the riff, not to mention some effects that remind me of playing GoldenEye on the N64. Along comes more acid, more fatness. It’s one of those tracks that if it was a dog would be a big rabid one. This, ladies and gentleman, is the sound in Cujo’s head when he’s lying in the yard waiting to maul Donna and Tad to death*. Oh and then, joy of joys, a classic Marky Mark moment from The Departed. My favourite of the EP.

Get Ready by Graham Acidic & OB1 shimmies into view and it’s time for your acid-line workout here. As ever where OB1’s involved, the 303 is tweaked and manipulated to perfection. It soars, it swirls, it fizzes like an over-carbonated bottle of Soda Stream ready to shower the kitchen in a sticky residue of something that’s supposed to taste like Coca Cola.

‘A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having’ begins Acid Revolution by MK303, as a sprightly kick lays foundation on which multiple, old skooly acid lines build and screech and bicker and whine. If I say this’ll put you in mind of The Rabbit’s Name Was then you’ll know we mean that as the highest praise it is possible to confer upon a tune. And that’s before a positively stunning breakdown and squirly climax.

*Interesting fact: Donny Pintauro, who played Tad in the film, now sells Tupperware.

Get it from: CDJ303