 | | Akoustik Anarkhy |
The time couldn’t be riper for a compilation of aA achievements in recent times. Of the 11 artists included on Beyond Entertainment, three (Nine Black Alps, The Longcut and The Harrisons) are currently finding fortune in stepping off the audience-crammed stage of aA and out into the spotlight of the wider musical world, while several of the others have the potential to follow them. Kicking off with Autokat’s The Driver, a tune so aptly named, it needs other no description, and closing with Yacht Club’s aA anthem, There Was A Party, Beyond Entertainment shows that sometimes it can be a good idea to run a label based on friendship, rather than making money (though it undoubtedly helps that the aA team have a good ear for a tune). Apart from the big three, whose tracks all stand-out above the rest, particularly The Harrisons’ restless and frenetic Man Of The Hour, there’s delights to be found in Soft Priest’s twisted indie skank, Patchwork Guilt; Jack Cooper’s melodic pop swooner, Love Letters; and Loose Canon’s epic punk soundscapery, Altercation. A couple of the inclusions have definitely benefited from the artists entertaining the right parties and having the right attitude for the label, not least Pierre Hall’s drippy shuffle I Know, but it’s both understandable and excusable when a label and a club night mesh so closely into one. Beyond Entertainment proves one thing and that is that six years of late nights, kitchen gigs, unstoppable energy, stage invasions and indefatigable belief in a dream have all been worth it. Long may the Anarkhy continue. | 
