Pile
Odds And Ends
Exploding In Sound Records [2018]
Who: Boston-based Pile please their fans with an essential compilation of their twisted, genre-defying songs.
Sound: Odds and Ends is a tidy collection of Pile songs that span 2010-2017.
TFN Final Take: It’s no secret that I am a big Pile fan. Odds and Ends does nothing to dissuade that notion. Odds and Ends is a compilation of hard to find/out of print releases, singles and tracks that just didn’t make the cut for past albums.
The album opens with 2 wonderful tracks from 2014’s Special Snowflake 7”. Track 3, “Keep the Last Light On” was from another comp, Boston Sessions Vol.1: Beast. It is a subtle and quiet track that would have fit in with 2017’s Hairshirt of Purpose.
Same could be said for the only previously unreleased track on Odds and Ends. “Cup” would be right at home on Hairshirt of Purpose. It is a nuanced and fragile piece that highlights Pile penchant for noisy blues rock. “Pigeon Song” is pure Magic Isn’t Real-era Pile. I was not familiar with this track. Seems I missed this one from a Bodies of Water compilation. It is a rocker in every sense of the word. It is followed by two more blistering tracks, “Afraid of Home” and “Scissors” from Pile’s Big Web 7”.
Pile star wrap things up with the brisk “Whistle”, from the Now Doves Fly Here comp and puts the final exclamation mark on this release by using the title track from Big Web to round close out Odds and Ends.
If you missed out on any of these past releases, this is a must own comp. Odds and Ends is a satisfying and welcome addition to the already stellar Pile discography.
Pile Website
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Exploding In Sound Records
– Reviewed by Daniel Taylor
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