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Andy's Airport of Love are a bit of a Rack & Ruin phenomena, a guy that records tracks in his bedroom, who teased us all with a demo release last year.... and then went quiet. Well he has now arrived at Rack & Ruin, and with him comes little over seven minutes of pure blissful pop music.

It may seem strange to state that this album contains a few of his 'hits', namely - Bike Riding Fantasy, with it's Calvin Johnson type vocals, and the dreamy repetition of The Sonoran Desert Is Your Favorite Desert In North America, whose track title is seemingly much longer than the one minute, nineteen seconds which the audio accompanies.

For those who know the music already, then don't despair as there are new tracks for you to fall instantly in love with. Downtown Grocery Store features vocals by Alyssa Roberts, and sounds like a track that most twee pop bands will have wished that they had written.

Cissura is a genus of moth in the family Arctiidae, it is also another of Rack & Ruins "Wiki EPs". The process behind creating a wiki EP is to hit the random article button in Wikipedia, and then go away and create a beautiful blissful indiepop record. Simple really.

The Macadamia Brothers previous Rack & Ruin release may still contain the same keyboards, guitars, recorders, (and handclaps) that are present in this release, but Cissura is a lot less poppier than the previous release. That isn't to say this isn't a pop record - it is just less obviously so. There is definitely a lazy warm feel to the record, sort of like you'd expect to hear on a Jon Brion soundtrack, or some cute independent movie, perhaps set in a French cafe.

After it first appeared in February 2008 on a little known internet forum, Scott Milligan would have had no idea that this EP would end up being released by Canadian record label, Old Life Records, and if you are really lucky you may be able to grab a real physical copy before they are all gone.

Back in March 2008, future Rack & Ruin idol Sam Golden came to visit the HQ whilst traisping around Europe. Amongst the usual travel goods that you would expect to see, Sam brought with him a ukulele that he had picked up cheap from a market store in Spain. Whilst here, he sat on the sofa and strummed away, whilst concocting another future hit. To this day, Sam Golden was the token Rack & Ruin ukelele guy.

Step forward Dean Engle, ukulele in hand, from Poughkeepsie, New York. Sharing similar youthful charm as the aforementioned Sam, he also shares a skill at writing quickfire heartfelt pop songs, that barely breach the one or two minute mark.

This album was recorded between September 30th and October 2nd, 2008 with the help of Tamas Vilaghy and Mackenzie Hoffman.

This two track offering is the latest release from Minnesota's TASRU. The brainchild behind this project, a certain Thomas O'Neill Grathwol said that he didn't want to wait for an entire album to be ready before putting something new out on Rack & Ruin... and boy are we thankful!

If the title track "Grapefruit Gun" is anything to go by, then his as-yet-untitled next album is going to be one to look out for! The distinctive TASRU qualities are still there, obscure film dialogue, foot tapping beats, and a tune that will stick in your head, and have you whistling along to in no time. The "B side" is a tweaked out remix of a new song called "The Stranger".

Grathwol's DIY ethic is still there in abundance, however, these two tracks seem to have the polish to take them to a newer level. A recent review likened his previous offering "An F in Health" to an early Baby Bird record, which did seem to be a fitting description to that album. "An F in Health" was full of ideas, outtakes, and was a precursor for what was to come. Well, what was waiting in the wings has now arrived.

After a brief review on the popular blog, You Aint No Picasso, the interest in Jason the Swamps slow beats, lazy strumming, and lo-fi ethics seemed to grow overnight. With its spacious layers, the self titled album expands on what came before, with spectacular results.

The album willingly glides through Panda Bear pop with plinky plonk keyboard arrangements, to tunes that wouldn't look out of place on a Paul Simon record, all that is missing is the African choir. Although, with the layers upon layers, you often get the feel that they are actually present!

This self titled release also features Robby Massey (dessktop) supplying xylophone at the end of I Can Live Again, and Jessi Lively sings backing vocals on the gorgeous final track, There Was Light, which helps crystalise Jason the Swamps position, as producing some of the finest lo-fi pop around.

Minneapolis Minnesota is a split release by Moon Runners and Kevlar Klein.

Though not technically a R&R band, Kevlar Klein is the perfect duo of Lewis Peterson and Kevin Ashcraft. Lewis takes his spoken word career to a new level by creating a keyboard with the alphabet superimposed on the keys. The music is based on repetition and is created by spelling out song titles on the keys. It's like beat poetry or something.

This is the second R&R release for Moon Runners. Jake Jones and Danny Natter. Featuring the trance pop hit Wolf Shirt, the doom metal/thrash smash Baby Brontosaurus, the punk rock/metal crossover chart topper Thomas Geofferson, and the improvised first-take adaptation of the Kevlar Klein success, Minneapolis Minnesota.

The Moon Runners full length album was almost finished but all the recordings got destroyed in a freak harddrive failure accident. The band has since re-started work on the album and will probably finish it in Spring 2009.

Like fellow compatriot, who goes by the recording name of Kixly, Pam's first Rack & Ruin offering, "the destroyed hands in the blue eyes", has elements of electronica, ambient, shoegaze, sound manipulation and experimentation. Combining together to produce a fine display of fractured soundscapes.

The opening track on the EP, leads me to imagine Lullatone being forcefed a diet of MBV for three months solid, with its playful retro childlike keyboards, tarred with distant echoes of disort.

As the EP continues at breakneck pace, it is filled with enthralling cinematic compositions, entwined with solid drum beats, dynamic feedback, static, and noise. "the destroyed hands in the blue eyes" truly is a combined orgy of sound, full with often playful tunes, but unafraid of darker atmospheric pieces.

With Our Eyes on the Road, We Wish We Could Stay Dreaming supports a sound almost entirely separate to that of Magnavox's previous release, Naptsud. In his second release, Magnavox sets out to prove himself that he can still make interesting music without touching a sampler, relying on more hollistic forms of experimenting. The result is an album noticeably darker, with an instrumentation comprised of no more than a bass guitar, a molding piano in desperate need of a tuning, a cheap drum machine running on AA batteries, and a few miscellaneous percussive instruments ranging from pots and pans to dented globes of the planet earth. The album was made using almost entirely anologue methods, the only exceptions including a few digital effects applied to vocals and the use of a white-noise generator on the opening track. While the bulk of the release consists of material written ages ago that never really got recorded until now, it is noteworthy that the EP's final track exists as the earliest surviving recording by Magnavox, stemming back to winter of 2006.

In summary, With Our Eyes on the Road... is not about what appeals to the ears, but rather what appeals to the soul.

In April 2008, little I did I know that this little project, which was initially going to be merely a storage area for friends work, was going to have such an impact on myself, and those linked with Rack & Ruin.

Our 100th release is what some may deem a "Best Of..", but it is more of a selection of what we have to offer. The variety of music styles that encapsulates the Rack & Ruin ethic are all on display here. These tracks were either tracks which came from our most downloaded artists, or were suggested by the listeners of Rack & Ruin.

The opening tracks are a real testament of what variation we have on our roster. With Harold Nono's soft, enthralling ambience which draws you further in with every second, to America Del Sur's rough and ready surf rock, and then on to the warm, delicate tones of the artists formerly known as Ringo Starr.

As with every new release, it wouldn't be the same without a previously unavailable track, and that comes from one of Canadas finest, The Macadamia Brothers, who has produced one of his finest tracks to date - (So) Into You, which you *will* be humming along to over the Xmas period!

So, that's our first 100. Thanks to all involved, and to your hard work, and effort, and thank YOU for reading this, and supporting Rack & Ruin.

Full list - Harold Nono - Lightbox (taken from RRR062 - Hateful and Hollow), America Del Sur - 80s Surf Rock Revival (taken from RRR064 - America Del Sur), *** - Washington (taken from RRR067 - Soul Tide), Slothbear - The Exceptional Bastards (taken from RRR082 - Slothbear EP), Dublin Duck Dispensary - Bible Stories (taken from RRR081 - Luanqibazao), Tropical Australian Stinger Research Unit - Misery Commercial (taken from RRR009 - Ex Stinger EP), Jason the Swamp - Running Around (taken from RRR008 - Mice in the Mouse Organ), The Macadamia Brothers - (So) Into You (previously unreleased), Light Aircraft on Fire - Laser Eyes Rides The Unicorn (taken from RRR053 - Of Your Beautiful Eye Dripping Blue), Dean Angel - Caterpillar (taken from RRR079 - Crusader of Fruits Island EP), Campfire Fight - Owls (taken from RRR044 - Campfire Fight), Elm - Eye to Eye (taken from RRR066 - Changeling), The If People Were Paper - Sky Bacteria (taken from RRR078 - Soul Beast), Chimney Fish - God Out Of A Machine (taken from RRR061 - Drown, Sailor, Drown!), Drums for Giants - attack (taken from RRR070 - good luck foot), Keep away from heat... - We survived under the sea (taken from RRR068 - POS3p EP)