The Longest Day: A Quick Review Of This New Alzheimer's Association Benefit Album Featuring Algiers, New Order, Rhys Chatham, And More

Today's the day that Bandcamp is donating their sales share to a worthy charity. So if you're on Bandcamp buying stuff today, buy this compilation too as it benefits another worthy charity, and you can be supporting two causes at once. The Longest Day - A Benefit for the Alzheimer's Association, out today via Mon Amie Records, collects rare tracks from a host of artists, with the profits going to the Alzheimer's Association. If the charity doesn't entice you, let the prospect of some fantastic music draw in.

"Adelaide" by Anna Calvi is lush and beautiful, and the perfect way to kick this all off. It is, like lots of what's here, electronic music of a sort, even if numbers like "JXJ" by Daniel Avery sound less like New Wave and more like dark wave. That is a silly term, admittedly, but it gets at the appeal of lots of what's here, especially when used to describe that cut and "Goodbye Horses", a stunning collaboration between Jon Hopkins and Hayden Thorpe (Wild Beasts).

If that rarity is one big reason to buy The Longest Day - A Benefit for the Alzheimer's Association, another should be "Nothing But A Fool (Extended Mix 2)", a stellar New Order offering. A spry number, this seems one of the best things I've heard from NO in ages, especially since this version of the song opens up in a bold and bright fashion over the course of nine minutes. "Marigold" by ShadowParty is even better, doing New Order better than New Order can do New Order anymore. Featuring Phil Cunningham from a recent line-up of that band, among others, the selection is the most accessible thing here, and an absolutely cracking track. Elsewhere, Beach Slang de-construct "Under the Milky Way" by The Church successfully, while Sad13 (Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz) provides some smart indie-pop with "Who Goes There", a real gem. "Friday the 13th" from super-group Wolfmanhattan Project (Bob Bert, Mick Collins, Kid "Congo" Powers) unfurls with real bad intent, even as a neat remix from Algiers melds that band's more abrasive side with its adeptness at electronic textures.

That sense of the power of electronica, for lack of a better term, is broguht to fruition with the epic closer. "For Bob - In Memory (2014)" by Rhys Chatham is as smooth as a lake frozen over into glass. It's utterly unlike lots of what brought Chatham to fame, but it's still a bold work in its direct appeal to reveal something beautiful and austere. The whole mood of this collection rests in this track, and one can almost imagine that this was the number that caused the whole compilation to be assembled in the first place. Regardless of the stark charm here, there's more than enough throughout The Longest Day - A Benefit for the Alzheimer's Association to please an attentive listener. And more than enough reason to shell out some coin and buy this one on Bandcamp today.

The Longest Day - A Benefit for the Alzheimer's Association, out today via Mon Amie Records.

[Photo of Algiers: Christian Högstedt]