Although in the top this states this compilation came to me in a CDR, it should be noted that this is actually a free download available at newweirdaustralia.com. This group is determined to put out a different compilation every two months to showcase the alternative scene of Australia. Kudos to anyone who is willing to get into the endeavor and gather unreleased songs for eleven of the sixteen tracks from bands all over the spectrum.

Compilations are a crapshoot for the maker of the disc and the consumer, there’s always going to be something that gets to you and always something that makes you wish you could make like a tree and split. NWA Vol. 2 goes from the very Radiohead inspired work of Ghoul, minimalist compositions of William Gardiner, the lush dream pop of Broken Chip to the plunderphonics of Cock Safari.

Overall there is a heavy electro bent to these tunes and they seem to waver in the indie rock realm. Which makes it harder and harder to tell things apart after many tracks in a row.

Standouts include the feedback heavy drone of Transmissions, Sam Price’s polyrhythm proto-industrial sounds, the slow minimalist synth crawl of Panoptique Electrical and the kitchen sink weirdness chants of Splendid Friends. 6/10 -- Andrew Murdock Livingston (3 November, 2009)