In the top 50 universities for academic achievement Brookes may be, but recently it did rather badly in a table for musical achievement, having launched only Jonny Greenwood to fame and fortune. A little unfair really since it has indirectly given us the likes of The Egg and Beaker. Perhaps this extensive compendium of current Brookes acts, produced by the student music society, will help launch a few new stars. Or maybe a few more people should be concentrating a little harder on their studies.

As is ever the case with these compilations, ‘The MOB CD’ is a right old mixed bag, but it does serve to suggest that Brookes is the central breeding ground for singer/songwriters of the old school. In this category we find the likes of Larry whose ‘Fade To Grey’ is sadly not a cover of the old Visage classic but a torturous dirge with little resemblance to any kind of a song whatsoever, although we swear we heard someone sneezing violently halfway through. Joining Larry in acoustic hell are the truly appalling Demyan who is maybe attempting some a cappella soul but sounds like an old drunk recreating some forgotten dirge through his nose whilst standing far too close to the microphone. On the toilet, obviously. Even worse is Monkey Wah Wah who proudly eschew stereo recording techniques or any musical ability whatsoever. Old corpses groan miserably, chains rattle and in the distance you can just make out a heard of elephants dying in extreme pain. Fantastic.

It’s not all terrible: Music To Sleep To do trip-hop in sultry, smoky style while Ben Hanke’s spaced-out ‘Space Probe’ wins through on the back of its sheer Pink Floyd-level pomposity. Much of the best stuff here is loosely bracketed in the dance category. Cybertrax do both primitive acid-techno and dark, bassy trance, sample Jean Michel Jarre and are deservedly the only band to get two tracks on the album. Nico T meanwhile do cosmic house with a tune nicked from Depeche Mode’s ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’ and Quasar Twins do both eerie and high energy with their synth-led ‘Skyline’.

There’s precious little by way of traditional rock here, and while Nation manage a pleasantly hazy style of 60s psychedelic folk, Almost Unheard’s tedious MOR mush makes you thankful it’s so thin on the ground.

Most of what’s left is pretty forgettable, (Rachel Lambe’s Jewell-alike folk, Sextonburnalliance’s All About Eve-lite pop etc.) except Two Dead Dog’s kerrazy ‘rude’ ballad which is both puerile and misogynistic, but that’s what you get with what is essentially a chance for everyone to get their three minutes of exposure. Can’t see anyone here following young Mr Greenwood to superstardom in their current guises, but who knows, one day someone here will look back on this starting point and hope to hell that nobody remembers. Champagne tends to make me forget things very quickly. You all know the address...

Sue Foreman