Official chronicles of the Seattle grunge scene usually revolve around the winners: Sub Pop, Nirvana & co tend to dominate. But there's another story to explore, and this compilation of the era's "forgotten sounds" concentrates on it. The bands on display here were also gigging and recording in the American northwest from 1986 to 1997; while not as high-profile as some others, they made splashes of their own. The story dovetails with the main Seattle narrative in that all bands feature musicians who shared the stage with Nirvana at some time, while many of those featured went onto greater things. The noise these outsiders made as they blended punk and metal into new shapes is still quite enticing. Stand-outs are the sass of Kill Sybil's Best, the bolshie Woodstock Unvisisted from Crunchbird; and The Ones, with Jack Endino on bass, hitting a charming garage-rock high with Talk To Me. souljazzrecords.co.uk