A budget-priced collection of tracks by artists who've had releases out on Fourth Dimension Records or whose music has entered the label's orbit and made a good impression. In an ideal world there'd be at least several albums by all concerned on Fourth Dimension Records, but the label operates from more or less the same dingy old basement it always has and subsequently has to limp along in usual fashion. It is precisely because of this that 'An Oblique Reference to Zeros' has been assembled. The music always comes first and because Fourth Dimension Records does not focus on one particular area of music and instead works with a broad range of artists, the idea of bringing a number of them together on a compilation so that listeners can check out the previously unfamiliar made a lot of sense. Almost all of the tracks here are previously unreleased, remixes or recorded exclusively for this compilation, too. Packaged in a 6-panel digipak including stunning artwork by Puppy38 and a booklet with text even pointing to what inspired the title, this is an ideal purchase for anybody whose interests in music dovetail with Fourth Dimension's. And, no, the title had nothing to do with Eno!

Artists include: Kleistwahr, Sudden Infant, Hand & Leg, Mad Masks, MAP 71, Alternative TV, Splintered, Hiroshimabend, Tabata Mitsuru, Richard Youngs, JFK + Klaska, Philippe Petit, Schrottersburg, White Pee, Helm, EXTNDDNTWRK, Zsolt Sores, Theme, Band Of Pain, Contrastate, Mahler Haze, Sion Orgon and Gad Whip. The 2CD is deliberately low priced to encourage people to try something new on a format that, despite what's said by the detractors, still has plenty of life in it.