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If Creation made Alan McGee a rich man, Poptones is sure to make him a happy one. Having complained of the commercial direction Creation had began to take in the late '90s, McGee's completely independent Poptones is a label on which he is releasing whatever he wants. And although the Cosmic Rough Riders are highly marketable, and not that unlike a Creation act, the non-pop Gnac is definitely to the contrary. (This dichotomy of pop and music of a more experimental leaning goes hand in hand with the label's philosophy.) Gnac (or easier put, the solo recordings of Mark Tranmer -- also part of fellow Poptones signing the Montgolfier Brothers), unlike the short, hard name, is music with a lightness of touch. This isn't pop or rock. Nor is it as bombastic as classical music. Tranmer's compositions are cinematic soundscapes that encompass everything from the synth-peppered feel of early-'80s European film scores through the quirky Frenchness of the incidental scoring from Delicatessen. Certainly not mass appeal material, but in an era dominated by "post- this" and "post-that," these compositions are inescapably musical, and whether played as post-club chill-out music or as Sunday morning background ambience, Tranmer's delicate tunes are truly food for the senses. In brief: beautiful, but not for the Oasis fan. ~ Jon "Mojo" Mills
