Various Artists

Featuring: Andrew Chalk, Nord, Hijokaidan, Small Cruel Party, Aube, Putrefier, Macronympha, Chop Shop

condition (disc/cover): NM / NM

A second-selection compilation on Artware Production, the long-running German imprint that had served since the Nineties as one of the European industrial scene's most reliable distributors of Japanese noise, Italian power-electronics, and German post-industrial material. The "dedication" concept suggests a tribute-volume format (Artware compiled several such thematic compilations across the decade); the "zweite Auslese" indicates this is the second of a series, drawing artists and tracks from the Artware orbit into a curated statement.

Compilations of this kind served specific functions in the Nineties underground. They introduced new or peripheral artists alongside established names, provided revenue streams for small imprints, and documented the actual working network of the scene in a way that individual artist releases could not. Artware's house aesthetic (austere typography, consistent CD-era packaging, a deliberate absence of conventional music-industry marketing materials) fits the record exactly.