Eschewing the usual criteria of chart success or acknowledged influence,
the Copendium -- a collection of album reviews and themed track
samplers -- takes energy, originality and heaviness as its bearings. The
result is a feast of obscure and neglected masterworks that together
form a surprising but entirely credible new tradition. Krautrock,
motorik and post-punk, stoner and doom metal, occasionally even jazz,
spoken word and hair metal: they are all represented in a wholly
persuasive sequence.
Cope is the perfect guide to this novel terrain: impeccably informed,
passionate, insightful and deeply funny. Copendium is his re-imagining
of a useful canon of popular music, and it is set to become required
reading.