Based on So Many Things' cover image, Eddy Current Suppression Ring doesn’t shy away from clutter, and the unflinching contents of this double album of singles, B-sides, and other miscellanea confirm it. It even sounds messy (in a good way, mostly), particularly on the title track, which opens the collection with a song off the band’s very first release, a lumbering, mumbled breakup rant that hides a smirk underneath its scowl. While many of these songs emphasize the first part of Eddy Current Suppression Ring's rough-and-ready approach to a point where they blur together, there are also plenty of standouts. The cover of the Pagans' “Boy, Can I Dance Good” adds just enough minor-key sweetness to its angsty thrashing to evoke the Buzzcocks' earliest days; conversely, their take on the Go-Go’s' “We Got the Beat” strips away any sugar to reveal a yelping, pummeling beast of a song. Several tracks, including “Demon’s Demands" and “Through the Trees,” foreshadow the more elongated, Krautrock-inspired direction the band took on its third album, Rush to Relax, while “Wet Cement”’s relentless drone recalls Wire at their most intellectual and “Noise in My Head” could be the product of an especially deranged Yardbirds. Given that So Many Things spans seven years’ worth of songs and ideas, it’s no wonder that it sounds scattered and even slipshod at times, especially compared to Eddy Current Suppression Ring's full-fledged albums. However, coming from such a take-it-or-leave-it band, most Eddy Current fans will take it gladly. ~ Heather Phares