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 Short Reviews of the CD's Currently Scattered On My Desk At Home by jamie flam My desk is all fucked these days. Hardly conducive to "work" or "leisure," making it ultimately useless. But it does have one important function: it is single-handedly providing the fodder for this here article you are reading. How? By being the temporary home to random compact discs that will be refiled (read: shoved in with my other CD's) as soon as I get off my lazy ass for once and do something productive. So yeah, here are some CD's that happen to be on my desk, and what I think about them. 
Jim O'Rourke Halfway To A Threeway EP There are only four songs on this EP, but they are all a large slice of heaven. Two understated acoustic ditties, and one not-so-understated 7 minutesish or so multi-part instrumental and heavily orchestrated super jam. The change-ups'll make you shiver n' glow. In the good kind of shiver n ' glow way. And the cover and backcover feature close-ups of these super cute plush frog and teddy dolls that will melt your heart. If any children are ever in my room, which is highly doubtful, but not out of the realm of possibility, they may enjoy seeing the disc on my scattered desk because of it's cute design. I think they will like the music too. It's that hot. 
Elliot Smith Roman Candle I think this album is probably the least recognized Elliot Smith record. It is his first, and it's unfortunate that it sometimes gets lost in the shuffle, because it's so pretty and so honest and in my opinion, his best record. "Last Call" is a sing in the car at the top of your lungs because the world can be sad type of song, but since its been on my desk, I've sung it pretty loud in my room, but only when the roommates aren't home. 
My Bloody Valentine Loveless This album is at the top of every "Best Albums Of The 90's" List. Rightfully so, as it was one of the best albums of the 90's. But what about one of the best albums of the 80's? That's right. Wasn't out yet. But if it HAD come out, well, then we'd have a conversation on our hands. Anyways, there are like 20 sites that have better reviews than I could write, so I will let you google your way to those. If you see words like "layered," "shoegazer," "texturalizationized," and a few others that look kinda ok in a review but you would never hear anyone actually use in conversation, you are in the right place. That said, I will leave my review to two important points: 1. Loveless is an awesome album. 2. Loveless is currently sitting on my scattered desk at home. 
Eeels Daisies of the Galaxy I think the Eels are a highly underrated band. Actually it's more like one guy named E who writes and orchestrates beautiful pop music about love and life and loss and big themes like that and has a few friends come in and play instruments from time to time. You may want to research that though. This album seems to keep within the theme of mending a broken heart, some songs coming from an optimistic perspective and others with more of a coming to terms perspective. It's good. And it's darling artwork make it a pleasure to have as a small cog in the pipes that are the love that is my life that is my scattered desk. 
Yo La Tengo Danelectro EP This EP is one song remixed a bunch of times. That song: Danelectro. I think it's named after a guitar that was put out by Fender a long time ago. Or maybe it's its own brand. I just don't know, or have the energy to research. I do know that it has remixes by Kit Clayton, Nobukazu Takemura, and MC Q-Unique of the Arsonists. They are all mellow, and instrumental, save for the robotic bleeps and samples in the final version. Which, incidentally, are fucking sweet. Go get it. Or steal mine. It will probably take me a while to notice as it is currently scattered somewhere on my desk. 
Starving Artists Crew Up Pops The Sac I am actually reviewing this record for a different publication, so it is on my desk for a good reason. I've listened to it once and it's pretty standard hip-hop fare. Kinda like a white Jurassic Five from Detroit. But without Cut Chemist if you catch my drift. It has grow-on-me potential, though, so peep the next edition of MESH Magazine for a more thorough review. Word.* 
Ween White Pepper An old roommate turned me on to these guys a few years back. Now I have a couple of their albums. One of which, White Pepper, currently sits on my scattered desk. But you already knew that. This album, like their others, runs the gamut of genres, but somehow maintains consistently fresh. What does that mean, exactly? Good question. And frankly, one I don't feel prepared to answer right now. Yes, I am useless. 
Neil Hamburger 50 States 50 Laughs Neil Hamburger is a comedian. You must see him in person to really appreciate his lounge-style zinger-punchline style routine, but if you must insist on listening to him in album form first, I highly recommend that you do not listen to 50 States 50 Laughs. It's a one joke affair that goes on way too long. As you might guess from the title, he has one joke for every state in the union known as The United States of America. Some are funny, most are not. You'll laugh for the first 5 minutes, though, which is worth something, and who knows, maybe you'll laugh more than that! You see, I am not you, and you are not me, so who am I to say that you won't like it? See what I mean? 
American Analog Set From Our Living Room To Yours Another great album sitting on my desk. I think these guys are from Austin. Austin is supposedly a very hip town. I want to go there sometime. Perhaps see American Analog Set live. It will be all neat because they will be playing for their hometown crowd, who will be especially appreciative for their hometown boys. In turn, I will be especially appreciative because I get to see them play amongst the people that made them who they are today, which is especially thrilling. Anyways, this album is super good. Layed back guitar and organ laden rock tunes that would probably provide a good soundtrack for some movie about someone trying to figure some stuff out in their life and they live in the Midwest and by the end of the movie the person grows. Kinda like every movie ever, but the whole Midwest backdrop really vibes it out in a special way that say, Miami Beach couldn't do. So, what have we learned from the collection of CD's that are lying on my desk? Well, for one, I need to clean my room, or at least my desk. We've learned that this random sampling of my music collection consists of all white artists, which is neither her nor there, but worthy of mention. We've learned that I have mastered the art of sharing as little actually usable information as possible in a review of an album. And perhaps most importantly, we've learned that I can like, totally be myself with the readers of lunchboxing, because we are like, a family, or whatever. Thank you. * I didn't end up reviewing it for MESH magazine afterall, but they did print this, which you may enjoy! |
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