DISCLAIMER: The following reviews were NOT written by the creator of this website. The views expressed herein are those of Johnny Barlas, who is responsible for the music reviews on this little corner of the internet. So any problems you have with them, contact him not me. Ok? Ok. Well, now that we got that out of the way...
Let's get started then!
Minor Update: it seems that Barl-ass has forgotten his duties. He will be tortured and executed, ofcourse. Check back soon for all the gory details.
25/06/2004
First of all I'd like to tell tchalikias to can go fuck himself (for his beautiful comments). Now, on to the review (alas, censorship strikes again):
If you 're somehow involved in american alternative rock/acoustic/folk/noise with a touch of music box and jingles or if you 're interested in dying, but are too optimistic to do it yourself, go buy this fucking record.
P.S. 1: Mr. E's (the singer and brain behind this band) sister committed suicide and his mother died of cancer just before he started work on this album.
P.S. 2: Tchalikias, you asshole, everyone's out to get you mutherfuker!!! (That's Beck by the way, from "Mellow Gold", an excellent album). I'll make sure you get seriously crippled in the immediate future
(tchalikias: whoa, now I really feel insulted! Hahahaha, gonna have to try harder than that mr. Barlas!!! Anyway, keep the reviews comin'.)
23/06/2004
Jim O'Rourke - I'm Happy And I'm Singing And A 1,2,3,4
Life is not a steady single line, progressing along and changing every day towards something different. It is the sum of infinite lines interfering with one another, resulting in different images, sounds and feelings each and every moment that goes by, no matter how "samey" some moments might look.
This record is an acoustic meditation on thoughts such as the above. If you 're looking for melody as most people conceive of it, don't even bother. But if you think that you can find beauty and momentary bliss in something that lasts for one second and is overlapped in the next second by something else, go for it. This album is the work of Jim O'Rourke, who is well known for his solo projects on electronic/laptop music (such as this very one), music concrete, as well as collaborations with Christian Fennesz, Nobukazu Takemura and Sonic Youth. The label, Mego, is worth checking out for anyone involved in this kind of music.
While not really accesible to a large (or even medium, for that matter) audience, O'Rourke has given us one of the most beautiful and emotional albums electronic avant-garde has ever seen.
The Barl-o-meter Speaks: 9/10
(tchalikias: I just love that opening paragraph on that first review. Whoa dude, like, very philosophical... I wonder, did he read that somewhere? Or did he really think up this cliched POS? Oh, I'm just being bad... Mr. Barlas, thanks for your review and keep 'em comin'!!!)
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