Indie and Lo-Fi music reviews

this album is not for the weak hearted. it will challenge your every being, and for this reason i categorize it as one of the best albums i've ever heard. if i could afford to, i would hand it out on the streets along with a copy of salinger's franny and zooey.

This wonderfully titled compilation is to the lo-fi home-taping scene of the 1990's what the "Nuggets" collections were to the psychedelic garage band scene of the 1960's. Boasting 25 diverse offerings by some of the best midwestern bedroom rockers you've probably never heard, this project for Ohio-based Anyway Records turns out to be one of the best mix tapes you'll ever have on CD. All recorded on home 4-track or 8-track machines, the songs are obscure cuts and exclusive to this disc. Despite the tape hiss and occasional distortion, the songwriting is infectious. The artists include a few Guided By Voices alumni (Robert Pollard, Tobin Sprout, Earnest), members of the Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments (Ted Hattemer, Ron House), and 3/4 of Moviola (Scotty Tobachnik, Jake Housh, and Ted Hattemer again). There's also a smattering of solo folks like Simon Joyner, Bill Fox and Jenny Mae. A couple non-midwestern guests show up as well, including Dump (Jim McNew of Yo La Tengo). This pleasing release belongs in the collection of anyone who appreciates the craft of home taping and the artists who practice it.

John Davis' "I'll Burn EP" is pure, experimental fun. The title track is a catchy (if somewhat esoteric) pop ditty that may scare you at first, but soon aurally ensnares and leaves you hooked into the subsequent songs. This tiny gem of a CD is like a day-trip touring a musical mind: the acoustic guitar squeaks and creaks while haunting keyboards sing like birds and John whispers and woos in a pensive falsetto. After winding down the backroads of this brief and quirky venture it seems rather obvious that, beyond his brilliance, John Davis is the epitome of original. A fusion of folk-sensibility with a hip lo-fi aesthetic, the "I'll Burn EP" is definitely worth the investment.

If you dig this and want some more: "Blue Mountains" by John Davis, Anything by The Folk Implosion (esp. "Dare to be Surprised" and "One Part Lullaby").

John Davis' "I'll Burn EP" is pure, experimental fun. The title track is a catchy (if somewhat esoteric) pop ditty that may scare you at first, but soon aurally ensnares and leaves you hooked into the subsequent songs. This tiny gem of a CD is like a day-trip touring a musical mind: the acoustic guitar squeaks and creaks while haunting keyboards sing like birds and John whispers and woos in a pensive falsetto. After winding down the backroads of this brief and quirky venture it seems rather obvious that, beyond his brilliance, John Davis is the epitome of original. A fusion of folk-sensibility with a hip lo-fi aesthetic, the "I'll Burn EP" is definitely worth the investment.

If you dig this and want some more: "Blue Mountains" by John Davis, Anything by The Folk Implosion (esp. "Dare to be Surprised" and "One Part Lullaby").

One of the things I love most about In Hospitalable is how it ricochets between different tempos, textures and moods.

Sure the washes of noise guitar and trebly effects are constant throughout much of the album. But they still mix it up with electronic warbling, blips-and-bleeps, looping and other textures ("Geiger Water Deep," "0, Minus 16, Minus 3, 0," "Footstands"), and even an organ on one track ("Skiving in Mono").

My favorite tracks are the most energetic and upbeat ones:

There's the laid-back and playful songs about slacking around with friends -- "My Incident Free Life," "Is This is Rad?" and the like...

...and then there's the catchy, grinding, percussive cuts like "Hep Boys (Into Krautrock)," "Buffalo Bill Haircut," "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous," that somehow keep their structure intact behind the layers of tinny, scratchy guitar noise...

...punctuated by the infectious energy of angular, spastically propulsive tracks like "Ransack the Misfits" and "Mess."

And the slower, more introspective pieces, like "Skiving in Mono," "0, Minus 16, Minus 3, 0" and "Fracture," offer nice interludes between the thrashier tracks.

But don't let my verbose review put you off -- Beatnik Filmstars don't take themselves too seriously and they sound like they're having a hell of a lot of fun on this album.

If you like noisy, sloppy, oblique indie rock then you'll like Beatnik Filmstars.

The much underated Beatnik Filmstars pulled all the tricks from their bag with this one. "In Hospitable" takes you for a ride through Dayton, Ohio with their own version of "Motor Away" by Guided By Voices.( except for different lyrics) to there homeland of jolly olde England with their splendid song "It's a Nice Place for a Holiday". Thier sarcasm of American culture in "Buffalo Bill Style Haircut" gives this album 5 stars automatically.

Step into the nebulous and beautiful mindscape created by John Dragonetti as you listen to this incredible collection of early 4-track recordings. This is the first full length release from Jack Drag - lo-fi pop perfection coupled with galactic guitar work - definitely not to be missed.

Matthew Ebel has great insight into the life of faith for such a young artist. How can he know what I feel? His "Crossroads" reaches into the swirling darkness of doubt and brings the listener into the Light. In "A Rock to Lead the Way", Matthew backs his lyrics (about the difficulties of making it in this world alone) to an easy Latin rhythm. "Jesse", his lead track, works on many level, and brings a familiar story into an up to the minute, newsy format.

His piano and voice hit with power and conviction - he believes what he writes, plays and sings! The instrumental, "Captain Kaern's Theme", will return to your mind over and over after the first hearing. And "My Little Corner" is one of the most honest and endearing love songs written about a very important day in a couple's life.

If you like the music of the late Keith Green, Rich Mullins, or Pop Christian artists like Michael W. Smith, you need to give this emerging artist a try. "Life's Been Good" is his debut album, put out as an independant release. Here's hoping we hear lots more from this powerful and inspired young talent!

In one word, AWESOME. I own the cd and can't stop listening to it. It's funny, it's rockin', it'll even make you cry. Everyone should get a copy of this debut cd for their collection. The melodic harmonies accompanied by the mesmerising musicianship is awe inspiring for any listener of music.

Is it me or does anyone else feel like Feist is an Esthero rip-off? She is trying to copy Esthero's vocal style! Esthero is an original, often imitated but never duplicated. Feist fans....if you haven't heard of Esthero, take a listen and you will see what I mean.

Refreshingly different. There are a couple of songs that seem out of place in the mix of the cd. Overall, I like it a lot!

Feist is Canada's best-kept secret. Not since Bet.E & Stef (another Canadian gem) have I experienced a line-up of songs so utterly listenable and ambient. It's weird because I quickly grew extremely tired of that whole "songstress trip-hop" scene (Everything But The Girl, Morcheeba, Portishead etc.) that peaked in the mid-90s, yet this album is bringing me back to when I was just introduced to that genre, when I was like "hmm the production is tight and... ooh dang this woman's voice is incredible... me likey a lot." Feist's voice has that powerful haunting presence that women like Everything's Tracey Thorn and Portishead's Beth Gibbons had - the kind of organic sound that, in the trip hop scene, was appreciated for its juxtaposition with the synths, blips and buzzes. The plus side on Let It Die is that Feist's voice by no means compensates for redundant electronica, as the production is equally outstanding. I'm reminded of so many different styles adopted in so many great albums that never grow tired for me. Listening to 'One Evening' and 'Leisure Suite' remind me of the bossa nova of Beck's 'Mutations' and 'Guero'; the uplifting folk edge to 'Mushaboom' and 'Secret Heart' remind me of the folkier side of Finley Quayes's 'Maverick a Strike'; the molasses-thick funk of 'Inside and Out', a BeeGees cover, would make Jamiroquai proud; the solemn operatic tracks like 'Let It Die' and 'Lonely Lonely' are reminiscent of a melodramatic Jeff Buckley or Rufus Wainwright.

Having listed all those greats, all those artists whose music is among the most listenable and enriching music I have encountered, Feist is unquestionably one of my favorite best kept secrets. I would say that this is so because she is a near-perfect culmination of all my favorite musicians of the last decade. Her voice is commanding yet soft and sweet - similar to the trip hop songstresses who came and went; the production is deep, rich and never uninteresting - similar to the ever-enigmatic Beck or Finely Quaye. And last, her single "Inside and Out" is the funkiest jam I've laid my paws on since "Canned Heat", and that's never a bad thing. So bottom line is that this album is virtually flawless: with the best of both worlds - a great voice and suberb tunes - it's a crime not to own this album.

The Wesley Willis Fiasco has a much different sound than Wesley Willis solo recordings. The solo albums have a simple pre-programmed keyboard sound. The Fiasco recordings are done with a full band, so they have a fuller sound. The band plays in a hard rock style. But Wesley still sounds the same, and his songs still have the same structure. This CD features some live performances by the Wesley Willis Fiasco. They sound good, if a bit sloppy at times. One of the amusing things here is listening to the things that Wesley says to the audience between songs. I won't repeat any of his lines, because most of them are rather vulgar. Fans of Wesley should dig this CD. I should also mention that there is an unlisted bonus track here, which is another live version of "The Bar is Closed", recorded live at The Wetlands in New York City. Wesley goes into an extended dialogue after the song.

this is just plain great. I mean, wow. Byt far this fat mans best. If u suck u will love it

hes homeless idiot