What's a Listening Log? Well, the idea is quite simple. It's a weekly segment that consolidates all the mini-reviews Dozens Of Donuts has given on RateYourMusic over the past week, split between the Past and Present. A straightforward grading scale has been put in place, ranging from A+ to F-, with C acting as the baseline average. There is no set amount of reviews per week, just however many I get around to reviewing. And don't expect week-of reviews. I wait one month - with at least three listens under my belt - before I rate and review an album. Enjoy!
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2010 | Chillwave | Listen
WHO BROUGHT STROBE LIGHTS TO THE LŪʻAU?
For nine years, Jet Set Siempre No. 1 was the only album attributed to the enigmatic Dance duo known as Clive Tanaka y Su Orquesta. Pre-Sunrise Authority would come around in 2019 - and is currently in my backlog awaiting an eager listen - but for a decade in time, Jet Set reenvisioned the past while accommodating a future. This is a fun, funky, and leisurely Dance record, the kind that causes you - at its cheesiest - to scurry off to a private island for some well-deserved R&R. It could never reach mainstream prominence (though it should), for the ancestors that induce Jet Set's existence - French Disco, Nu-Disco, and Downtempo - have all but been abandoned, ever since Daft Punk retreated into the recesses and emerged Pop-driven, feature-heavy curators.
Numerous comparisons to Daft Punk have emerged, and while they're accurate, it doesn't go beyond the first two tracks. See, Jet Set follows the linear trajectory of a summertime party, after-party, and ensuing simmer, kickstarting the record with upbeat, irresistible Tropical House that tricks listeners into moving all their appendages through rhythmic, vacillating grooves. 'All Night, All Right' is so over-the-top, nearly reaching the sardonic party nature of LMFAO, with its vocoder vocals, trivial lyrics, and demanding percussion. It is hilarious and intoxicating. 'I Want (You So Bad)' doesn't fair as well, overstaying its welcome while taking an all-too sensual and serious approach to lyrics that are even more insignificant. Measures are swiftly righted on 'Neu Chicago,' arguably Jet Set's best track and the one that finds the least amount of equal. With a decidedly tropical vibe, 'Neu Chicago' is a pleasure to the ears, with its crashing waves and comely, autotuned vocals. It's mature margarita music, growing in such satisfying ways when the female vocalist joins in the duet.
Wisely, given what could've been a stale and sleazy LP, Clive Tanaka switches up the tonality for a second half that's focused less on House rhythms and more on Downtempo amour. Many will prefer the first half, including myself, but there's enough mellow beauty here to round out Jet Set nicely. The instrumental 'International Heartbreaker' provides steel drums and a tepid vibration much akin to Mint Royale, especially their epic 'At The River.' Closer 'Lonely For The High Scrapers' returns the vocoder for a night on the beach with nothing more than a lover and some calm seas, bearing resemblance to some of Handsomeboy Technique's tempered, ecstasy-driven Electronica, like 'Affections.' These two make Jet Set's second half just as satiating as the first, rounding out a broad, consistent, and potent Dance record for the ages.
B+
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1998 | Lo-Fi Indie | Listen
A RADIANT SUN CAPTURED ON THE FAMILY VHS CAMERA
Part of the momentous Elephant Six collective in the 1990's, The Gerbils were one of many that flew under the radar of their bigger brethren; of Montreal, Beulah, Olivia Tremor Control, and more. However, The Gerbils have a significant connection to the collective's most's everlasting project, Neutral Milk Hotel, as Scott Spillane and Jeremy Barnes joined Jeff Magnum for their now-legendary two album run. In fact, Are You Sleepy? released a mere five months after In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, hauling over the magnetic Lo-Fi Indie aesthetic rife with booming instruments and vulnerable vocals. Of course it doesn't reach the heights of Neutral Milk Hotel, but the modest and often times playful Psychedelic Pop melodies The Gerbils are able to vivify help Are You Sleepy? amuse to delightful levels.
It's also a tad inconsistent, as The Gerbils delicately tightrope on the balancing wire of Noise Pop, incorporating the clamor whimsically as seen on 'Is She Fiona,' while souring ill-suited clunkiness like on 'Ted Doesn't Mind.' It's all rich in aesthetic - excluding the totally unnecessary Field Recording dissection caught dead center on 'Wet Host' - as The Gerbils seamlessly bridge the gap between numerous 90's Alternative music scenes, including Twee Pop a la Beat Happening ('Sunshine Soul'), Lo-Fi Indie a la Guided By Voices ('Fluid'), and even early, Grunge-influenced Smashing Pumpkins circa Gish ('Lead'). All this prancing about does cause Are You Sleepy? to lack a certain imperative, coherent quality much of The Elephant Six's records had, since each song treats its allotted time like a bubble they're unable to leave and uneager to allow in. Still, on a song-by-song basis a rather fun, quirky, and innocuous LP that captures the tonality of The Elephant Six's Lo-Fi movement quite apropos.
B-
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2019 | Field Recordings | Listen
AN EXOTIC ARCHIPELAGO UNTOUCHED BY HUMAN HANDS
And the quest for meritable Ambient continues. It's a genre I'm perpetually fascinated by, yet rarely impressed with. On the surface, Andrew Pekler's Sounds From Phantom Islands seemed promising. Why? It devoted itself to Ambient's most important facet; concept. Without it, total insignificance tapered around aimless, arbitrary parameters amounting to nothing in particular. Because it so concerns itself with inaccessible island life, Phantom Islands can't be accused of triviality, fully engrossing itself in the topic at hand. Unfortunately, Pekler leaves little to the imagination, doubling down on verity with minimal mystery, reusing countless textural assets over the course of Phantom Islands' ten songs. It's a bore to engage with, and a chore to endure.
In terms of devoting itself to a scenic aesthetic, Phantom Islands has numerous equals. Whether it's The KLF's exceptional Chill Out that toured America's southeast, Lilien Rosarian's A Day In Bel Bruit that recreated a future society rebuilding with only their essentials, or Brian Eno's complete Ambient series (Music For Airports, On Land, Apollo, you name it), there's plenty of comparative points - successful ones, might I add - that equate visual scenery to an inviting musical environment. Phantom Islands isn't one of those, providing almost nonexistent variety or growth, while having the audacity to don each track with a specific island identity, in spite of the objectionable parallelism across the board. In fact, the most notable aspect of Pekler's project is the detailed, history-laden map where one can tour the islands featured, further cultivating his commitment to the location. Still, in a musical sense, Phantom Islands is devoid of any such satisfaction. No songs standout, nor intend to, apart from potentially 'Description Of Rain' which sounds almost Vaporwave-esque, akin to 2 8 1 4.
For more interesting, provocative takes on remote island life I'd suggest Brian Eno and David Byrne's collaboration My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts, The Caretaker's side project High Altitude Over Our Little Grass Shack In Kealakekua under the pseudonym Alien Porno Midgets, or even Joe Meek's forward-thinking landmark I Hear A New World, though the later focuses on extraterrestrial life with the same undiscovered panache.
F+
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1999 | Chamber Pop | Listen
BREATHING IN THE REGENERATIVE POWERS OF A HIDDEN OASIS
Another lovely Elephant 6-related record to add to the collection. While The Essex Green stray from the Lo-Fi aesthetic many of their labelmates, like Neutral Milk Hotel, early of Montreal, and The Gerbils attest to, the warm embrace of 60's revisionist psychedelia is as pronounced and as bountiful as ever. This really feels like a continuation of The Kinks' communal visage laid out on the Village Green Preservation Society, seen most prominently on the title track that glides with effervescent desires. Like a commune of white robe-draped, earthbound idealists concerned not with the hindrances of the outside world, only the peace and prosperity that emerges in their paradise. Everything Is Green is prime summer music, for the times when there's not a care in the world.
While there's plenty of special moments that aggrandizes the heart, and a select few that fail to conform ('Saturday,' 'Big Green Tree,' 'Sun'), Everything Is Green's most perceptible calling card is, regrettably, the palpable influence it draws from legendary acts and contemporary ones alike. In terms of relative 90's acts basking in the artistic beatitude of the genre, Yo La Tengo's fickly nature appears on tracks like 'Mrs. Bean' and 'Tinker,' while Mercury Rev's rainbow Chamber Pop emerges on 'Green' and Jim O'Rourke's temporal American Primitivism builds with majesty on 'Sixties.' Mind you, all of these endeavors are executed with care, polish, and affection, allowing Everything Is Green - released at the tail end of the decade - to be quite a circumferential trip around psychedelic music of the 90's. Elsewhere, Velvet Underground spark the elongated journey on 'Tinker,' Bob Dylan's aspirant Contemporary Folk closes out matters on 'Carbello,' and The Beatles' gentle touch can essentially be felt everywhere.
Everything Is Green really is a lovely album flush with variegated color and prose, strafing between reflective Indie Folk and quirky Indie Pop at a moment's notice, never faltering in devotion or brash verve. Oh, and given the nature of Indie music some twenty years onwards, it hasn't aged a day. An extra bonus that'll allow The Essex Green's debut to flourish for years to come.
B
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1983 | Noise Rock | Listen
SPITTING VULGARITIES AT SUNDAY SERVICE
For years I've known the Butthole Surfers only by name, gaining prominence in the 80's and 90's with that scatological pseudonym and the probable indecency that fills their music. And what do you know, with their 1983 debut EP, that assertion wasn't just proven right, it was consumed wholeheartedly. Butthole Surfers is one of those projects that can be entirely deduced by reading and comprehending the track titles and affiliating genres. Substance and surprise, this EP has not. If you're one for trivial humor that relies heavily on shock n' awe, while steading itself with a dose of self-awareness akin to Beavis & Butthead, Butthole Surfers will be for you.
While I like no song here, excluding the momentous and barbarous 'Something' which is nearly double the length of anything else thank god, I'm not opposed to this vicious, depraved, atonal brand of Noise Rock. No Wave certainly plays a helping hand in the dissonance, as I'm reminded of Contortions' Buy with tracks like 'Bar-B-Q Pope' and 'The Revenge Of Anus Presley,' while tumultuous Punk - even by the standards of that rowdy genre - emerge on 'The Shah Sleeps In Lee Harvey's Grave' and 'Hey.' Given the year of release, 1983, Butthole Surfers' unabashed immaturity and insolence can, ironically enough, be praised for kickstarting a wave of anti-socialite behavior whose thread weaves all the way through to the mid-2000's Emo movement.
D
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