DJ ALISHA RECORD REVISIT: Land of the Loops - Bundle of Joy

Hey Friend,

I'm gonna start a weekly exercise on here... a project if you will, and I need your help.

Here's what I'm doing- Picking a record I own that I haven't listened to in years and re-review it!

How you can help- Comment on what album you think I should review next. I'll leave you three choices and whichever gets the most votes, I'll revisit for the following Friday.

My personal rules laid out for myself- No google, you don't want to hear me try and sound "super smart" by "regurging" other peoples' thoughts on the album. I will only write about what I remember about the record/artist and how the songs make me feel. I can read the liner notes in the cd to get album info. Also, I want to post a song so you can hear what the album sounds like, so I may use youtube or another source to post audio. I might also use google images to add a little pizzazz to the entry.

One last thing- Beware, I may accidentally post "incorrect" info about a band members name or somethin', so if I do, feel free to correct me in the comments area on this blog entry. I'm trying to use the filofax of musical information in my head and not rely on the internetzzzz.

<3

Sound good? Okay, let's begin!

VITAL STATS-

Artist: Land of the Loops

Album: Bundle of
Joy Label: Up Records
Year: 1996

What I remember about Land of the Loops... I think Alan Sutherland is the guy behind this project and if I remember correctly, he has a Denver connection. Maybe with Robert from The Apples in Stereo?! His albums are weaved together by using "found" audio like cassettes from thrift stores which help to tell a story/ compliment a song.

I found out about them via an old roommate who owned this record. When I heard him play it over dinner one night, I knew I needed it too. Why I own this album... the song "Multi-Family Garage Sale (Bargain Bin Mix)." I have played this song so much over the last ten years. It has even landed on many a mixtape that I've made.

Now, its time to listen to the record. I can see why I liked it back then, but now I feel like there's too many audio clips that its a little distracting for me. I find myself just wanting pop songs without the added recording that takes away from the songs. It still holds up with a few good/great songs and the clips are are cleverly put together.

As I listen to this, I'm making connections in my head. Its starting to sound very "late-90s" to me. In a great way. Its putting me back where I was musically at this time in my teens and reminding me why I liked and still like this genre. I liked it because its lo-fi, but well produced enough to be listen-able. It honored the Casio keyboard, it used samples of clips from filmstrips 'n stuff that you would never encounter otherwise. It has cute girl vocals. This album actually really reminds me of Bran Van 3000 and their album Glee. I used to LOVE that album too.

I liked this music because it was a quirky and poppy retreat away from the rock and crybaby stuff I loved equally as much back then like Modest Mouse and Radiohead. Looking back, I think it was good for me to not be immersed into the rock all the time... Land of the Loops was like listening to Erasure, but I didn't need to get up and dance to it if I didn't want to. It was enough to put me in a happy place, but I could do my homework to this album.

Overall, this isn't a 5-star record on a mass scale, but at the time it was for me. I would say that if there were mp3s for download ten years ago (a la iTunes Store), I maybe would have just bought the "Multi-Family Garage Sale..." song, but I'm glad I own the whole album, because I was able to discover a cool concept album with more than one great song on it.

Notable songs/tracks:
-I Confess
-Growing Concern
-Burning Clutch (Five-Speed Dub)
-Heidi Cakes
...and here's my jam, "Multi-Family Garage Sale (Bargain Bin Mix)." But wait! Before you press play, I just want to ask you not to watch the video. Close your eyes or have another window open. Its clearly a fan video as it doesn't appear that there was an official music video and it may ruin the listening experience.

EDIT: I'm now on my second listen of the record and I like it even better than the first listen. I kind of want to listen to Bran Van now.

This concludes my first Record Revisit, what'd you think? Will you help me sustain this segment by voting for next week's record?

VOTE FOR NEXT WEEK'S RECORD REVISIT- 1)Jurassic 5 - Quality Control 2)Sixteen Horsepower - Low Estate 3)Ween - Pure Guava

BTW: I chose these records at random by looking up at a lonely pile of cds on a really tall shelf in my office. I can't even tell you the last time I've listened to any of these as a whole.

MAKE SURE TO ADD A COMMENT BELOW AND VOTE FOR NEXT WEEK'S RECORD REVISIT!

Thank you,