yeah, even if there's a few legit high points on the jerskin fendrix disc, there's too much just aimless nonsense that accomplishes nothing besides weirdness for the sake of it to justify repeated listens. 

there's plenty reason here to keep an eye on him for later, though.

so, i gave this a listen, and while i can't say i got much out of it, it's not due to a lack of familiarity with the source material - what's curious about this is the act of hearing somebody piece together cliches out of genres that normally don't go anywhere near each other. these sorts of mixes are often stable, but i suspect this is just too weird, and i'm left with another ween or tom waits or tricky drop or something - something that works better on paper than in real life.

i mean, winterreise almost reminds me of right said fred, and when you strip it down, that's where this really exists - it's just purposefully odd, without succeeding in being profound. and, it's sort of half-assed attempt to be profound just makes it more weird.

there's a place for weird, sure. but, let's not get confused - there's not interesting music or worthwhile songwriting underneath the gimmickry. maybe there might be, eventually. for right now, it's just weird...and you can enjoy that or recoil against it however you choose to....

https://jerskinfendrix.bandcamp.com/album/winterreise

so, yeah - this is awful in a certain sense, but it's a decent rock record in another. it's a bit past it's best before, but i'm a 90s kid, and i'm always going to have a soft spot for 90s rock, of which this quite clearly is. it's dynamic enough that they keep it interesting, even if it's....

i mentioned it was awful, and it's the cheese that is the concern, but this is so longstanding. self-consciously absurd acts like ween aside, there's plenty of music by more serious acts like sonic youth that is just chuckle-worthy at this stage, and never intended to be. but, i don't know if i want to tell them to exploit the cheese or throw it away, and i don't know if there's a right answer, at a point so late into the rock era as this. even people five years younger than me are going to be prone to interpret this sort of thing as a novelty act, and maybe that's ok.

in a strong year, i wouldn't put it in a best of list - unless that year starts with 198 or 199. but, it's enjoyable enough. and, it would be worth a beer, i'm sure.

we'll see where they go with it, but i'd like to hear them take it up a notch in profundity and intensity - it's a little too frivolous, a little too light.

https://them-airs.bandcamp.com/album/union-suit-xl