Chicagojazzen - Brachiosaurus (Native Parts, 2009)

Chicagojazzen - Side A (Shaolins 140 nävar / Synthpop / Stadium IV / Burträsk / Kallt stål / Skotta isgrotta / PZ / Ulmer & Per / Benny har inga ögon / Doris Kiosk / Jag har inga pengar)


Chicagojazzen is not from Chicago. Chicagojazzen does not sound "jazzen." Just forget everything you thought you knew about this guy 'cause you have no fucking idea.

Brachiosaurus is a crazily charming record that will probably, at the very least, make you bob your head and tap your foot a bit. Even though it's just one guy, Erik Karlsson, there's still this artsy collaboration feel to it. Like a bunch of friends got together in their old preschool classroom and made bizarre pop music with whatever they could find. And by necessity, it ended up sounding completely lo-fi and blown out, as if they didn't have any real recording equipment and the instruments they used were busted to begin with.

I'm totally digging everything on this record. There's all sorts of synths, real and fake drum beats, ukuleles, records scratching, hand claps, movie sound bites, ghostly harmonies, tambourines, xylophones, and pretty much anything else you can imagine. The best part is it never sounds like a mess. It's 100% cohesive and keeps your attention for the whole hour.

Somehow Chicagojazzen made a tape that is, like, 10 times better than most of the other tapes I own. And this coming from some dude I'd previously never heard of. You guys better get on this quick, as there's only 60 copies of Brachiosaurus. As far as I know, Native Parts might be the only place you can get one for now but trust me, it's worth it even with the exchange rate.