Saturday, July 28, 2007

Too Much Sleep (1989)

Another brief and intense infatuation, revisiting this now after so much time I suppose I have to concede that Bongwater is a bit of an acquired taste. Pairing a wannabe downtown NYC artiste (Kramer of Shimmy Disc) with a wannabe movie star (you would likely recognize Ann Magnuson's face, if not her name) produced a strange, messy, oddly alluring, often caustically hilarious studio-bound performance art act. It actually worked. I think most aficionados preferred the earlier, more ambitious Double Bummer, while the last of their four albums, The Power of Pussy, may be their best known, such as it is. But I like this one best. Everything about it plain sneaks up on you and so, loath as I am to pass along such advice (even more to get it), I suggest listening to this a few times before giving up on it. What may sound at first disorganized, meandering, sketchy, or pointlessly self-indulgent comes to cohere in impressive, even amazing ways.

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