JJAAXXNN is really annoying to type, and originally I
planned on griping about how tricky spellings and all-caps hijinks separate
artists from the boots-on-ground, blood-in-teeth real world. But then I
listened to the tape and realized that JJAAXXNN (still, sigh) isn't
interested in the real world at all. The solo work of Josh Bruner, formerly of
Californian hypno-psych desert-wanderers Magic Leaves, Space Case is a breezy
collection of mellow-yellow synth pop that wafts around freely like a plastic
bag in the wind, tethered tangentially to a group of voices that sing with all
the slit-eyed conviction of a slacker sex/death cult. There's a
shoulder-shrugging chintz to the sound on this tape, like Bruner lifted his gear
from a low-rent wedding band, but figures you'll be too entranced by his washes
of reverb-y haze-pop to notice the '89 Casio stock drum beats. And mostly you
are. By the time you hit the B-side – all dubs, all the time – you'll be
floating effortlessly in the dirty bathwater of your soul. And for $7.00 a pop,
that's a much cheaper ride than a
weekend-long Xanax jag.
- Ken McIntyre
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