LOOPOOL “Spells” (JK Tapes)

Life-wanderer Jean-Paul Garnier farms out another five-song riddle of computery drones, flamboyant spoken word, and creepy instrumentation for some unclear purpose. I keep trying to pay attention to the music but the abysmal quality of the J-card/insert is so xxxtreme as to be hypnotic. Not only does the collage look like it was thrown together in about 3 seconds on Photoshop using low-res images snagged from a lazy Google search, but the whole thing was printed so pixilated and blurry that you can barely read the generic Courier New font/text. Add to this the fact that the insert is mis-cut so you can’t read the last 3 words of every line AND the center labels are bubbled and tearing cause of excess watercoloring on them and you have a truly & unambiguously ugly object on yr plate. I gladly recognize that many individuals do not share my neuroses regarding proper-resolution printing and carefully executed packaging, but within my own worldview it’s crucial, which makes this CS a disaster. One of the few releases I’ve ever heard in my life that I’d rather own as a download (I guess).