BEN VARIAN “Quiet Fill” (Plastic Response)

This is some real nice pop music. Back to roots pop music. Timeless. The instruments couple, part and coalesce in fabulous little (big!) melodies and Ben’s voice sounds so nice when he sings about the things he sings about. Singing about the little things. The special things. Oranges, money, coffee, moldy things, digital things, tattoos, sports, computers, chopping wood, the details of an American life. The production is wonderful. I’m gonna listen to this tape lots and lots and probs put some of these songs on mixtapes that I make for people who hate music to turn their minds around and show them that music can be fun and thoughtful and kind and not all about sadness and serious things. But this is serious music. Super serious. It’s too good not to take seriously. Groovin’ on a melody then the melody changes and suddenly you are transformed into another realm of musical possibilities and you stay there for a minute and then you go somewhere else, somewhere better, but you still miss where you just were, and then you go back for a second, but only a second, then you go somewhere else again and you are glad that you are in the new place and you want to stay in that new place and let yourself be overtaken and you become overtaken and it is a miracle. Ben is a miracle. A gift from the gods. This is good music, fine and happy but really it’s not all that happy, it just makes you happy to hear this kind of music and this kind of music is one of a kind. I bet Ben would make a good boyfriend.

https://plasticresponserecords.bandcamp.com/album/quiet-fill


-Ricky Lemonseed

BEN VARIAN "Part of the Y’all" (MJMJ)

A slimmed-down version of the paunchy skipper we’ve all known has moved his crew from yacht to dinghy. He attributes his agility to his recent weight loss, and uses it to advance kawaii. The Steely Youth spends most of his time in the “cafe,” a corner in the back-of-house where he takes his coffee standing, bugging the head chef and prep cooks with his quaint observations and weird sense of humor. Yesterday, his second mate was startled to find him at the wheel, dressed as a furry, blowing bubbles out of a plastic novelty pipe.

“Capitano, where is your uniform?”
“In my cabin. Thought I could use a sea change.”
“But, capitano, what if the others sea you like this?”
“Junior, it’ll be our little seacret.”
“OK. I’ll hasten down the wind and close the blinds.”

“Yes. Sea to it. Thank you.”

Low morale corroded the minds of the highly esteemed crew. They had been lost at sea for months, and, consequently, were a little cracked. Not one of them expected to see land again. They would stay the course. Lunacy and heavy ribbing became the name of the game as their aimless water-wanderings became lifestyle. Klepto’s trenchcoat. Scissors cutting cigars and coattails. Spaghetti hat. Candelabra helmets. Floral drag and falsetto. Silk scarves waving “yoo-hoo.” The shocking gum trick. Peroxide in the shampoo. Snakes in the shaker. Alien on the autopsy table. Urine in the soap dispenser. Turds mixed in with the meatballs. Was this a Marx Bros. gag or a respectable crew? Just another ship of fools…

They only turned the cameras on during moments of leisure—at the “cafe,” so to speak. We never saw them doing any real work. The more waving scarves, the higher the ratings. What started as potentially twee, turned and went madcap. It took a few seasons to earn their wings.

https://mjmjrecords.bandcamp.com

-- Rick Weaver