Ten short pieces of lovely drone, hum, and acoustic strings by Andy Jarvis.
Very effective for the mellowin' of yer weary head. (Eddie Flowers at www.slippytown.com)
This zine is in danger of becoming an FFR/oTo sycophanticidal offshoot but what the fuck do I care? When the sounds on offer are as good as this its just a matter of putting the thing in the damned slot and sitting back to admire the scenery. Going down the same street as last issues Finnish outing from Kemialliset Ystavat this little darling of a twenty one minute CD is enough to bring tears to the eyes of a weary Wire reviewer who thought that only really great music came from people who already had back catalogues as long as your
serpent. Wake up and smell the fumes you dum fucks. Each track (there's ten) holds together like an unfeasibly fragile accomplishment that settles nervously on punters force fed jingles and drum and bass backing for adverts to Dixon cars and this weeks Cosmopolitan. The gentle multilayered strum of an old acoustic guitar that is 'twine' could be a drugged up sixty year old Nick Drake fucking about for something
to do on a windy Sunday afternoon with four strings left on his trusty old box. 'mikul's' slim guitar pluck edging out of the interwaves of a radio station like Roy Harper in a dope haze had me falling off my chair in amazimundo. One of those rare CDs that I never tire of listening to:(from Just Glittering 8)

A JARVIS: "Thread (Uproot & Scatter)" CD-R (Fencing Flatworm)

First thing to say is how short this CD is. I LOVE short CDs. One of the problems of CDs has always been that as you can fit 80 mins of music on 'em, musicians think they have to fill the whole thing with
their grim, extended wankery, under the misguided impression that this offers value for money. This CD is only 21 minutes long, which if not perfect (everyone knows the perfect length for an album is either 26 minutes for a brief frenzied encounter or 43 minutes to really explore some "themes") is just about the right length for Jarvis' beautiful, tiny vignettes. The best thing about this album is it's charming innocence. Here, I am being told about spiders and crustaceans by a cute voice. Not only is this great music, but I'm
learning too! Before you know it we're on track 4 and the loveliest, saddest acoustic guitar is caressing me. This album says lazy gray days with no TV. Cutting shapes from coloured card. It's pre-school. It's a lovely dream followed by tea and biscuits. Oh dear, I hope I'm not coming across too Belle and Sebastian here? This music does have edge! Just no sharp ones. It's warmly experimental, and .oh,
it's finished - shame. 8/10.