Right. So, this cat sends me a record to check out but, says that I’m not going to like it. Plastic Willow is a one-man-show, but a lot more (even a one-mic record)! In the introduction to Lunar Pulse, I was told, “people love it or hate it.” And that he really didn’t care if I wrote it up, but just wanted an honest opinion.

Here it is, an honest opinion:

This is one of the craziest collections of music I have heard in a long time (stretch that “long” out for a few seconds). The artist warned me of this, and mentioned intentionally low-fi sounds. When I say this one is “crazy,” that’s a good – really good – crazy!

If I had to classify it, perhaps alternative space punk. So many nods (intentional, or not) to the old school bands, like The Velvet Underground, Echo and The Bunnymen, and a long list of others make for a fantastic trip-through a maze of completely different songs.

Lo-fi Hi-fi, I don’t know. I don’t think I’ve ever been sent such an interesting one-man project. The dude did a great job capturing every sound and mood he was after. The effects and instrumental sounds are all over the map, the vocal treatments vary throughout, but always remind that you are listening to the same artist.

For a record that comes out of a different left field every few minutes, this one flows in an imaginative way that keeps me listening over and again. I would love to have the lyric sheets, to help me catch on a little faster.

Some of the topics and lines are rather dark and almost disturbing. I usually don’t really cotton to that kind of lyric, but there again comes that factor of “interest.” This is emotional music. He holds absolutely nothing back. Then he mixes it with wild abandon much like the producers of some of the greatest records ever would. I’ll not mention the names, but those with ears and tastes like mine will know immediately.

Jarring and spikey to waves of lush textures with just the right amount of over-the-top treatments to envelope the listener without overwhelming. Lookit, ok, the dude practically told me his goal was to make a record that was hard to listen to. Ok, man, you failed, totally, one-hunnert-percent (100% lemme be a southerner for a moment). I’m in spin number 10 or so, now and I’ll be running it again and again.

So, yeah… with it’s waves and spikes and totally twisted weirdness, “Lunar Pulse” is going in my top 10 of the year list. Thanks Plastic Willow.