JEPANDDEP, THEY’VE BEEN CALLED (2017)
It’s funny how it can go sometimes. I had heard of JEPANDDEP and certainly know Darren Cross from his music over many projects (bands, solo and this duo, the odd side-project too). He’s a talented guy. But I couldn’t get into this album when presented with the files. I received a link, gave it a listen, and kept walking out of the room to do anything else. But then, I was given a copy of the record and I sat captivated. What had changed? It wasn’t just the format. My mood too. Had my mood changed because of the format? Well probably not quite – but there’s something in it. This is not to say that people should send vinyl if they want a fair hearing, it’s more to say that in the bustle of a day now the link gets lost – it’s always there and never there. I simply wasn’t listening – but when gifted with the chance to sit still and play something, to flip it over and play the other side, as is the way, and as is the wont, well – I dunno what I’m trying to say…I’m aware at best this comes across like a plea for free vinyl, at worst it comes over as lazy and rude. The truth is most of the music I review these days arrives via a link or via something I find – I seek out. I’ll return to this album now to write more about it – in the more standard review form. But I just had to list it here, include it in the countdown – it’s as if suddenly I could hear it; could hear what other people were hearing, could see how the rave-reviews/mentions had piled up. I couldn’t hear that previously. And all I can put it down to is choosing to not find the time. A bad crime in my line of work. But then it’s not exactly work anymore. A passion project, and sometimes the passion wavers eh…
Sample Track: Helpless City
The Vinyl Countdown is a document of every LP I listen to, brand new discoveries and old-old favourites; extremely pre-loved, previously abandoned or with the shrink-wrap having just been removed it’s all here at The Vinyl Countdown