Do me a favor, will ya? Imagine a spindly, skeletal home-recorded version of Grandaddy's "Crystal Lake." How does it sound? Is there room for this image with all the kiddie porn clogging your memory banks? I jest, I jest, Mr. Glitter, we all know how YOU are; pervert.... Ok, now if you weren't too offended by the Glitter remark to move on with this experiment (and if you were, you're definitely just being defensive about your sick, sick ways, you sicko), conjure an old Pinback ditty like b-side "Clemenceau" and reconfigure it as the soundtrack to Atari 2600's infamous version of Video Pinball -- the game so archaic they actually made a point to specify it as ‘Video' pinball. Yes, the result is technologically obsolete, but also not without a modicum of charm.
Lastly, smoooooooooooooooooooosh the two circumstantially created songs together and you have Harm's The Blue Globes, a modest debut from folks who get the most out of their limited toys. It's like those rugrats down the road -- my sibs and I, in fact – whose parents couldn't afford to subscribe to cable or buy Nintendo: they find a way to keep themselves entertained, creating small, intricate worlds in their sandbox and playing doctor with the neighbor's daughter. Whoops; coulda done without that revelation. But my point is, though you might never understand the joy in their non-TV activities, every once in a while, a trip to their house is just what you need to stem the redundancy of day after day of wretched, soggy life. Oh, you didn't know life is wretched and soggy? Well, sorry to ruin it for you; I DID send out a press release.
So, while you may not chart a course to Harm's Blue Globes that often, its humble aims and pleasant jumble of indie, electronic, bedroom-pop, and so forth will keep you engrossed when you decide to take the trip; not senior-citizen-doing-daily-crossword-with-reading-glasses-and-warm-glass-of-skim-milk engrossed, but child-turning-over-rocks-looking-for-bugs engrossed, two very different degrees of fascination. Extra points awarded for the passable vocals, which, unlike the cross-eyed rantings of so many home-recording schlockmeisters [Bianchi, you're a nice guy but I'm casting a sideways glance in your direction while plotting how to best smite you], aren't a big detractor, though they certainly aren't overflowing with zest. Score another point for Casio, the white-trashey alternative to...newer Casios!
1. Beneath the Lamps
2. Colonel Bloom
3. Forced Century
4. Our Eyes are On Europe
5. There's Never a Moonlight Night
More about: Harm
