If You Like Benji Hughes...

The last album I unconditionally recommended, based on having played it non-stop for over a month, was Benji Hughes' A Love Extreme. Click through and I'll show you its English twin, from ten years ago.
As much as I obsessed over A Love Extreme last year, only now do I realize there was another album I responded to in exactly the same way, and it's quite clear why. Englishman Damon Gough, who records as Badly Drawn Boy, put out The Hour of Bewilderbeast in 2000 and like ALE, it's one dude pretty much by himself making a record of all the ideas in his head, putting across different song types with a similar vibe. Even down to the brief instrumental interludes like ALE. UPDATE: What I had on iTunes for Bewilderbeast was about half the tracks, and in the wrong order. The meager selection goes back to the earliest days of adding things, back when storage was at a premium. Now I see the album is overflowing with songs, 18 of them, which is another similarity with ALE.

The key here--and in ALE--is the vibe, man, the vibe, which produces an overall effect that I like to call sonic opium: pleasantly narcotizing, producing a hazy grin and and an easy, even, yet ever-so-slightly-sparkling mood . My favorite band in the whole world (nope, guess again), I See Hawks in L.A., even has a song about that : Beautiful Narcotic Place I Reside.

Not much more to say. Buy it now.
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I Strongly Recommend Benji Hughes' "A Love Extreme"

There used to be a time when you couldn't shut me up about recommending music. Then I realized most people don't give a shit what other people think about stuff, except when they shouldn't give a shit but do.

Which brings me to my new rule: I'll only recommend an album if I've listened to it non-stop for a month. Yes, that's gonna be a short list, and yes, Mr. Hughes' A Love Extreme has passed this test. Hell, it created this test.

I just thought of another rule: I actually bought this album. In a day and age when I download for free--without compunction--any and all media, if I do purchase something, then I feel compelled to recommend it.

I know, I know.  A beefy, bearded, longhaired songsmith with idiosyncratic lyrics, simple-yet-funky dance beats, and soothing ballads--obviously the icecreammang can dig it. But to the svelte, the non-hirsute, the tonsorially challenged--don't worry, you can dig it, too.

Additional info: He co-wrote a song on the Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story soundtrack (that movie is underrated, but you didn't hear it from me). Although A Love Extreme is his debut, it's a 25-song double album.

So, if you already happen to be digging it, then kudos to you.  If you listened to it once and dismissed it, then fuck you.

Normally, this is the spot where I'd put up a couple songs via Grooveshark. Not this time. I'm going to test your mettle, see what you're made of. Go buy it. Now.
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