-valis Pick of the Week

Hail Voyagers! Apologies for the delay in posting but I'm having a devil of a time with this "war for browser ascent." (IE9 sucks; and Google's Chrome -per research, just runs background utilities constantly. I need neither yet they want a decision.) Anyway, our Pick of the Week hails from Portland. Portland, Maine. It's one-man, with help from (a lot of) friends, Jeff Beam.

Jeff's new album, Be Your Own Mirror, is self-described as "kaleidoscope sounds," and he's right. By half. For a home recording, if we're being honest, there are some who are more adept at getting the sounds right AND capturing said sounds. In other words, we hear what he wants us to. More difficult to do than to write. (I'm once again reminded of what for me is a pinnacle of home-recorded albums: Local Honey by The General Store. And stylistically these two aren't that far apart either, less the overall sadness which wrought the album by Tam Johnstone. Jeff's "Now" could fit on Local Honey.) "Lo-fi" may be bandied about a bit too much of late, with what seems to me an incongruous definition. This, in my earholes, is anything but. Full, rich, wide-screened: "kaleidoscopic" indeed. Jeff Beam's the smart guy in the room among all the many home-recorders. Listen to "Existentially Speaking" and tell me that'd be outta' place on The White Album. It's actually an embarrassment of riches that compels multiple listens just for the sheer joy of the craftsmanship. And don't get me started on "Hospital Patience." This is the kind of musician we celebrate and encourage at Trip Inside This House. My sincere applause. You can listen to the archived stream here; or, hear it this Friday, on The Dead Man's Turn Me On, Dead Man show on Live365, where it's heard every Friday at noon eastern time, as well as Mr. Atavist's Sunrise Ocean Bender show, heard every Friday from 3 to 6am eastern, on WRIR in Richmond, VA.