Sprawling lo-fi indie pop/rock. Velveeta Heartbreak is Michael James Bowman and this is a retrospective collection of CD-Rs and cassettes from his entire career. Funny story; he originally went by MJB until he found out Mary J Blige had assumed that title, after he started with it.

Too often lo-fi production is used to mask songwriting insecurities and lack of ideas, but here the spirit and embrace of lo-fi is pure and authentic (and necessary). Reminds me of early Sparklehorse; maybe a grit/shit-fi Yo La Tengo. Lots of well written, interesting rock and roll numbers, but also plenty of weird instrumentals and experiments. The man can write a pop tune, but he only teases us with glimpses or drowns it in tape hiss. Basically, a compelling listen now matter how you think about it. Check out the homemade art, as well.

Disc 1: (had lots of skipping problems in my car CD player, as well as on my computer)

1. Instrumental. Short, moderately atmospheric, reverbed guitar wanderings. (0:35)
*2. Psychedelic swirl around samples, thick bass, commanding drums, screeching guitars. (3:03)
3. Drum machine, soft, mellow, acoustic pop about a little green man; shifts gears with 45 seconds left to a drum freak out and weird reverser melody. (3:24)
*4. Lengthy, repetitive jam with insistence. Some nice dissonance, drum oddities, sampling, organ riffing, and a borderline ambient passage build off the frame of drum-acoustic-pop.(9:00)
5. Efficient little lo-fi pop thing; not so different than the rest of this, but not any worse. (2:35)
6. Instrumental. Quick little expand on a riff; nice. (0:47)
*7. Murky jam, with thick, buzzy guitars; weird guy comes in with loud laughing and then song shifts to a noisier electro-guitar, scifi kraut-groove; breaks down again to a more mellow, sunny day psych hum. (6:19)
8. Upbeat; almost Magnetic Fields-y in the kitchy-ness of the melody. Nice backing vocals and chunky guitars. (2:28)
9. Slower, more melancholy, floating little guitar licks over soft keys and gentle vocals; modest little guitar solo. (4:28)
10. Instrumental. Spacious guitar passage; great. (1:01)
11. Fuzzed out lead guitars, another pop tune that gets a bit psychy with the distortion and organs; more interesting as it goes along. (3:47)
12. FCCs (2 “fucks). Straight up warm pop – strut down the street, happy shit; then the lyrics are completely contrasting. (3:13)
The rest of the tracks have major skip sounds/issues: --13. A great pop song; catchy vocal lines, droning reverser guitars, shakers. (3:22) --14. Instrumental. Flute-like lead synth-type thing.(2:10) --15. Another pop song like many of the rest of these; outro is lovely and memorable, though.(2:36) --16. Instrumental. Synth pads behind driving bass, glistening, dreamy guitar picking. (1:43) --17. skips too much. ☹ --18. skips too much. ☹ --19. skips too much. ☹ --20. skips too much. ☹

Disc 2:

1. Upbeat Little Richard piano banging, distorted chords, chipper, handclaps, fun rock n’ roll. (2:04)
2. Midtempo, light acoustic strumming, steady drums, pretty chord progression during chorus and nice guitar solo during outro; another one of the more piano-oriented tracks on here. (3:52)
**3. My favorite of the collection; a melancholy progression strummed with twangy pedal steel-esque overdubs. Gorgeous. (4:28)
4. Instrumental. Fast drumming, high bass line, rhythmic distorted guitar crunch, odd brief key change in the middle. (2:35)
5. Instrumental. Slow, watery, relaxing guitar with ringing, field tones, ominous keys come in with a brief British-sounding sample and tape hiss, a little unnerving, but still mellow. (2:00)
6. FCC (one “shit”). Big drum machine, nice, modest pop song. Enough variation on an initial gorgeous progression; great backing vocals, acoustic rhythm guitar, odd keyboard tone, nice acoustic guitar solo. (5:24)
*7. Instrumental. Atmospheric, slow melodic guitar strumming with reversed electric guitar, pretty soundbed material. (1:51)
8. Hesitant piano, odd samples, electro-tinged guitar noise; brief, strange, great. (1:25)
*9. Another great melodic pop song that is just difficult to not like; smooth bass line and sweet, romantic lyrics, along with great backing vocals and an appealing acoustic guitar part. (2:53)
10. Slow, a little bitter, rhythmic, ends up sounding a lot like a lo-fi Elliott Smith. (3:55)
11. Instrumental. Nasty, dingy, kind of psychedelic guitar, heavier space jam. (2:49)
12. Instrumental, Tambourine, nice little bob to this groove with organ chords, and slow guitar playing. (2:02)
13. Could have been a rock and roll hit in an alternate universe; shouty, repetitive vocals, handclaps, and very distorted guitar playing a warm little ditty. (1:31)
14. Instrumental. More of a 60s psych haze to this one, fuzz guitar, piano jingling, warm and melodic. (2:39)
15. Weird effects on opening, looping sample, while twinkling guitars, buzzing bass, and drums, emerge and gradually fade. Novel. (2:46)
16. FCC (one “fuck”). Relatively nice song otherwise. (3:37)
17. Guitar strum anchors track along a bobby, old-school Nintendo, keyboard part; shifts into a more normal pop song with higher vocals, fuzzy guitar solo, fades out. (3:16)
*18. Standout pop tune with catchy hooks and guitar lines, some sweet lyrics and a melodic vocal part. (3:31)
*19. Warm, romantic, wistful, authentic, lovely; almost Beach Boys-esque in outro. (3:12)
20. Instrumental. Darker, crunchy distorted guitar-focused, a little boring. (2:56)
21. A turn on “Across the Universe” develops into as ‘epic’ a track the man can make; minor chords, solemn piano. (4:44)