#20 The Best Album of 2000 Run-Off Tournament Match #3: Lemon Jelly or Weakling?
Hey folks!
The second match of the Best Album of 2000 Run-Off has concluded and the winner is:
Enon, BELIEVO!
BELIEVO! defeated The Distiller’s THE DISTILLERS, 47-20. BELIEVO! advances in the tournament, and will be next seen up against either Papa Roach, INFEST or Amon Tobin, SUPERMODIFIED.
Time now for today’s match:
Lemon Jelly, LEMONJELLY.KY vs Weakling, DEAD AS DREAMS
Click the link below to go to the Google Forms to vote. (Google sign-in required.) Please, if possible, give both albums a listen before voting. If you don’t have time for the entire album, listen to the first 2-3 tracks of each.
The Best Album of 2000 Run-Off Tournament Match #3: Lemon Jelly vs. Weakling
Welcome to the Match #3 of the Best Album of 2000 Run-Off Tournament! Over the next few weeks, we will take 17 albums and choose one to enter into the upcoming Best Album of 2000 tournament. All of these albums missed being entered into the Best Album of 2000 Tournament by one vote. Matches will be held every Monday through Friday, with the final match scheduled for Monday, June 17th. Want to see the entire bracket? Go here: https://challonge.com/o7ze0ruy# Be sure to follow me on Bluesky (@be...
Today, we also have our first Designated Cheerleader of the new non-Twitter era! A Designated Cheerleader is a little essay written by one of the Best Album Voters to highlight and support one of the competing albums. This one is for LEMONJELLY.KY and it’s by Brian Glaser. Take it away, Brian!
One sign of a true music obsessive/dork is taking the time and energy to both identify musical blind spots and then do something about them. One of mine in the late 90s into the early aughts was electronic music. As an indie/punk kid weaned on electric guitars and anger/angst, the precision and apparent chilliness of electronic music didn't connect. I was certain that no one was "playing" this music, and it wasn't clear how to clear up the blind spot.
So if I was in a good record store in this era and not sure what I was there to buy, I often asked for some electronic assistance. One thing quickly figured out could help was saying that I was looking for something electronic but still melodic--I wasn't looking to dance, and I still needed hooks. During an early-aughts visit to the UK, a record clerk sent me to Lemon Jelly's debut--and they totally nailed it.
I was already into Krautrock, and the repetitive, sometimes Minimalist grooves grabbed me right away; the fact that each song had a couple of melodic loops and figures (from recognizable guitars and pianos and such) did the trick. Nowadays, the tracks on LEMONJELLY.KY would probably show up on a "Chill Beats to Study To" playlist or some such, but at the time I just knew that my head was bobbing, my ears were open, and I didn't feel like I was missing a crowded dancefloor while the CD spun.
The little vocal samples from what sound like instructional recordings aren't my favorite part, but they don't get in the way of making "In the Bath" a solid entry point, and the fact that this is really 3 EPs repackaged as a single CD doesn't make the whole thing feel disjointed. There's a unified, repetitive groove throughout, and melodic filigrees like the looped figure in "The Staunton Lick" keep it song-ish enough as the beats unwind toward the horizon.
Lemon Jelly sat comfortably with similar electronic discoveries like the Bliss Out stuff released by Darla in the same era, and it hasn't dated like some of the harder/dancier EDM of the era. It might not be representative enough of an early-aughts sound to go far in the polling here, but LEMONJELLY.KY is the perfect hour-plus way to turn off your mind, relax and float in the bath.
MATCH #3
Lemon Jelly, LEMONJELLY.KY
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/6cugMaPzUNXXz60wNX3Amk?si=hfBFqyaaSRi06xlI2-nPmQ
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kx7m1xpaCgZXd0nZOSXGR61fK0b34-rtM
Weakling, DEAD AS DREAMS
NOT ON SPOTIFY
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnjH-ZYe59c&t=145s
KENT’S KORNER
I kind of fell in love with LEMONJELLY.KY within moments. It’s the kind of electronic music that as likely to use samples of acoustic instruments from the ‘70s as it is computer-generated stuff, and that’s catnip to me. It’s got a vibe that I think is accurately reflected in the cover art, and it’s RIYL Boards of Canada. DEAD AS DREAMS is a black metal tsunami of riffs and screaming, just suffocating. It’s the kind of thing that, if you’re in just the right mood for it, mwah nothing better. (Also, if you dig John Gossard’s vocals, check out Greek “astrocore” band Dephosphorus. Pretty sure they were influenced by Weakling.)
LEMONJELLY.KY: Like/Love
DEAD AS DREAMS: Like
Kent Sez: Look, just give DEAD AS DREAMS a listen, that’s all I ask.