Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

The first listen, that one time an artist gets to make that first impression, the one that often makes or breaks a listener’s reaction to an artist, that’s a critical spin of a CD. In the case of the pretentiously titled, Giant World Knowledge Bliss Control from multi-instrumentalist Lek, the overwhelming feeling from that first listen was one of not knowing what to expect next. It’s too bad the sense was not an anticipatory, “I can’t wait to hear what the next song will bring!” but rather one of, “what the heck will emanate from the speakers next?”

That feeling takes hold right from the appropriately itled opening track, Quixotic, which features music that sounds like it was recorded on a tape player from Radio Shack. Lek’s deliberately lo-fi, stoner rock approach on this track is off-putting, all the more so with the stream of consciousness lyrics, delivered in poetry-slam-night-at-the-neighborhood-bookshop spoken word style.

The trance-inducing Demon swings the pendulum almost to another extreme. A psychedelic guitar floats bove a repetitive harmony line, with an insistent cymbal tap keeping the beat, and boring into the istener’s skull. The last minute of the song loses the pattern, with Lek catapulting the tempo into hyperspace, going out in a blaze of frenzied glory.

But then, Fuzzworld, re-establishes the psychedelic trance groove with Lek trading vocals with Meg Baird. At times in the song, he has Baird sing a wordless melody that blends into the scintillating guitar line he’s playing, producing a cool effect. Ultimately, though, the nearly 9 minute song just drones on and on, and I found myself abandoning it for the laid back, Gotam, on subsequent spins. Also featuring the ethereal vocals of Baird, Gotam, is at first a track to sit back and relax and enjoy. In the middle of the song, however, an edgy, delay-laden guitar takes over, an eerie, repetitive bassline takes hold of the song, and Lek adds a twisted keyboard melody to the mix, all to freakish effect. The guitar and keyboard remains through the end of the track, even as Baird’s soothing voice returns. But this time around, the effect is anything but soothing, what with the madness of the song’s central section scarring the listener. It’s easily my favorite track on the disc, and if he had a few more items like this populating the album, Giant Would Knowledge Bliss Control, would have been a winner in my book.

Unfortunately, the disc, as might be exhibited in the descriptions of the first four tracks above is a thoroughly up and down affair. For every cool track, there’s one to just hit the forward button on. The most disappointing track on the disc is probably the thoroughly ordinary love song, Olivia, which, naturally, would probably be the one song from this album that might make it onto radio stations. Fortunately, that dud is balanced nicely by the acoustic instrumental, Patong, or the southern rock tinged Chiliman, however nonsensical that song’s lyrics might be. Late in the disc, the album takes a huge leap on Saint Jam, the second biggest highlight of Giant World Knowledge Bliss Control, Featuring an absolutely raw mix, like the music track from quixotic, Saint Jam sounds like a bootleg recording captured live. Jazzy flights of fancy give way to jam-band influenced runs in a wild, exhilarating free-for-all that works because of the lo-fi approach. Polished, maybe it would come across as wankery, but in the raw state it’s presented in, Saint Jam, feels exactly right.

Then again, you have the moronic, blathering, intertwined spoken word snippets of Grandma’s Chickens, and the interminable travelogue of an album closer, Post Travellin’ Blues, bringing the disc down right about the time I start thinking it might actually be all right. Giant World Knowledge Bliss Control is an album I find myself wanting to like, because Lek does provide moments of sheer brilliance. But there are just too many utterly pedestrian, or worse, downright annoying moments sprinkled throughout the disc for me to really recommend this item.