#789 Jason Forrest - The Everything

Man, yall are making it to easy for me, what with these album titles that damn near perfectly sum up their contents. On Shamelessly Exciting, Jason Forrest tried to outdo his own underappreciated, pre-Girl Talk-mashup masterpiece The Unrelenting Songs of the 1979 Post-Disco Crash. And on some level he succeeded: the followup was more manic, more intricate, and, yeah, more exciting. But it still, somehow, wasn't any fun. It read as pure music, dropping so much of the cultural subtext and music nerd nods that made TUSOTP1979DC such a treat.

In that sense, The Everything is a return to form. The densely-sampled music is intricate and listenable, but the real draw is that wizened burble of themes just out of reach is back, as you don't just listen closer, but listen harder, engage your brain, and try to navigate Forrest's cultural labyrinth, as songs evoke eras, styles, moods, and scenes. For those who seek specific baubles, there are treasures to be found: Link Wray rumbles, art rock nods, even a fleeting sample from The Waiting Room, an obscure 70's-era Genesis instrumental interlude. Even on the paths not taken, breadcrumbs wind off and tantalize.

There's something slightly empty about it all, but it carries the promise of negative space. Like a house that's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside, its artifice belies its unknowability,and yet you're driven to try 4/5