I feel this array of warmth and romance when I listen to “sings the Blues� (for a hopeless romantic like me that is a good thing). This release by Books on Tape is mainly comprised of samples from Todd Drootin’s girlfriend Kerri’s record collection. He explains in his liner notes “Books on Tape is as much hers as it is mine…besides I love her and I sample her records….� How sweet is that......Todd also explains that Books on Tape would not have happened without Pavement, Talking Heads, Albert Ayuler, Sonic Youth (the band of dreams), Sun Ra, Wire, Lee “Scratch� Perry, Neil Young, Mike Patton, Gang of Four, The pixies, Public Enemy, The Fall and David Bowie. Sounds like she has an awesome record collection to me. The music on Sings the Blues is to say the least captivating and interesting. Ranging from these slow, sexy, experimental dub-esque sounds to upbeat clip hop this release as a whole is like this awesome mix-tape of a listen, with each song building towards the unraveling of the next song. It is seamless and powerful and full of bubbly fun. I really enjoyed the track “Frisson� as it demonstrates Todd’s immense talents in the musical arrangement of collected fragments, segments and slices. Frisson is a heart drenched lullaby sung to you from outer space. I love this CD more each time I listen again and again….

By anne sulikowski
Oct 18, 2003