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• MUSIC REVIEW (Alternative) •

Joel Plaskett In Need of Medical Attention Artist Home Page CDN $ price at CDPlus.com

Label: No Alternative Released:

I don't like needles. I don't like driving in non air conditioned cars, wearing jeans, on hot summer days in rush hour. And i don't like shity rock radio that only plays songs by bands that sound like Nevermind era Nirvana or old Pearl Jam. Why am I telling you this? Well, I don't know because it has nothing to do with Joel Plasketts album "In Need of Medical Attention". In fact the first time I heard a song from said record I was listening to the CBC (thats Canadas public radio if you don't happen to live in the Great White North) on a cool spring afternoon in Ottawa and was not on my way to the doctor or shooting up. In a way I was getting a fix though. You see I have an addiction. I am poor and in a family way but I can't help spending my hard earned cash on CD's often at the expense of food, alcohol or even sex. Often, these days, my purchases leave wholly unsatisfied, though. I am easily bored with rehashed pop-rock shit, have to be in the right mood for jazz or hip-hop and never quite got on that techno train, probably because I don't know where to buy exstacy. But with Joel Plaskett I knew I wouldn't have any regrets so I set out on a quest for his record. "In need of Medical Attention" is not a big studio recording. It is a collection of songs recorded on an eight track and to most frat boys the sound produced is unlikely to inspire them to rock when played back to back with Limp Business (or was that Big Bizkit? I don't know, it's some combination of those words). For this reason the CD is not stocked by most of Ottawa's "music" stores . It took me three months but eventually I found it mixed in with the Pixies at some crappy store. Yay I am saved! Now I sit at work listening to the record for the third time in a row and I feel good. I can't hear my bosses Enya dance mix music (seriously that is what he listens to all day. Where the hell do you find that crap? ). I have put out of my mind the fact that my contract is almost up and I may soon be looking for a new job. Instead I wallow in the home recorded, soul soothing sounds of a pop rock hero. I love this stuff. Well written and thought out tunes. There is no pretencion here. Just the bare bones, straight to the point, songs. All the proper indie rock influences can be heard. "In Need of Medical Attention" is simple songs, simple melodies and a pretty good drum sound. Long Live small records. Oh ya, Joel PLaskett used to play in the band Thrush Hermit, if that makes any difference to you.

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