Described by headphonesex as sounding like “Stephen Hawking f***ing a Commodore 64″, mr_hopkinson’s computer sings [v.2.0] just arrived in the mail from eBay in the UK. I am especially fond of the Fake Plastic Trees cover, which manages to sound lonely and sad, even though it is sung by a fake plastic voice.
Now normally I hate it when you can’t get instant gratification and download an album immediately. But there is also something archaic and fun about actually getting things in the mail. What these guys didn’t capitalize on was putting some extra cool stuff in the package. There could have been mr_hopkinson’s computer stickers. Or a tiny catalogue of other obscure music, with secret links to streaming versions. There could have been a fanclub, iron-ons, where to get t-shirts, a tram ticket stub from the UK, a hand-written note with a smiley face, a napkin, a paperclip… anything! There was a paper CD sleeve, with a hand-glued label on it. And a bad postcard-sized advertisement for art on ebay.
This is the second album I have purchased through snail-mail (the first being Fort Awesome by The Mathletes), and I love them. They are physical items virtually nobody else has and that makes me feel (oxymoron alert:) geeky and cool. The music is odd, but it’s something I might slip into a mix-tape, or play at a party, and keep people guessing.
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