This came out in 1999 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Lo-fi has never sounded more hi-fi.
Washington’s Phil Elvrum — the one-man band who records under the name The Microphones — has conjured one of the most intriguing bedroom-rock albums of the year with this psychedelic, dreamy debut. Like some junkyard Brian Wilson or Olivia Tremor Control, Elvrum conjures forth bizarrely beautiful pop from the unlikeliest kitchen sinkful of sources: Buzzing amps, hissing tape and rumbling feedback are as much a part of his music as traditional instruments such as guitar and drums. Coupled with his intimate, skittish vocals and rambling, nonconformist songcraft, it results in a captivating work of shabby elegance and mumbly eloquence that probably cost less to record than Beck spent on his new fringe vest.
