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Charles Hardin Hussalonia Hussalonia No. 0003 (2004) Third in the Hussalonia Home Fabricated Compact Disque Series, this just-over half-hour-long look inside the ever-clever mind of Jesse Mank, aka Hussalonia, kinda-sorta examines Buddy Holly's effect on popular music. Kinda sorta, but maybe notta, if you've been following the Mankalonia saga. And shame on you if you haven't. Once again, Mank, recording nominally-low-fi, has taken a somewhat abnormal concept and made it work like nobody's business. This time around, adopting Buddy Holly's given first and middle names, Mank has taken the Hussalonia concept to extraordinary heights, one brilliant idea at a time. It helps to search for the "hidden" meanings in Mank's work, or at least what you would consider those meanings to be. Mank is a master at stitching together puzzles and practically begging you to solve them. Take the first track, which in true Holly fashion he has called "That'll Be the Day," a machine-age stomping 26 seconds worth of industrial marching music that seems to posit that, had Holly lived, he sure wouldn't be munching on crunchy guitars and robot-powered percussion, for whatever that's worth. And then, Mank spins a Holly-like, right down to the chunka-chunka rhythm, love song for the brokenhearted, "Why Can't Pop Songs Be More Sympathetic," which quickly turns on its head with these pithy lyrics: "If ever again I want to get sentimental/These stupid songs are detrimental/Every time I think that love's a curse/I hear these songs and I feel worse." Tough love is so, well, tough. After channeling the spirit of Holly's music in the pretty love song "I'd Like To Have a Talk With You," which contains a typically Hussaloniaesque offbeat observation when Mank sings, "I'm fascinated by every word you say/I carry them around/Reminisce about their sound," the ultimate get-off-your-ass command comes from the movie It's a Wonderful Life: "Why don't you kiss her instead of talking her to death?" Indeed, Mank decides a kiss, even though it might not be the right thing to do, is the appropriate next step in the jaunty, aptly-named "Let's Kiss!" Go man, go! The decidedly, un-Holly-like "Pop Songs Will Repeat," a rocking grungefest with crunchy guitars, comes next, and from here on out, the album gets progressively less Hollyish, or at least that appears to be the case. The cha-cha-cha of "Yeah, But It's Fine" gives way to the heavy rock blues of "Inadvertent Wishes"; the spacey, slow rock of "Souvenir," and "What Am I Without You?" The latter song, with its vibe accents, draws back to Holly for a bit of a 360-degree turn to the bespectacled one's sound. Mank again works his answering machine in the bizarre "My Heart is Stuck On You," a close cousin to the Hussalonia Robot Singers' "The Questioning Machine," only there are no questions asked here, and there is no robot... just a guy's emotional plea for a girl who will understand him. His heart's stuck on her, but she's not around... at least not just yet. I must admit, I'm stuck on the Hussalonia sound. Jesse Mank is proving to be one of the most talented, risk-taking, ostensibly low-fi singer-songwriters around. He's certainly not afraid to reinvent himself each and every time out. More, please. Alan Haber May 14, 2005
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Charles Hardin Hussalonia
Hussalonia No. 0003
(2004)

hussalonia's charles hardin hussalonia Third in the Hussalonia Home Fabricated Compact Disque Series, this just-over half-hour-long look inside the ever-clever mind of Jesse Mank, aka Hussalonia, kinda-sorta examines Buddy Holly's effect on popular music. Kinda sorta, but maybe notta, if you've been following the Mankalonia saga. And shame on you if you haven't. Once again, Mank, recording nominally-low-fi, has taken a somewhat abnormal concept and made it work like nobody's business.

This time around, adopting Buddy Holly's given first and middle names, Mank has taken the Hussalonia concept to extraordinary heights, one brilliant idea at a time. It helps to search for the "hidden" meanings in Mank's work, or at least what you would consider those meanings to be. Mank is a master at stitching together puzzles and practically begging you to solve them. Take the first track, which in true Holly fashion he has called "That'll Be the Day," a machine-age stomping 26 seconds worth of industrial marching music that seems to posit that, had Holly lived, he sure wouldn't be munching on crunchy guitars and robot-powered percussion, for whatever that's worth.

And then, Mank spins a Holly-like, right down to the chunka-chunka rhythm, love song for the brokenhearted, "Why Can't Pop Songs Be More Sympathetic," which quickly turns on its head with these pithy lyrics: "If ever again I want to get sentimental/These stupid songs are detrimental/Every time I think that love's a curse/I hear these songs and I feel worse." Tough love is so, well, tough.

After channeling the spirit of Holly's music in the pretty love song "I'd Like To Have a Talk With You," which contains a typically Hussaloniaesque offbeat observation when Mank sings, "I'm fascinated by every word you say/I carry them around/Reminisce about their sound," the ultimate get-off-your-ass command comes from the movie It's a Wonderful Life: "Why don't you kiss her instead of talking her to death?" Indeed, Mank decides a kiss, even though it might not be the right thing to do, is the appropriate next step in the jaunty, aptly-named "Let's Kiss!" Go man, go!

The decidedly, un-Holly-like "Pop Songs Will Repeat," a rocking grungefest with crunchy guitars, comes next, and from here on out, the album gets progressively less Hollyish, or at least that appears to be the case. The cha-cha-cha of "Yeah, But It's Fine" gives way to the heavy rock blues of "Inadvertent Wishes"; the spacey, slow rock of "Souvenir," and "What Am I Without You?" The latter song, with its vibe accents, draws back to Holly for a bit of a 360-degree turn to the bespectacled one's sound.

Mank again works his answering machine in the bizarre "My Heart is Stuck On You," a close cousin to the Hussalonia Robot Singers' "The Questioning Machine," only there are no questions asked here, and there is no robot... just a guy's emotional plea for a girl who will understand him. His heart's stuck on her, but she's not around... at least not just yet.

I must admit, I'm stuck on the Hussalonia sound. Jesse Mank is proving to be one of the most talented, risk-taking, ostensibly low-fi singer-songwriters around. He's certainly not afraid to reinvent himself each and every time out. More, please.

Alan Haber
May 14, 2005