You Turn Me On

You Turn Me On is the fifth album by indie rock/pop/punk band Beat Happening. Their style of music is quite original. As a Rolling Stone critic wrote: "The group's songs combine the spooky-sparse quality of early rockabilly with the naive sound of Sixties teen-beat pop.". Anyway it's a lot of fun and the combination of the female vocals and the dark baritone voice of the front man is great. Best songs are "Tiger Trap", "Pinebox Derby" and "You Turn Me On".

Love Calvin Johnson's voice. I have never heard of this band before, but it is right up my alley. Standouts: Tiger Trap, Pine Box Derby, You Turn Me On, Hey Day This album might be one of my favorite listener selections. 4/5

Beat Happening are one of those bands where some of the enthusiasm is about what they represent as much as what they sound like. The deliberate lo-fi aesthetic, the childlike simplicity and the conscious amateurism. Apparently all of it was genuinely influential on a generation of indie artists, and that cultural significance is real. As a pure listening experience though, it's a pleasant three stars. You Turn Me On is genuinely cool, Calvin Johnson's baritone is distinctive and charming, and the mix of grittier songs and pop tracks gives the album enough variety to hold attention. Heather Lewis's voice is an acquired taste I haven't fully acquired yet. I may be missing something. But I'm enjoying it on its own terms regardless.

While first listening to this I realized how much a lot of this lo fi was presaged by The Shaggs… I think maybe their album should be on this list somewhere… There were other sorts of sounds this group exhibits though including some psychedelic diversions that kept me pretty interested throughout. Good selection!

Something very likeable in this album. The guy has a great 1980s/1990s voice. 4/5

I go hot and cold with band. Sometimes obsessed and other times neither here nor there. I think this came at a great time to move me from meh to excited again. Beat Happening have a sound that is instantly identifiable. They were influential for a lot of bands I listen to.

Mad respect for the "art brut", "twee" lo-fi craft of Calvin Johnson, Heather Lewis and Bret Lunsford. I agree with this user that this is probably their most palatable LP, even though the compilation *Look Around* also covers your ground for this album's highlights *and* the ones of the albums that preceded it. I only wish "Hey Day" and "Bury The Hammer" had been included in said compilation, but that would mean the latter would then include seven tracks out of the nine found in *You Turn Me On*, which would rock the boat a little too much towards this one full-length release. For those who don't already know the artistry of this iconic Olympia, Wa. band, it might be a little difficult to get what's great about this band. The sound and performances verge dangerously close to the "amateurish" side. The energy is somewhat lethargic. The compositions are often repetitive and seemingly linear. Calvin's deep, baryton vocals and Heather's sweeter voice are quite out of tune at times. And yet, in spite of what I just wrote, once you enter the "moody" ambience of the album, the whole thing becomes magically marvellous -- at least if you're not afraid of that sort of DIY, lo-fi canvas in the first place. "Tiger Trap" evokes the melancholy of the American Northwest like few other tracks that I know of. "Pinebox Derby" and "You Turn Me On" are cool Cramps-adjacent songs. "Teenage Caveman" is a lively teen-bubblegum bop. And if Calvin is the star of the DIY show, Heather's presence shines especially bright on the hypnotic nine-minute "Godsend". The two songs I have not mentioned in this review so far are maybe a notch under those highlights, but they're still worth a visit. Good choice from this user also loving The Velvet Underground. Sweetness and abrasive aesthetics go hand in hand in the personal tastes if this user, and there's no doubt I can see eye to eye with them on that sort of thing. 8.5/5 for the purposes of this list dedicated to essential albums, rounded up to 4. 3.5/10 for more general purposes (5 for the musicianship and lo-fi production values, doing a lot with very little + 3.5 for the artistry) ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 118 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 127 (including this one) Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 282 ---- Émile, *quatre* nouveaux messages pour toi au dessus, du *Solid State Survivor* de Yellow Magic Orchestra au *Atrocity Exhibition* de Danny Brown.

Beat Happening makes very cute lo-fi indie, I like their style. It channels that vague outsider artist energy, reminiscent of artists like - as another reviewer mentions - The Shaggs. I personally think their debut is their best album, but that's like 15 minutes long so this is probably the better "list album". Great stuff. 4/5.

A 1992 album that sounds like it is from 2010 indie twee land. I'm in

Pretty good

Somewhere between Ian Curtis and Nick Cave? Very much on the downbeat side of things, with very occasional hints of optimism sneaking through.

Meh meh

Rating: 6/10

This was a very slow grower.

There was a lot to like here, but nothing was different enough or perfect enough to hook me.

It was pretty good. 3 stars.

Some fun, scrappy indie pop from the grunge era – not exactly wowed by this one, but I could dig the lo-fi production and decent instrumentals.

First impression, pre-listen, on sight: my brother, an artist, spent a long period doing daily exercises motivated by Nicolaïdes' The Natural Way to Draw - I'd recognize that "gesture drawing" style on the cover art a mile away. Possibly not coincidentally, the band name was really familiar to me and I couldn't figure out why because the music wasn't - until I hit Godsend which was so immediately and profoundly familiar that I was 99% certain it must have been on one of the mix cassette tapes that same brother made for me in the 90s and early aughts. I texted him to confirm, his response "Yes! Sold that record— huge mistake. On red vinyl now too expensive to replace". A familiar tale with him. What's this say about the music? Not much, you know, personal color. This is of that indie era where proficiency at the craft of making music was at a reduced priority, which I lose patience with. But it has a definite charm and doesn't overstay it's welcome.

Na

Dream pop, pop, punk. No me va. Un 2.

This is another of those bands that have devout followers but I can’t see why. The lyrics are dull, the music is dull, the voices are jarring. I would rather talk to the person who submitted it and find out why it meant so much to them than listen to this again. I looked up the band and it said that this album was a departure from their usual style, so that makes it an even more questionable choice.