You Fantastic!
Homesickness

Mark Fisher carries on a crappy job in the early 1980s; he's just a shipping clerk for Touch And Go, but he's a creative character with comics in his mind, observing the work of the prestigious label. But what can he do? Poor and anonymous shipping clerk.
In 1986, he decides to dedicate his soul, body, and money to a personal comic fanzine that he calls "Skin Graft," which he fills with ironic subjects and absurd irony, arousing a decent amount of interest. One day (who would have thought, Mark?) the business works quite well, and he's offered good distribution. Alongside comics, interest in music begins to spread with EPs, demos, etc.
Icons like Steve Albini or US Maple approach Mark Fisher and the "Skin Graft" label, and the game is on, decent profits, and clear guidelines in the name of experimentation, noise, and quality.
It is in this context that the 1999 publication of "Homesickness" by You Fantastic! fits in.

22 pieces ranging from the 39 seconds of "January" to the ten minutes of "Memphis," where a thousand styles, numerous genres, noises, jazz, noise, electric incursions, hardcore metal (see "Subtraction" cover from "Arise" by Sepultura, yes you read correctly the Cavalera brothers & co), sound collages, and more are mixed! An album where you shouldn't look for coherence or catchy passages; you must have the predisposition to embrace these numerous influences and make them your own in a kaleidoscope that ultimately turns out to be greater than the sum of its parts.
Numerous combinations of sounds can be appreciated, even disparate instruments, but at the same time, you remain baffled by some simple song sketches, sometimes the sketch remains such, without deepening, and leaves a sense of mockery, almost like Mark Fisher's ironic comics.
Indeed, I understand the idea of improvisation, brief musical frescoes, and elegant mixtures of trumpets on noise carpets or melodic guitar, but the album has lapses in style and boredom always lurks around the corner.
One must be intellectually honest with others and declare these sensations, otherwise the univocal praises I've read about this CD risk misleading and leading to a wrong purchase for a certain type of indie or experimental audience.

Those who appreciate bands like This Heat might enjoy this album, they will be amazed at some sound collage solutions, or they will have a chance to reflect on the progress that this style has known from This Heat's seminal self-titled album of 1979 to "Homesickness" twenty years later; for others, it will be tough, very tough.