The Bundles is the only studio album by the supergroup of the same name, released on March 9, 2010 on

K Records K Records is an independent record label in Olympia, Washington founded in 1982. Artists on the label included early releases by Beck, Modest Mouse and Built to Spill. The record label has been called "key to the development of independent music ...

Background and recording

Fellow anti-folk artists

Jeffrey Lewis Jeffrey Lewis (born November 20, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter and comic book artist. Early life Lewis was born in New York City and grew up on the Lower East Side. He attended State University of New York at Purchase, graduating i ...

and

Kimya Dawson Kimya Dawson (born November 17, 1972) is an American folk singer-songwriter, one half of the anti-folk duo the Moldy Peaches. Dawson's work with the Moldy Peaches earned them a cult following and critical acclaim, with their 2001 song "Anyone El ...

first met in 2001, and created their first five songs that year. Lewis' brother,

Jack Jack may refer to: Places * Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community * Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community * Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA People and fictional characters * Jack (given name), a male given name, ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

-based musician

Karl Blau Karl Blau is an American indie rock and country vocalist, producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but originally from Anacortes, Washington. A member of the Knw-Yr-Own/K Records collective, he is know ...

and drummer

Anders Griffen Anders Griffen is a drummer, composer, and trumpet player from Brooklyn, New York. Griffen works in a range of contexts including folk, jazz, pop, improvised music, and modern dance theater. Career Griffen is known for his work with songwriters a ...

soon joined them in the songwriting and recording process. Half of the songs on ''The Bundles'' were previously released on the Lewis-Dawson collaboration "AFNY Collaborations Volume I" in 2002, but the versions on that album differed significantly from those on ''The Bundles'' because on the latter record, unlike on the former, they were recorded with The Bundles' new band.

Reception

The album received mixed reviews from critics; with aggregator site

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

giving it a score of 58%, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Negative reviews included one written for

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

by K. Ross Hoffman, who awarded the album just two (out of five) stars and concluded that "...these Bundles may be best left unwrapped." Among the most positive reviews was Robert Christgau's, in which he gave the album an A- and wrote that "...this is where Jeffrey Lewis replaces Adam Green in the Moldy Peaches...," while Jude Rogers gave the album a lukewarm review, writing that "these songs sound meatier than the members’ previous efforts" but also concluding that "it's a shame that this album’s playfulness very often comes across as pretentiousness." The album was also praised by ''

the Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

''s Simmy Richman, who described its songs as "utterly charming and fall ng onjust the right side of twee - think late-period

Velvet Underground Weave details visible on a purple-colored velvet fabric Velvet is a type of woven tufted fabric in which the cut threads are evenly distributed, with a short pile, giving it a distinctive soft feel. By extension, the word ''velvety'' means ...

Moe Tucker Maureen Ann "Moe" Tucker (born August 26, 1944) is an American musician and singer-songwriter who was the drummer for the New York City-based rock band the Velvet Underground. After they disbanded in the early 1970s, she left the music industry ...

had had equal billing to Lou Reed." A more moderate review came from Drowned in Sound's Mark Ward, who wrote that "...if you love Dawson or Lewis, you’re likely to love The Bundles, although you’re unlikely to be surprised by the contents of their debut album."

Track listing

#A Common Chorus #Pirates Declare War #Klutter #Shamrock Glamrock #Over the Moon #Ishalicious #In the Beginning #Desert Bundles #Metal Mouth #Be Yourselves

Personnel

*Karl Blau—Group Member, Jaw Harp, Piano, Saxophone, Vocals *Kimya Dawson—Group Member, Keyboards, Vocals *Anders Griffen—Drums, Group Member, Percussion, Vocals *Jack Lewis—Bass, Group Member, Vocals *Jeffrey Lewis—Group Member, Guitar, Liner Notes, Vocals

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bundles, The K Records albums 2010 debut albums Anti-folk albums Collaborative albums