The first track on LEK's Giant World Knowledge Bliss Control is titled Quixotic, a word that the dictionary defines as "idealistic and impractical, caught up in romantic deeds and the pursuit of unreachable goals." It would hardly be an insult to refer to this CD as falling into that category, seeing as LEK himself says "I am Quixotic" over and over during the seven minute anthem, spoken word sandwiched between fuzzy Hendrix-inspired guitar bookends. The lyrics here, and elsewhere, are no doubt inspired by LEK's Odyssey around the world, where he backpacked through third-world countries, followed a guru north of San Francisco, taught himself Thai, and toted his guitar through the rain forests like a modern day bard in search of adventure and truth.

CMJ called LEK's sound the "aural equivalent of a Spirograph", and this psychedelic CD is a perfect encapsulation of LEK's circuitous journies, intentionally disjointed, sounds looping and spiraling back on one another while LEK intones spiritual truths and interjects audio recordings from his travels around the world. The song titles suggest more about sound than meaning: "Deomon" snarls like a demon from hell, and "Fuzzworld" is a droning, fuzzy, shoegazery dream. Is there meaning to be found on a CD that includes songs with titles like "Elephants Parade", "Grandma's Chickens," and "Chiliman"? Perhaps the meaning is not important - perhaps, as with Don Quixote, it's the journey that makes all the difference.

Favorite Track: "Quixotic"

Michael Fiegel is a freelance writer and graphic designer. His diverse background includes journalism, radio copywriting, technical writing, game design and music reviewing. He is best known as the creator of the Internet cult sensation, Ninja Burger. He can be reached at aeon@aeforge.com or at his website, www.aeforge.com.