It is far too rare that we return to a favorite collection of the past for a little fond recollection and relistening. Inspired in part by much of the international attention Cornslaw has been receiving lately (we’re not sure why, but we love it), we decided to read through a couple of the foreign-laguage blog posts regarding Cornslaw in general or specific releases. A near-consisten favorite amongst Europeans and Americans alike is Jaffé’s music. Particularly, people seem attracted to his Songs About Girls and Songs About Boys collections. We take responsibility only in convincing Jaffé to let us rummage through his old tapes and putting them in some sort of order, the rest was all Jaffé. We know Songs About Girls is a far superior album, but Songs About Boys is good too, if even we realize it was far more hastily thrown together.

Aided by the BabelFish, here is some nice things a man/boy/woman/girl typed in Russian on his/her LiveJournal blog. Please keep in mid that these a robotic translations.

Songs About Girls:

It is difficult to describe unambiguously the music of Jaffe completed under the very skillful synthesizer: here much both from the baroque- priest and from the [semidesyatnicheskoy] stage, and on the quality this typical bedroom-[folk]. However, Jaffe excuses that the fact that song for this pseudo-conceptual album, dedicated, as can be seen from names, to girls, he wrote even into the 90th on very imperfect the technology of those days. These songs are interesting, it is however strange, not only as the artifact of epoch, but, of course, they became obsolete. However, they are likable, and Jaffe hardly relied on larger. 4/5

Songs About Boys:

On second [relize] of Jaffe it became the victim of its own concept – it is however, so constantly: attempting to support idea, he wrote down ” song against [malchikakh]” , but already even cover reflects, that the quality of material here nothing of the kind, and amorous to it relation is insufficient. Certainly, record was made approximately in the same period, but this does not justify quality and monotony of material. Especially one ought to note that [leybl] Of cornslaw Of industrie, perfectly well understanding the weakness of album, for long was not solved it to let out. 3/5