Ever since Brainiac frontman Timmy Taylor died in a car accident a few years ago, things just haven't been the same. And from the sound of Forget Everything, all ex-Brainiac guitarist John Schmersal (now known mysteriously as John Stuart Mill) seems to have done since then is hang out in Dayton with Robert Pollard, drinking six- packs of Pabst Blue Ribbon and being bummed out. At some point, however, he must have thought to himself, "Hmm... I spent all my money on beer. Guess I better write another album," borrowed Bob's four- track (seeing as how he's certainly not using it anymore) and made Forget Everything, an underachieving slab of drowsy slack-fi that seems to drag on much longer than its 26- minute running time.

Adhering pretty closely to the old Guided by Voices rulebook ("keep the songs under two minutes, one take is enough, make up the lyrics as you go along"), Schmersal comes up with a good number of magical lo-fi moments: "Capital A, Checkmark" does a convincing hangdog Sebadoh impression, and "Refresh the Anchor" compares favorably to early quiet Smashing Pumpkins. But when elements of Brainiac seep into the songs-- some beatboxing here, a bit of brain- damaged out- of- tune riffing there-- it seems jokey and amateurish. Case in point: "Eternal Story" starts out as a wonderfully sloppy boogie, but is ruined when Schmersal tacks on not one but two annoyingly atonal codas.

See, lo-fi recordings only seem to work when intimate, personal confession (Lou Barlow) or obscure songwriting genius (Pavement, GBV) is involved. Schmersal's sub- Pollard lyrics only serve as a reason for him to sing; his songwriting chops are okay, but he's certainly no John Lennon. Forget Everything suggests that Schmersal didn't want to go the whole- hog GBV route and write thirty one- minute- long tracks, but he was also too lazy to develop what he had into longer, better crafted songs.

-Nick Mirov