I think you can only say to yourself, “What the hell?” so many times in a single listen before you have to accept that you’re just not digging it. Such is the case with the plunderphonic pile of oddness that is Lost Weight’s Immune to Jewels. There are interesting spots, but not many, in this collection of work dating from 1995 to 2011. “Thing King” takes a couple of elements, one of which sounds like one note on harmonica, throws in a clangy power chord, adds a scream, then ramps up the amplitude and stretches the whole thing into a thick, barbed-wire-coated drone that fades just before you completely feel like murdering it. “Opposite of Occam’s Razor” is the best thing here, which may not be saying much, as it pulls Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” into sound-morsels and re-arranges them. It almost becomes an a cappella hymnal in spots. Beyond that it’s a series of mid-air collisions between sources and odd pairings of existing pieces that quickly becomes a series of punches to your brain. The whole plunderphonic idea seems to have fallen by the wayside in recent years, and a listen to Immune to Jewels would suggest maybe that’s a good thing. If you like noise, experimental approaches, and wildly non-linear composition, have a listen.
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Hypnagogue Music Reviews 
Too bad you didn’t like the album. It sounds like you gave it more than a cursory listen, which is more than many albums get these times, thanks for that.
However, I feel the review gives a very one-dimensional picture of the whole. There are
many moments of subtlety, tranquility even: the miniature lullaby that opens the album, the meeting of Pauline Oliveros & Claude Debussy, the meshing of Maryanne Amacher’s electronics, Christina Kubisch’s nature sounds and Eliane Radigue low drones, or the lost-in-a-hall-of-mirrors treatment of a Tommy Dorsey song.
The noisier and busier tracks are often carried by rhythms, such as the sermon condemning, or succumbing to, a myriad of sins on “The Trickle Up Theory”.
I’ve received favourable comments from both music fans and sound artists. For the Finnish national broadcasting company, the album was good enough to give it radio airtime.
I encourage those still reading this to check out the excerpts of all tracks and one whole track on the label page, or directly from SoundCloud.
regards,
Jukka / Lost Weight
Thanks for taking the time to reply, Jukka. I agree that people should look into the disc for themselves. Mine is just one opinion, and I recognize that other listeners/reviewers will find something more to it and in it. It’s interesting to see your list of sources/inspirations. However, I’d have to admit that while I know the names Oliveros, Debussy and Dorsey, the others are lost on me, as I expect they might be on most average listeners. I openly admit that work like this can go over my head.