Aside from the dodgy band name and the suspiciously long song titles, this album is great. The Painful Leg Injuries is not a collection of musicians but it is the musical project of New York digital artist, Bill Byrne. As many experimental recordings do, PLI & Backwards, Broken, and Incorrect grew out of the sound component of Byrne's visual artistic endeavors. The difference here is the music is not limited to aimless sounds playing 2nd fiddle to the more important physical installation.

Each track is meant to stand on its own as a composition and manages to do so quite nicely. Byrne lays out the minimal hiss so smoothly it's hard not to get caught up in a daydream as his soundscapes work their way around you, slowly incorporating you into their world rather than vice versa. I started off with a lukewarm opinion of this disc but I really began to appreciate, and was won over by, the total lack of melody that permeates the entire album. Backwards... starts off with 'The Sound Parts of Memory I Can't Remember'; four minutes of thhhhhuuuuppppbbbbttttt and some organ chords that sound as if they are being played back in reverse... nice. While I cannot be 100% sure it's his intention, I feel very unnerved that every time I throw this disc on with the plan of doing work I end up doing absolutely nothing. Now I think of it, Backward, Broken, & Incorrect could be a fifth column of an anti-capitalist agenda. If this disc gets into enough hands it's a sure bet productivity would plummet as people relearn how to do nothing and enjoy the feeling of complete audio induced catatonics. PLI threatens to rip apart the fibers that make up North American culture... play at your own risk. 8/10 -- Chris Jacques (27 June, 2006)