Punk Planet is awesome, and not just because they review like a billion CD's each issue - the articles and columns are pretty cool too. For more info click on the link, which will take you to their website - they don't list CD reviews on the site, so that's why we reprint the TSHL review here. This is from the September/October '04 issue, which the cover of which featured simply the title of the issue's main article: "Iraq: Live Through This - Life In Iraq Through The Eyes Of Iraqis". Oh yeah, the words were spattered in blood. My favorite article was the one about the ex-junkie who now hosts her own cable-access vegan cooking show. Seriously, it was actually a pretty neat story. Anyways, back to lighter matters, the review had a little ear next to it, which in Punk Planet review lingo usually means the reviewer thought the CD was super rad:

"Jerry Fels is sort of awkward and nerdy; he feels things to deeply and wears his heart on his sleeve. But he's likable and sincere, and he has no qualms about exposing his inner thoughts. His second solo full-length, the first released under the moniker The Short Happy Life, is a break-up album, but don’t write it off. It’s accessible, confessional lo-fi geek rock with strangely catchy melodies and endearing lyrics, sometimes delivered with such sincerity that it almost makes you uncomfortable. With its wavering vocals, constant keyboard and drum machine, and obvious comparison to Atom And His Package can be made, but The Short Happy Life brings something more. More life experience, hurt and heartbreak, combine with a tongue-in-cheek quality. Take Track 5, a song which solemnly sings "We are just fucking ourselves" over and over until he eventually is backed by a ragtag choir of his own voice. Classic. Or, "At First It Will Be Hard," the most hopeful track, where Jerry puts to words the contrary nature of relationships: "The ones that jump first get the fastest reward/The ones who stick it out get something worth fighting for." So true. Jerry totally won me over." (Lisa Weingarth)