To tide fans over between 1994's cult favorite BUFO ALVARIUS and 1996's Matador Records debut, AMANITA, Bardo Pond issued this collection of transitional out-takes. Less a proper album than a stopgap offering, BIG LAUGHING JYM is no less essential to any Pond addict craving one more fix of the group's sludgy, psychedelic sound. "Dispersion" and "Clearhead," whirlpools of bass, feedback-clogged flute, and John and Michael Gibbons' high-dosage, irradiated guitars, are definitive Pond.