Garden on a Trampoline (g.o.a.t) is the musical project of Jim Laczkowski who has been writing songs for two decades.

Creating music feels like a dream for Jim: Something that reaches deep into the depths of the subconscious to unravel a lot of twisted, vulnerable thoughts (from which a strange hope sometimes emerges). His songs cover a wide range of influences, including Wilco, Jeff Buckley, Sparklehorse, and Daniel Johnston. He tends toward power pop rock elements, but sometimes, other genres emerge unexpectedly (whether the guitars are loud, or the piano is soft).

Jim recalls, “When I heard Nirvana, Matthew Sweet and Liz Phair all in the same year, I asked my dad to take me guitar shopping for my 15th birthday. I knew from that moment on, I would be involved with music of some kind even if it’s just making 4-track recordings in my basement. Then when I branched out and discovered My Bloody Valentine and Wilco, I also knew I wanted to be involved with the production side, so I taught myself recording programs in order to self-produce.”

Jim has been making his own records since releasing Deathless in 2005, then under the moniker Automatic Pilot. As a solo artist, he toured as a folk punker in 2007 as James Eric, playing a variety of house shows from Chicago all the way to Maine. In 2010, along with Luke Morris he co-founded CLLCT, a now-defunct community of DIY musical artists who uploaded everything they recorded at home entirely for free. Around the mid-2010s, Jim began to focus on recording as a form of therapy (after attempting to become a therapist himself). As a day job, he works at a library in Chicago.

Lately, Jim has been recording a variety of cover songs for fun and hosting a movie podcast. In 2020, James put together an extensive collection of 70 Wilco / Jeff Tweedy cover songs in order to provide donations to local music venues during the pandemic. “Just A Fan: A Tribute To Jeff Tweedy & Wilco” sold around 150 copies and raised over $1500. In May 2021, Jim released a full-length album that was more guitar-centric entitled Hi Anxiety.

On November 21, 2022, he released a new full-length album entitled 'syzygy' in memory of his dad. This album marks a return to his roots, featuring tips of the hat to the emotionally raw synth-driven music he made many years ago. Then on June 9th, 2023 as a free Bandcamp exclusive, Jim paid homage to an early influence, power pop songwriter Matthew Sweet, by covering 12 of his songs, dubbed 100% Sweet. He also contributes to the PRF Monthly Covers Project available here.

Click on the images below to check out any of his records from the past decade or so.