Cheap The View (Music) (Eureka Farm) Price

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Customer Reviews of The View

Interesting, but not engaging.
It started out with Alcoholics Anonymous. Now they have Narcotics Anonymous, Overeaters Anonymous...god knows what else is on the way. But if they ever found CD-buyers anonymous, I'm so there. "Hello, my name is Alex and I have a problem. Last night I went to Amoeba records in Berkeley and spent $45, then ate a jar of peanut butter for dinner cos that was my grocery money. *sobbing*" The plus side of being like that, though, is that I get to find interesting bands no one has ever heard of, like Eureka Farm.

I don't quite know how to describe this record, exactly. Mars Volta on heroin, maybe? If you can't imagine what that sounds like (and if you can, frankly, I'm impressed), picture this: multitracked, wannabe grunge vocals over densely layered instrumentation with definite roots in both mellowed-out, cerebral post-punk and free form jazz. This is a band where three of the five members play moogs and organs and one plays saxophone enough to have it listed as his first instrument.

To delve into specifics, the album kicks off with a slow burner called 'Erase the Moon.' An undulating guitar riff pushes forward a song that wouldn't have sounded out of place on the first Sigur Ros album. Otherworldly sounds (those damn moogs) kick in later in the song and make things even spacier than they already are with the echoed percussion and creepy Layne Staley esque singing. Terraforming is a bit boppier from the start (this is where the jazz roots really kick in), and builds to a slightly more tense conclusion but maintains the same minor key mood, permeated by a loungy piano.

This mood continues through the languid 'Colorblind' which only builds to an epic conclusion in the last minute of the song. Fortunately, 'Spare' continues in this mood, giving the record some much needed energy. If anyone knows who The Grassy Knoll are (and if you've heard of Eureka Farm, you might) this song reminds me of them. It opens with fusion sax playing (evocative of the opening credits of David Cronenberg's 'Naked Lunch' or the scene in David Lynch's 'Lost Highway') and continues past it across eight minutes.

The next two songs, 'Quinsommas' and 'The Mule' are probably the most accessable on the record, but that's a relative measure. The former is a downright sprightly and somewhat straightforward rock song when compared with the opening tracks. The latter song is quieter, but it's also more focused than anything before it, carrying an almost sweet melody line to a crescendo over five minutes. 'Escalations' could be considered a better track, but it goes on a bit longer than it can sustain itself, I think. 'Scientification,' on the other hand, closes the album with it's shortest song (three minutes), an etherial guitar bop with some nice organ thrown in there.

You'll notice I didn't comment on any lyrics during the above summary. This is mostly because I'm not sure what's being said most of the time. Which could be a good thing or a bad thing, I guess.

I mentioned the two Davids in an earlier paragraph, but that's a notation worth revisiting as this music wouldn't sound out of place in one of either of their films. It has that kind of weird, enigmatic, kind of creepy, kind of dreamlike feel to it. That's really the only comparison I can think of that does it justice, though.

Overall, I would have to say that this is interesting stuff to be sure - a strange marriage of musical styles at the very least - but it's not easy to get your head around and it wears a little thin, even at a length of only 45 minutes. There's nothing that could be called a hook in any of these songs - nothing you'll be singing to yourself a couple of hours later. If you have a good attention span, I'd reccomend it, but a little more accessability would've been nice.

Still, 7/10 or 3.5 stars.

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forget yr stereotypes
overlooked, under appreciated, one of the best layered, intelligent and honest rocking groups that yr not listening too.
by defying the "grunge" architype that so many have been labeled or fallen prey to, eureka farm blazes ahead providing a glimpse to rock of the future! its like being given a confidential guided tour of lead singer arman's insightful, colorful and vivid imagination whose hand is firmly gripped on the dimmer switch knowing just when to sink you into darkness or blinding light. just like spending hours in front of yr atari 2600, once you begin this journey its nearly impossible to stop. like a david lynch movie each time you'll discover something new you never noticed before. even hours after the album has ended you'll find it difficult to let go of the "the view".

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avantvampjazz
these northwestern mulleteers really know how to belt out the forgotten sounds of the tombs from their rainy town of heroin and grunge. my friend said "grunge jazz" and that's not fair, lebowski.