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lushfarm

Dead At 30

Written by: TL on 17/11/2009 00:29:17

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce to you a first in my history of reviewing. I was just browsing Last.FM, looking for inspiration for references for this review, it being of "Dead At 30", what I presume is the debut album of US four piece lushfarm (spelled with a minor case L, for some undisclosed reason). Anyway, I was looking for this band at Last.FM and - they're not there?! Holy shit this band must be pretty underground then? Right!?

Well from the sounds, words and images presented on the myspace that this band does after all have, yep, they are pretty underground. Here's a sample of their attitude:

"fuck the mainstream.. kids whose parents buy them expensive equipment and fund their tours and merch tables.. even kids that work hard and make absolutely terrible music. if you can immediately assign your sound to another band ("we sound like Incubus!"), get out of my cd player.

we are serious musicians, but do not take ourselves seriously. except craig, he's a jerk."

That's pretty awesome, but what do they sound like? Well, I'd describe them as kind of a bluesy/punk-ish indie rock band, operating with quirky song writing, raw and attitude-filled vocals (and lyrics) and, judging from the organ and general fuck-all mood, a mild inspiration from The Doors. Mostly, things are kept purposefully odd, yet relatively catchy, as showcased early on with opener "Big Dreams", the chorus of which you can expect to be singing along with already on first listen. However, before I even get through that track and on to the following ones, one thing starts to bother me..

"do it all yourself!"

- Such proclaims the band's myspace, and I'm prone to believe that lushfarm have indeed done just that on "Dead At 30". You see there's an unshakable feeling that this stuff was recorded at home - You can almost make out the echo of the vocals being recorded in the corner of some bedroom, or the drums cracking in the confines of someone's garage. Some find this charming, but personally I think I've aired my opinion often enough; Namely that we've heard good self-recorded material from too many artists today, for doing things DIY to be a good excuse for releasing something with poor production. If one can shake that feeling of grass root roughness however, "Dead At 30" is far from un-enjoyable. Especially "2012" catches my interest in the cheekiest of manners, as singer Craig roars it's refrain:

"The only way - to ignore it is - to get drunk all the time! The only way - to ignore it is - to get high all the time!"

In general, it's this kind of honest underground attitude that salvages the band from the wastes of pointless garage-rock, and makes for me keeping both hands and mind off the skip-button for the duration of this eight song disc. That being said though, while I realize it might mean I'm simply too brainwashed by the mainstream to see it, I'm not sure I can find the reason for which people should want to listen to lushfarm, rather than a band who aspire to be more than well.. "underground"? Cool, yet not quite impressive.

Download: 2012, Big Dreams
For The Fans Of: The Matches, Polar Bear Club, The Doors
Listen: myspace.com/lushfarm

Release Date 24.01.2009
From their myspace: "NOT BEING SIGNED IS THE NEW BEING SIGNED"