Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I Farm's best record yet combines all elements of rock, July 5, 2003
I don't normally review records but I Farm is anything but normal. I've been a fan of the band for a long time an am still surprised at the number of people who aren't aware that music is being advanced. For the uninformed, I Farm is a band from Brooklyn that not only combine all the elements of punk but of the rock genre itself. The record is 15 tracks of blistering fast math punk. It is important to note that on most of those tracks there are more distinct parts than there are songs on the record. Don't be scared. Their complicated musical compositions are impressive, but work best when they imbed them in hooks and melody. Too many bands display their talent (those that have any) trying to impress, but I Farm just rocks. The quick changes ebb and flow smoothly with what one can only call soul. Lyrically the band is on top of their game with humorous lyrics both political and private in nature; funny ha ha at times, funny strange at times, and funny in a "Learn to laugh or sit and cry" way. (This is a quote from the second track.) Other standout tracks are "Shut Up and Read" , "Bill Shatner Speaks Esperanto, Do you?" and "If You Don't Watch Your Fingers You Can Type Much Faster" It's like the humor of song-title core grind bands combined with ... actual music! Production and packaging wise this record is an improvement over their last record "Sincerely Robots" which is a record that if you don't have you should pick up immediately after buying "Lying to be Popular" but definitely only after. I think this is the I Farm record that everyone should own first.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
top notch musicianship, songcraft needs work, June 27, 2003
I've been following this band throughout much of their nine year existence, and I have to say I'm stunned with the tightness of playing and production displayed on this, their third, full length album. Though bassist/vocalist Arun Chaudhary takes care of most of the lead vocals, guitarists John Conklin and Jeremy Curtin lend their voices to a few songs as well. You can tell they've been listening to a lot of bands like Dillinger Escape Plan and Converge, influences they try to assimilate into their thrash punk sound. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The first song "Shut Up and Read" is a scathing shame-on-you to people who talk smart but sit around and watch TV for knowledge, and Arun's vocals hit the spot. However, things start to get confusing with the second track "Many Faces/Other People are Hell". As the name might suggest, it seems like they took two songs that were somewhat related lyrically (with the culminating chorus a shout-out to JP Sartre) and stitched them together in a clumsy fashion. It sounds like they used a bad vocal take for the first verse because Jeremy sounds tonedeaf, and it isn't until the big chorus that John comes in and saves him, which is disappointing because Jeremy sounds stunning on his other lead track, "Mouse Hunter AD". "Puzzlement" is a somewhat annoying one that John sings, with a promising intro that breaks into an odious backwards quasi-blast beat that continues through an awkward modulation and throughout most of the song. Arun's voice is back on "If I Ran The Zoo", which has so few lyrics they didn't bother to print them. This song is great and short but it seems like they compensate for the brevity (as if it's a bad thing) by drawing out the end breakdown section for far too long. "My Robot Daughter" is a standout track, with its odd phrasings and lyrics about a robot girl who goes to regular school. Other bangers are "Bill Shatner Speaks Esperanto, Do You?" complete with gang vocals and Arun actually shouting in Esperanto at the end, "A Little White Lie" which is a commentary on the current foreign policy situation, "You Bet It Does"- a critique of post-modern "brilliance", "Half Sandwich", and "If You Don't Watch Your Fingers You Can Type Much Faster". Stuck in the middle of all these great songs is another dud, "The Great Leap Forward", which seems like it was thrown on the record to take up space and sports the copout lyric of the year- "They had a great leap forward in China/I heard a lot of people died/But it's still a name/The name that names this song". It reminds me of a bad NOFX lyric from "Pump Up The Valium". Come on guys, I know you can do a lot better than that. Overall, this album rocks if you can get past some awkward songwriting here and there.
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by I Farm 
