FAR - An In-Depth Look
FAR - An In-Depth Look
First of all, apologies for the delay between posts, it's been a hectic few weeks!
This entry we're going to be talking about the seminal post-hardcore band, Sacramento's FAR. Hugely influential on the early 2000's music scene, and friends and peers of bands such as Deftones, Will Haven, Incubus and 7 Seconds, the band never quite reached the stratospheric heights they could have, but they left behind a legacy of incredible work.
Since their break up, Jonah Matranga (vocals / guitar) has toured relentlessly all over the world, and has had success in both bands and solo projects such as Onelinedrawing, New End Original and Gratitude and has worked with Rival Schools, Frank Turner, Mike Shinoda and others, whilst Shaun Lopez started The Revolution Smile and is part of CROSSES with Chino Moreno as well as a succesful producer, but here we're looking purely at the work as FAR.
This entry we're going to be talking about the seminal post-hardcore band, Sacramento's FAR. Hugely influential on the early 2000's music scene, and friends and peers of bands such as Deftones, Will Haven, Incubus and 7 Seconds, the band never quite reached the stratospheric heights they could have, but they left behind a legacy of incredible work.
Since their break up, Jonah Matranga (vocals / guitar) has toured relentlessly all over the world, and has had success in both bands and solo projects such as Onelinedrawing, New End Original and Gratitude and has worked with Rival Schools, Frank Turner, Mike Shinoda and others, whilst Shaun Lopez started The Revolution Smile and is part of CROSSES with Chino Moreno as well as a succesful producer, but here we're looking purely at the work as FAR.
As usual, we're going to start in reverse order, with the least essential album release first, all the way through to their masterpiece, with scoring as per the BANGERS method, which is outlined right here. As usual, the notable tracks are listed with each release, with the BANGERS in bold.
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6. Sweat a River, Live No Lies [1991]
BANGERS Rating: 0.222
Notable Tracks: Remain Alive, Perfect Pair
Arguably more a demo than an album proper, this is a very different sound than the later records. Fitting more in the California funk metal sound, there’s elements of bands like early Chili Peppers, Faith No More or Living Colour than the post-hardcore sound they would embody, there’s still flashes of where they would end up.
Straight out of the box, Fear starts off with crunchy riffs and funk percussion, setting the tone for the remainder of the record. Jonah Matranga’s vocals, whilst far removed from the later vulnerability he would display, are energetic and suit the music perfectly. No One Will Know goes off in full FNM mode, slap bass and funky drum breaks with half spoken, half sang vocals (including a nifty little Rick James homage) giving a sound that is almost a precursor to what Incubus would blast off with later, but towards the end, it drops some of that funk, with the vocals getting more aggressive and building into a driving ending. An early version of Perfect Pair, which Jonah would use later as part of his Onelinedrawing project, is on here, and whilst it’s familiar to those who’ve heard it, there’s a big old Shaun Lopez blast during the chorus and some extra vocals that change it up quite significantly. Living Brother and Why Do U Hate? carry on that heavier sound, but on Remain Alive we hear the first real beginnings of the later band. There’s a touch of Pearl Jam to it, with an atmospheric riff over a rolling rhythm section and Jonah showing the vocal style he would use on Water and Solutions onwards. It’s by far the strongest song on the record and something I’d have loved them to re-record. Two Lovers is funk central, whilst Harlequin Day goes full on Bad Brains, with dub reggae bass and guitars which thankfully manages to avoid going all Equality Street, but it’s definitely the weakest track on the record. Dance Without Thinking brings the tempo up again to end the album, with big metal riffs, thrash style verses.
On the whole, it’s not a terrible record, but it’s all a bit one dimensional and definitely pales against their later work. Definitely one for the completionists.
Straight out of the box, Fear starts off with crunchy riffs and funk percussion, setting the tone for the remainder of the record. Jonah Matranga’s vocals, whilst far removed from the later vulnerability he would display, are energetic and suit the music perfectly. No One Will Know goes off in full FNM mode, slap bass and funky drum breaks with half spoken, half sang vocals (including a nifty little Rick James homage) giving a sound that is almost a precursor to what Incubus would blast off with later, but towards the end, it drops some of that funk, with the vocals getting more aggressive and building into a driving ending. An early version of Perfect Pair, which Jonah would use later as part of his Onelinedrawing project, is on here, and whilst it’s familiar to those who’ve heard it, there’s a big old Shaun Lopez blast during the chorus and some extra vocals that change it up quite significantly. Living Brother and Why Do U Hate? carry on that heavier sound, but on Remain Alive we hear the first real beginnings of the later band. There’s a touch of Pearl Jam to it, with an atmospheric riff over a rolling rhythm section and Jonah showing the vocal style he would use on Water and Solutions onwards. It’s by far the strongest song on the record and something I’d have loved them to re-record. Two Lovers is funk central, whilst Harlequin Day goes full on Bad Brains, with dub reggae bass and guitars which thankfully manages to avoid going all Equality Street, but it’s definitely the weakest track on the record. Dance Without Thinking brings the tempo up again to end the album, with big metal riffs, thrash style verses.
On the whole, it’s not a terrible record, but it’s all a bit one dimensional and definitely pales against their later work. Definitely one for the completionists.
5. Listening Game [1992]
BANGERS Rating: 0.375
Notable Tracks: All Go Down, Loud Mom, Anima (For America), Lied
After an initial bit of good old Bert and Ernie, the album rips straight into Promise, which is moves away from some of the funk sound of the initial Sweat a River demo and comes across as a hybrid of the more classic Far sound and early Pearl Jam. Hideaway is definitely a track of it’s time, a very early 90’s metal track, with distorted vocals, phased guitars and a chuggy chuggy riff. It’s not bad, but it’s not great either.
All Go Down is the first song where something special happens. The opening verse, over a simple gentle guitar pattern, shows the beauty and range of Jonah’s vocal, something that would be highlighted more on the later Far and his solo records, and even when the track kicks in with feedback and compression and what not, that gentleness and range stays, even through the time changes and the guitar solos, and out of a period where the band are still trying to figure out what and who they are, this is probably the best song they put out.
A bunch of songs from this record would show up again in Jonah’s solo releases, and True Love is one of these and in this band incarnation, it’s wildly different. Seeming like three songs at once, it doesn’t really gel together and I vastly prefer the Onelinedrawing version from the Always New project, with it’s Massive Attack sample and gentle acoustic guitar. Maybe it’s because I heard that one first, but this has always felt like a kind of weird cover (even though it’s the original), as if the song here isn’t hitting the potential buried inside. Loud Mom is another one, but this time the full band one is the one for me, Jonah’s solo version, stripped of instrumentation and nakedly raw, feels like I’m an intruding on a deeply personal message for another, so on this Listening Game version, I can enjoy the message and the melody in a detached way thanks to Shaun Lopez’s FILTHY central riff that flicks between full on Helmet metal and string scraping higher pitched notes, and the transition between the drop out in the middle before thundering back in is lovely stuff.
Anima (For Me) is nice enough, but an ultimately forgettable, acoustic number, getting into middle eastern guitar tones and hand percussion, and whilst it’s kind of an interesting left turn, it’s pretty skippable. Wade Through and Media are back into metal territory, but it feels a bit too similar to Hideway in sound, so it ends up sounding a bit like more of the same. Alright, but nothing to get excited about. Holding The Gun meanders along in mainstream soft rock territory, before going balls out in the outro.
Anima (For America) is a companion piece to the earlier Anima track, and it’s more interesting sonically, with feedback and distorted soundscapes rolling under the acoustic melody, with some excellent bass work from pre-Gutenberger bassist Malcolm O'Keeffe. Jonah shows some vocal chops as well, ranging from passionate sustained notes into ringing falsetto. Definitely worth a listen to hear Far being experimental. The track fades into Lied, the last song on the album, and at nearly 10 minutes long it’s certainly different to the metal tinged tracks elsewhere. A gentle track, with vocals flicking between Vedder and Sade Adu and the band for the most part showing restraint under the lyrics tale of regrettable infidelity, unfortunately, it gets a bit heavier towards the end and there’s a shocking, whilst admittedly earnest attempt at an almost rap delivery before going full Pearl Jam.
Overall, Listening Game is a pretty solid first album proper and worth a listen, but results definitely vary.
All Go Down is the first song where something special happens. The opening verse, over a simple gentle guitar pattern, shows the beauty and range of Jonah’s vocal, something that would be highlighted more on the later Far and his solo records, and even when the track kicks in with feedback and compression and what not, that gentleness and range stays, even through the time changes and the guitar solos, and out of a period where the band are still trying to figure out what and who they are, this is probably the best song they put out.
A bunch of songs from this record would show up again in Jonah’s solo releases, and True Love is one of these and in this band incarnation, it’s wildly different. Seeming like three songs at once, it doesn’t really gel together and I vastly prefer the Onelinedrawing version from the Always New project, with it’s Massive Attack sample and gentle acoustic guitar. Maybe it’s because I heard that one first, but this has always felt like a kind of weird cover (even though it’s the original), as if the song here isn’t hitting the potential buried inside. Loud Mom is another one, but this time the full band one is the one for me, Jonah’s solo version, stripped of instrumentation and nakedly raw, feels like I’m an intruding on a deeply personal message for another, so on this Listening Game version, I can enjoy the message and the melody in a detached way thanks to Shaun Lopez’s FILTHY central riff that flicks between full on Helmet metal and string scraping higher pitched notes, and the transition between the drop out in the middle before thundering back in is lovely stuff.
Anima (For Me) is nice enough, but an ultimately forgettable, acoustic number, getting into middle eastern guitar tones and hand percussion, and whilst it’s kind of an interesting left turn, it’s pretty skippable. Wade Through and Media are back into metal territory, but it feels a bit too similar to Hideway in sound, so it ends up sounding a bit like more of the same. Alright, but nothing to get excited about. Holding The Gun meanders along in mainstream soft rock territory, before going balls out in the outro.
Anima (For America) is a companion piece to the earlier Anima track, and it’s more interesting sonically, with feedback and distorted soundscapes rolling under the acoustic melody, with some excellent bass work from pre-Gutenberger bassist Malcolm O'Keeffe. Jonah shows some vocal chops as well, ranging from passionate sustained notes into ringing falsetto. Definitely worth a listen to hear Far being experimental. The track fades into Lied, the last song on the album, and at nearly 10 minutes long it’s certainly different to the metal tinged tracks elsewhere. A gentle track, with vocals flicking between Vedder and Sade Adu and the band for the most part showing restraint under the lyrics tale of regrettable infidelity, unfortunately, it gets a bit heavier towards the end and there’s a shocking, whilst admittedly earnest attempt at an almost rap delivery before going full Pearl Jam.
Overall, Listening Game is a pretty solid first album proper and worth a listen, but results definitely vary.
4. Quick [1994]
BANGERS Rating: 0.500
Notable Tracks: Man O The Year, Sister, Sheela-na-gig, Live to Tell
Feeling more like a compilation of new songs than an album proper, Quick is a bit of an odd record. Put out by the band themselves on CD-R originally, there’s a lot to like here, but it’s not in the same league as the later releases. Quick is big chunk of metal, sounding like Helmet covering PJ Harvey, a catchy riff masking a pretty forgettable song. Man O’ The Year is much better, shifting sonically through middle eastern sounding guitar parts and the big soaring chorus parts and deeply personal lyrics of unhappy relationships and the burden of child development, like Pearl Jam’s Betterman through Polly Jean’s lens. –less is back in that Helmet wheelhouse, chunky bass propping up abrasive guitars and barely suppressed rage, and whilst it’s a head nodder, it’s not the kind of track you’d ever seek out to listen to specifically.
Girl is an earlier version of the same track that appears on the later Tin Cans..., and in comparison to the later version, does come off demo-esque. The Ballad of Simon and Constance is a weird one for me. I kind of enjoy the song, but I can’t just settle in and like it, because I haven’t got a clue what it’s all about. Animal activism? Society’s inherent need to consume and punch down? Loveless sex? Fuck knows, but it’s an alright track, but it’s rare that I listen to it. Sister is a sensual track, delicate vocals and a sumptuous neo-soul bass completely awash in flanged guitars, cymbals and ringing arpeggios, punctuated with crisp snare shots. It’s a real highlight of the early Far releases.
From here on out there’s a slew of covers, two of which are absolute belters. In keeping with the PJ Harvey theme from earlier, as if her influence wasn’t all over this record enough (to my ears anyway), there is a cover of Dry’s Sheela-Na-Gig that fucking RIPS followed by an astounding cover of Madonna’s Live to Tell. This isn’t the “pop song done as ironic cover” that’s been done by bands both great and gross since the dawn of pop itself, this is a phenomenal piece of music, earnest, beautiful and utterly made their own. If ever you needed confirmation of the way that Far embraced femininity in their music, these two tracks are solid gold examples. The other cover is Led Zeppelin’s Heartbreaker, dropped down in tempo and tone slightly to give it that syrupy Sabbath sound before the big old mosh ending. It’s fun, but nothing more really. (Incidentally, for a truly transcendental Zeppelin cover, seek out Cave In’s version of Dazed and Confused, good lord).
Overall, I’d recommend Quick for the covers and a couple of the softer tracks, but the big sounding stuff is better elsewhere. It’s honestly worth buying for those two covers alone though.
Girl is an earlier version of the same track that appears on the later Tin Cans..., and in comparison to the later version, does come off demo-esque. The Ballad of Simon and Constance is a weird one for me. I kind of enjoy the song, but I can’t just settle in and like it, because I haven’t got a clue what it’s all about. Animal activism? Society’s inherent need to consume and punch down? Loveless sex? Fuck knows, but it’s an alright track, but it’s rare that I listen to it. Sister is a sensual track, delicate vocals and a sumptuous neo-soul bass completely awash in flanged guitars, cymbals and ringing arpeggios, punctuated with crisp snare shots. It’s a real highlight of the early Far releases.
From here on out there’s a slew of covers, two of which are absolute belters. In keeping with the PJ Harvey theme from earlier, as if her influence wasn’t all over this record enough (to my ears anyway), there is a cover of Dry’s Sheela-Na-Gig that fucking RIPS followed by an astounding cover of Madonna’s Live to Tell. This isn’t the “pop song done as ironic cover” that’s been done by bands both great and gross since the dawn of pop itself, this is a phenomenal piece of music, earnest, beautiful and utterly made their own. If ever you needed confirmation of the way that Far embraced femininity in their music, these two tracks are solid gold examples. The other cover is Led Zeppelin’s Heartbreaker, dropped down in tempo and tone slightly to give it that syrupy Sabbath sound before the big old mosh ending. It’s fun, but nothing more really. (Incidentally, for a truly transcendental Zeppelin cover, seek out Cave In’s version of Dazed and Confused, good lord).
Overall, I’d recommend Quick for the covers and a couple of the softer tracks, but the big sounding stuff is better elsewhere. It’s honestly worth buying for those two covers alone though.
3. At Night We Live [2010]
BANGERS Rating: 0.750
Notable Tracks: Deafening, If You Cared Enough, Give Me a Reason, At Night We Live, Burns, Are You Sure?, Pony
When Far announced they were reforming in 2008, my excitement was through the roof. The band at number one on my all time wish list to see were not only playing some shows, they were doing one in London and they were recording a new album. My anticipation levels were through the roof, even if the only new music I’d heard was a kitsch (whilst still brilliant) cover of Ginuwine’s full on booty jam Pony. In the immediate aftermath of the album dropping in 2010, I was hooked to it, but over the last few years, the sheen has worn off a little. Don’t get me wrong, this is still a GREAT album, but it’s not quite what it was at first, which to me was pushing for the top spot. I think part of this is that the band were clearly so influential to the scene that flourished in their wake, when they’ve come back to it, some of the magic has been watered down by imitators. It’s definitely the most polished of Far’s records, and the evolution in the record is clear but to my ears, there’s less of the sound of Jonah and Shaun’s respective dynamics crashing into each other than before, this is a unified, maturer sound, not unlike what Jonah did in the short lived Gratitude.
This crashing of two worlds still happens though, and when it does, it flourished. Deafening kicks the album off with a beastly riff, driving bass and drums and a monster of a hook, and the next track, If You Cared Enough, whilst a less riffy affair all together, pulls off the pop rock sound perfectly, with another big Jonah hook, clean guitar work and a great chorus, underpinned with piano and swooping guitar effects. Give Me a Reason is in a similar vein musically, cracking drum work from Chris Robyn and a big singable chorus but structure wise, the song feels very reminiscent of Jonah’s solo work and less like a Far song, but it’s still a great song. Dear Enemy is alright, but nothing special. I like the switch up of having the louder verses punctuated by the soaring vocal in the chorus, but I find the central riff gets a bit boring. Fight Song… is more of the same, there’s a bit more going on and it’s perfectly listenable ode to the touring band, but if I was making my ultimate playlist of Far tracks (which I am!) it doesn’t make the grade. The ending is a fucking belter though.
At Night We Live is a different story altogether, a beautiful and painful homage to their friend Chi Cheng of the Deftones. At the time, Chi was still in a coma from his car accident, and the band put together this as both tribute and an expression of pain and hope, and this is clear if you’ve ever caught a live performance of the song. One criticism I have of the album is that it’s a tad overproduced, maybe one too many studio tricks on some songs, but there’s literally nothing on this track that you would change. Shaun Lopez absolutely nails the mix and arrangement, building a lush, organic sound under Jonah’s perfect vocal. I don’t want to write about the song too much, as it deserves to be listened to and absorbed, but it is by far the strongest song on the album and I’d recommend it to anybody.
Burns and Are You Sure? Are a couple of tracks recycled from Jonah’s solo records (Sketchy EP3 and And… respectively) and given the full band treatment, and it’s clear why. Burns is a searing, angry letter to a former love, which I believe in this case is a certain major label band, and what a cracking singalong BANGER it is. This is a painful memory wrapped up in a fun 2 minute dancefloor belter. The Onelinedrawing version, whilst still thematically similar was a more musical version, with organs and a gentler sound, whereas Far here give it the rage it was missing before. Are You Sure? Is so different to its solo incarnation, it might as well be from a different universe. This is song that echoes a similar emotion to Burns, lyrically looking backwards to a regretful situation with indignant anger, but with a lot of musical depth hidden in its arrangement, with layered guitars and background harmonies buried deep in the mix. I believe this originally started life as a New End Original song (the short lived Jade Tree “supergroup” made up of Jonah, Scott Winegard and Norman Brannon from Texas Is The Reason and Charlie Walker of Split Lip / Chamberlain) and you can easily hear this track in the same tree as tracks like Hostage and Halo from their record.
Better Surrender is probably the least Far sounding track on the record, actually coming off like some lost Gratitude track, and is the weakest track on the album for me, just a bit of a plodder. The Ghost That Kept On Haunting is heavily electronica influenced, more in the realm of M83 and Twin Shadow than the old days of Helmet and the like, and it closes the album out in a lovely, if not a bit subdued manner. Shaun Lopez is all over this, studio effects aplenty, with glitchy drums, haunting synths and big guitars. When you look at what he’s done since the band chose to call it quits again, you can hear the genesis of his hip-hop based production sound in this track.
Like I said earlier, At Night We Live is a great album, but it’s a very different version of Far that came together to record it and whilst it’s a more than adequate swansong to such a massively influential band, it doesn’t quite reach the highs of those two seminal major label albums or have the same longevity.
This crashing of two worlds still happens though, and when it does, it flourished. Deafening kicks the album off with a beastly riff, driving bass and drums and a monster of a hook, and the next track, If You Cared Enough, whilst a less riffy affair all together, pulls off the pop rock sound perfectly, with another big Jonah hook, clean guitar work and a great chorus, underpinned with piano and swooping guitar effects. Give Me a Reason is in a similar vein musically, cracking drum work from Chris Robyn and a big singable chorus but structure wise, the song feels very reminiscent of Jonah’s solo work and less like a Far song, but it’s still a great song. Dear Enemy is alright, but nothing special. I like the switch up of having the louder verses punctuated by the soaring vocal in the chorus, but I find the central riff gets a bit boring. Fight Song… is more of the same, there’s a bit more going on and it’s perfectly listenable ode to the touring band, but if I was making my ultimate playlist of Far tracks (which I am!) it doesn’t make the grade. The ending is a fucking belter though.
At Night We Live is a different story altogether, a beautiful and painful homage to their friend Chi Cheng of the Deftones. At the time, Chi was still in a coma from his car accident, and the band put together this as both tribute and an expression of pain and hope, and this is clear if you’ve ever caught a live performance of the song. One criticism I have of the album is that it’s a tad overproduced, maybe one too many studio tricks on some songs, but there’s literally nothing on this track that you would change. Shaun Lopez absolutely nails the mix and arrangement, building a lush, organic sound under Jonah’s perfect vocal. I don’t want to write about the song too much, as it deserves to be listened to and absorbed, but it is by far the strongest song on the album and I’d recommend it to anybody.
Burns and Are You Sure? Are a couple of tracks recycled from Jonah’s solo records (Sketchy EP3 and And… respectively) and given the full band treatment, and it’s clear why. Burns is a searing, angry letter to a former love, which I believe in this case is a certain major label band, and what a cracking singalong BANGER it is. This is a painful memory wrapped up in a fun 2 minute dancefloor belter. The Onelinedrawing version, whilst still thematically similar was a more musical version, with organs and a gentler sound, whereas Far here give it the rage it was missing before. Are You Sure? Is so different to its solo incarnation, it might as well be from a different universe. This is song that echoes a similar emotion to Burns, lyrically looking backwards to a regretful situation with indignant anger, but with a lot of musical depth hidden in its arrangement, with layered guitars and background harmonies buried deep in the mix. I believe this originally started life as a New End Original song (the short lived Jade Tree “supergroup” made up of Jonah, Scott Winegard and Norman Brannon from Texas Is The Reason and Charlie Walker of Split Lip / Chamberlain) and you can easily hear this track in the same tree as tracks like Hostage and Halo from their record.
Better Surrender is probably the least Far sounding track on the record, actually coming off like some lost Gratitude track, and is the weakest track on the album for me, just a bit of a plodder. The Ghost That Kept On Haunting is heavily electronica influenced, more in the realm of M83 and Twin Shadow than the old days of Helmet and the like, and it closes the album out in a lovely, if not a bit subdued manner. Shaun Lopez is all over this, studio effects aplenty, with glitchy drums, haunting synths and big guitars. When you look at what he’s done since the band chose to call it quits again, you can hear the genesis of his hip-hop based production sound in this track.
Like I said earlier, At Night We Live is a great album, but it’s a very different version of Far that came together to record it and whilst it’s a more than adequate swansong to such a massively influential band, it doesn’t quite reach the highs of those two seminal major label albums or have the same longevity.
2. Tin Cans With Strings To You [1996]
BANGERS Rating: 0.917
Notable Tracks: What I've Wanted To Say, Love American Style, In The Aisle Yelling, Seasick, Punchdrunk, Joining The Circus, Cut Out, Job's Eyes
The first of Far’s major label records, Tin Cans is an absolutely blistering album. Opening with Shaun Lopez’s ringing guitar on What I’ve Wanted To Say, the album is far removed from the funk metal of those early recordings, veering into the full post-hardcore territitory of bands like Jawbox, Helmet and Failure. Chris Robyn’s drumming is the driving force behind everything here, with that snare sound ringing out loud and clear through every track, an there’s a notable change in the dynamics of the bass work, with John Gutenberger joining the band and bringing a harder, pick based style in his playing.
The first two tracks on the album are full throttle bangers, with What I’ve Wanted To Say being arguably the heaviest thing they ever recorded, massive bass led verses punctuated with the aforementioned snare pops and Lopez’s chunky guitar, and if the ending of the track doesn’t make you want to flip whatever table you’re sat at, you’re a calmer man than me. Love, American Style is a blistering critique of US talk show culture, with the sarcasm of Jonah’s delivery tangible throughout the track. There are a ton of modern bands that have emulated what Far are doing here and on later tracks like The System from Water and Solutions, but none of them quite pull it off as gloriously as this. Shaun Lopez kills it here, with the guitar assault in the build to the bridge sounding like the end of the world.
In The Aisle Yelling is another track built around a massive riff and menacing build, before cathartically exploding as Jonah screams “FIRE” again and again, presumably with the building around them collapsing around the weight of that rhythm section. Showing the switch in dynamics that is so prevalent on Water and Solutions, Girl is a re-recording of the same track from Quick, sounding better, obviously recorded in better circumstances, but the tempo comes down a notch from the earlier version, with the whole band sounding less intrusive, allowing the fragility of Jonah’s performance to sit front and centre.
Seasick brings a quick a hammer to the face before what is, for me, the most ambititious song on the record, Job’s Eyes. Slow and menacing, almost into Melvins territory musically, the lyrics are a story of the titular Job’s struggle in the face of adversity, which I take as a metaphor for the state of the world and the cyclical nature of society struggling in the shit that it creates for itself by exploiting the vulnerable. Clocking at over 7 minutes, this isn’t breezy post hardcore, it’s slow and heavy and completely hookless, and a fascinating central track on the record.
Interpolating Simon and Garfunkel’s The Boxer, and lyrics reminiscent of those classic noir stories of the broken down bruiser, Punchdrunk brings us back into big riff territory with a gloriously singable chorus, and with the big La-La-Laa’s and countdown to the end, it’s the kind of track designed to be sang along with at full pelt. Celebrate Her is a decent enough track, but doesn’t really go anywhere exciting, and the same can be said for Boring Life, which whilst starting with one of my favourite opening lines ever (You’re like kissing lipstick / you’re pasty, warm and dry), is just a decent track, not brilliant, not bad, just an album track.
Joining The Circus for me is the thematic centrepiece of the record, it’s not the best song on it, but I think from a lyrical standpoint Tin Cans… has an overarching theme of hopes and dreams being dashed, and the futility of hope, be it from allegorical characters like murderous explorers in Seasick and the dying boxer of Punchdrunk, or the commentary on society in Job’s Eyes or Love, American Style, and Joining The Circus sums this up in one, with the protagonist running away from his feelings of inadequacy and being trapped, full of optimism until realising this new place isn’t the Xanadu they imagined it to be, it’s just the same place dressed differently. It’s a great song. Cut-Out is the last heavy song on the record, again with the big driving rhythm section working alongside Lopez’s ambient guitars in the verse, before dropping the big chorus riff. Jonah’s delivery flitters between mocking sarcasm and seething anger (or jealously, I’m not sure!) perfectly, highlighting his ability to deliver tonality and context through his vocal delivery, which is one of my favourite things about him as a performer. Sorrow’s End closes the album out beautifully down tempo, atmospherically reminiscent of tracks like The Cure’s Homesick, managing to pack emotion into the relatively sparse lyrics of a transition through adolescence, with the band knowing when to restrain and when to let loose.
On the whole, Tin Cans is a great record and is a real showcase of what the band represent, the naked vulnerability proudly on display, too heavy for the indie kids and too vulnerable for the metalheads, much like its follow up, it almost came out three years to early to be as lauded as it should have been at the time.
The first two tracks on the album are full throttle bangers, with What I’ve Wanted To Say being arguably the heaviest thing they ever recorded, massive bass led verses punctuated with the aforementioned snare pops and Lopez’s chunky guitar, and if the ending of the track doesn’t make you want to flip whatever table you’re sat at, you’re a calmer man than me. Love, American Style is a blistering critique of US talk show culture, with the sarcasm of Jonah’s delivery tangible throughout the track. There are a ton of modern bands that have emulated what Far are doing here and on later tracks like The System from Water and Solutions, but none of them quite pull it off as gloriously as this. Shaun Lopez kills it here, with the guitar assault in the build to the bridge sounding like the end of the world.
In The Aisle Yelling is another track built around a massive riff and menacing build, before cathartically exploding as Jonah screams “FIRE” again and again, presumably with the building around them collapsing around the weight of that rhythm section. Showing the switch in dynamics that is so prevalent on Water and Solutions, Girl is a re-recording of the same track from Quick, sounding better, obviously recorded in better circumstances, but the tempo comes down a notch from the earlier version, with the whole band sounding less intrusive, allowing the fragility of Jonah’s performance to sit front and centre.
Seasick brings a quick a hammer to the face before what is, for me, the most ambititious song on the record, Job’s Eyes. Slow and menacing, almost into Melvins territory musically, the lyrics are a story of the titular Job’s struggle in the face of adversity, which I take as a metaphor for the state of the world and the cyclical nature of society struggling in the shit that it creates for itself by exploiting the vulnerable. Clocking at over 7 minutes, this isn’t breezy post hardcore, it’s slow and heavy and completely hookless, and a fascinating central track on the record.
Interpolating Simon and Garfunkel’s The Boxer, and lyrics reminiscent of those classic noir stories of the broken down bruiser, Punchdrunk brings us back into big riff territory with a gloriously singable chorus, and with the big La-La-Laa’s and countdown to the end, it’s the kind of track designed to be sang along with at full pelt. Celebrate Her is a decent enough track, but doesn’t really go anywhere exciting, and the same can be said for Boring Life, which whilst starting with one of my favourite opening lines ever (You’re like kissing lipstick / you’re pasty, warm and dry), is just a decent track, not brilliant, not bad, just an album track.
Joining The Circus for me is the thematic centrepiece of the record, it’s not the best song on it, but I think from a lyrical standpoint Tin Cans… has an overarching theme of hopes and dreams being dashed, and the futility of hope, be it from allegorical characters like murderous explorers in Seasick and the dying boxer of Punchdrunk, or the commentary on society in Job’s Eyes or Love, American Style, and Joining The Circus sums this up in one, with the protagonist running away from his feelings of inadequacy and being trapped, full of optimism until realising this new place isn’t the Xanadu they imagined it to be, it’s just the same place dressed differently. It’s a great song. Cut-Out is the last heavy song on the record, again with the big driving rhythm section working alongside Lopez’s ambient guitars in the verse, before dropping the big chorus riff. Jonah’s delivery flitters between mocking sarcasm and seething anger (or jealously, I’m not sure!) perfectly, highlighting his ability to deliver tonality and context through his vocal delivery, which is one of my favourite things about him as a performer. Sorrow’s End closes the album out beautifully down tempo, atmospherically reminiscent of tracks like The Cure’s Homesick, managing to pack emotion into the relatively sparse lyrics of a transition through adolescence, with the band knowing when to restrain and when to let loose.
On the whole, Tin Cans is a great record and is a real showcase of what the band represent, the naked vulnerability proudly on display, too heavy for the indie kids and too vulnerable for the metalheads, much like its follow up, it almost came out three years to early to be as lauded as it should have been at the time.
1. Water and Solutions [1998]
BANGERS Rating: 1.042
Notable Tracks: Bury White, Really Here, Water & Solutions, Mother Mary, I Like It, The System, Nestle, Wear It So Well, Man Overboard
In the wide world of music, behind almost infinite choice and instant accessibility, there are albums that are influential and universally adored. Nevermind, Trans-Europe Express, Pet Sounds, Black Sabbath, everybody knows them, they’ve all sold bucket loads and their legacy can be heard everywhere from dingy clubs and 13 year old’s bedrooms to whole scenes and corporate media empires. But alongside these albums, there’s always the also-rans. The records that don’t quite capture the attention of the public, but for everyone influenced by it, its legacy is undoubtable, a high water mark in their development. For many in the early 00’s boom of post-hardcore and the “emo” revival, Water and Solutions is that record. You listen to any of those big debut records from that particular boom and the DNA of Water and Solutions is all throughout them. There’s a shift in tone from the abrasive crunch of Tin Cans, with Jonah’s melodic side shining through loud and clear in every song, even heavy tracks like The System and Mother Mary have a restraint to them, juxtaposing the quiet and loud more than at any other point in their career.
Bury White kicks things off in spectacular fashion, with John Gutenberger’s rolling bass line underpinning the seismic shifts in tone from Jonah’s vocal, unguarded and raw whether screaming “No / Never / It’s all wrong” or soulfully singing “Soothe me lover” and Shaun Lopez’s guitar attack. There’s prominent dual guitars throughout the album, and this, in conjunction with Dave Sardy’s production (and keyboards on a couple of tracks) lends the whole album a richness of sound in comparison to previous records. There’s a joyful optimism in this album, in reverse to Tin Cans lift and fall lyrics, the songs here seem to start in darkness and shift to light, with the next two tracks, Really Here and Water and Solutions, epitomising this outlook, calling the listener to embrace who they are and to stand for something and inspire others to do the same, which is especially fitting in the political and social times we find ourselves in at the moment, particularly the line “Soon my doubles / Will pull off all of my stunts” almost predicting the massive gulf between who we are as people versus who we are in a Social Media environment.
Mother Mary was a minor hit, the one track that people only slightly familiar with the band might know, but it should have been a fucking massive one. A 2 minute power pop masterpiece with a simple riff and a MASSIVE hook, if this track came out in 2001, it’d be in the same conversations as Jimmy Eat World’s Bleed American, Rival Schools’ Used For Glue or Saves The Day’s At Your Funeral, belted out and sang along with at club nights all over the country, an iconic single of it’s time and place. The big modern emo song, before such a thing was back in the zeitgeist. I Like It, built around another massive bass groove, takes thing back into heavy territory, the bitter relief of the lyrics palpable, flicking between raspy screaming and melodic outpourings.
The System is a straight forward heavy punk song, heavily distorted vocals and frantic drumming building to that cracking half-time breakdown and raging finish, jarring against the peaceful intro of Nestle. A beautiful song, that manages to be heavy and beautiful at the same time, the pain of regret etched across the song yet sounding cathartic and free at the same time, it’s my favourite guitar part on the album, with the end of the song, stripped down to just a quiet guitar and Jonah’s falsetto a real high point of the album. In 2 Again is a song that tells a dark tale, with it’s dark conclusion buried under glitchy, distorted drums and multiple guitars. Like Job’s Eyes before it, it’s a fascinating track, but not one you would pick out as a highlight in isolation. Wear It So Well is back in familiar waters, big bass lines, heavy riff, gentle verses seething with anger into the release of the screamed chorus. Incredible stuff.
Man Overboard is a timeless song, as great now on record and it’s many reinterpretations when Jonah performs it live as it was at the time. The ominous piano notes under the guitar, the big riff under the gentle song, like two bands fighting to make themselves heard at once. Yes, it’s been done to death, but Far make it sound fresh, and from a personal perspective, seeing Far perform this on their all to brief reunion in London is one of my all time highlights from seeing live music. I have no idea what the song is about, but that doesn’t matter, because it just FEELS right. The album closes with two slower songs, Another Way Out and Waiting For Sunday. Another Way Out doesn’t do much for me personally, it’s a decent album track but I do find myself skipping it more often that not. Waiting For Sunday on the other hand is a great song. Clearly led by Jonah, with the main guitar part hugely reminiscent of what he does in Onelinedrawing (Tides in particular), the song blankets contempt for the isolationist fear culture of modern America in sympathy to devastating effect.
A completely essential album for any fan of modern alternative music, they should have been megastars like their contemporaries in Incubus and Deftones, but just peaked too soon.
Bury White kicks things off in spectacular fashion, with John Gutenberger’s rolling bass line underpinning the seismic shifts in tone from Jonah’s vocal, unguarded and raw whether screaming “No / Never / It’s all wrong” or soulfully singing “Soothe me lover” and Shaun Lopez’s guitar attack. There’s prominent dual guitars throughout the album, and this, in conjunction with Dave Sardy’s production (and keyboards on a couple of tracks) lends the whole album a richness of sound in comparison to previous records. There’s a joyful optimism in this album, in reverse to Tin Cans lift and fall lyrics, the songs here seem to start in darkness and shift to light, with the next two tracks, Really Here and Water and Solutions, epitomising this outlook, calling the listener to embrace who they are and to stand for something and inspire others to do the same, which is especially fitting in the political and social times we find ourselves in at the moment, particularly the line “Soon my doubles / Will pull off all of my stunts” almost predicting the massive gulf between who we are as people versus who we are in a Social Media environment.
Mother Mary was a minor hit, the one track that people only slightly familiar with the band might know, but it should have been a fucking massive one. A 2 minute power pop masterpiece with a simple riff and a MASSIVE hook, if this track came out in 2001, it’d be in the same conversations as Jimmy Eat World’s Bleed American, Rival Schools’ Used For Glue or Saves The Day’s At Your Funeral, belted out and sang along with at club nights all over the country, an iconic single of it’s time and place. The big modern emo song, before such a thing was back in the zeitgeist. I Like It, built around another massive bass groove, takes thing back into heavy territory, the bitter relief of the lyrics palpable, flicking between raspy screaming and melodic outpourings.
The System is a straight forward heavy punk song, heavily distorted vocals and frantic drumming building to that cracking half-time breakdown and raging finish, jarring against the peaceful intro of Nestle. A beautiful song, that manages to be heavy and beautiful at the same time, the pain of regret etched across the song yet sounding cathartic and free at the same time, it’s my favourite guitar part on the album, with the end of the song, stripped down to just a quiet guitar and Jonah’s falsetto a real high point of the album. In 2 Again is a song that tells a dark tale, with it’s dark conclusion buried under glitchy, distorted drums and multiple guitars. Like Job’s Eyes before it, it’s a fascinating track, but not one you would pick out as a highlight in isolation. Wear It So Well is back in familiar waters, big bass lines, heavy riff, gentle verses seething with anger into the release of the screamed chorus. Incredible stuff.
Man Overboard is a timeless song, as great now on record and it’s many reinterpretations when Jonah performs it live as it was at the time. The ominous piano notes under the guitar, the big riff under the gentle song, like two bands fighting to make themselves heard at once. Yes, it’s been done to death, but Far make it sound fresh, and from a personal perspective, seeing Far perform this on their all to brief reunion in London is one of my all time highlights from seeing live music. I have no idea what the song is about, but that doesn’t matter, because it just FEELS right. The album closes with two slower songs, Another Way Out and Waiting For Sunday. Another Way Out doesn’t do much for me personally, it’s a decent album track but I do find myself skipping it more often that not. Waiting For Sunday on the other hand is a great song. Clearly led by Jonah, with the main guitar part hugely reminiscent of what he does in Onelinedrawing (Tides in particular), the song blankets contempt for the isolationist fear culture of modern America in sympathy to devastating effect.
A completely essential album for any fan of modern alternative music, they should have been megastars like their contemporaries in Incubus and Deftones, but just peaked too soon.
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So there we have it, our thoughts on the mighty Far. You can find Jonah regularly on tour all over the world, and check out his solo work over at his Bandcamp page where you can also find copies of Sweat A River, Listening Game and Quick for sale. Let me know in the comments or on social media @bangersmethod how you feel about it, did I get it wrong? Have I overlooked a gem of a song? If you want to send me your own scores, please do, you can find the template here, send them over to me at thebangersmethod@gmail.com and I’ll add them to the blog post.
All of the tracks mentioned as notable above have been compiled as a Spotify playlist (where available), and you can find that here too, and this is how the notable tracks are split across the bands discography.
Love this band, love this article and you nailed the album order too. Thanks for posting this, saw Jonah play In the Aisle Yelling with Oxygen Thief as his backing band on his last UK tour, it brought a tear to my cynical old eyes.
ReplyDeleteI have loved your reviews. I realise you are busy but I can't wait for you to do your next one.
ReplyDeleteWhen are you going to do a review of 'toxic cheese'?
Great post dude, I love Far and Jonah. You should do R.E.M. when you get the chance.
ReplyDelete