< -- Review of The Crowded Train -- >


One could call the local music sub-scene centered on Ocean Beach and its' premier nightclub, Winston's, the "Land Of 1,000 Side Projects." Besides being home to such perennially popular local acts as Wise Monkey Orchestra, dfRost, Soulcracker and Big Time Operator, the boho beach hamlet also spawns what seems like a new side project every month. Members of the above mentioned and other lesser known acts like Plump, Psydecar and The Damn Dirty Apes draw on an impressive pool of local talent, indeed. But one can't help wondering if the proliferation of so many one-off projects is the product of too much talent gathered together in one town or too little attention from the big time record labels and radio play in general.

No matter, the little beach scene that could plugs on, and The Crowded Train is yet another prolific product of the overflowing pool of talent in O.B.. At the core is Chad Farran, drummer and DAT-geek extraordinaire from local power trio Superunloader. Farran, along with Superunloader bassist Chris McGreal and a host of friends -- Tim Pacecho (Psydecar), Unorthodox Hunter (LAC), Davey Carano (Plump) and Eric Garcia, just to name a few -- mix it up as much as possible here. The problem with this admirable attempt at eclecticism is, however, that the album never really gels into anything cohesive.

Instead, it's pseudo-rasta meanderings at the start give way to idiosyncratic explorations towards the end, and no real musical voice ever asserts itself in the process. Maybe that's sorta the point, here, but it's too bad for the listener, since Farran's quirky songwriting has always provided a welcomed relief from the talented but heavy-handed pretentiousness of his first-team songwriting partner in Superunloader, Jimmy Lewis. Here, the only relief is provided by an instrumental, electro-dub track titled "The Prophet."

The Prophet-600 is a 6-voice polyphonic analog synthesizer with a 5-octave, 61-note keyboard, and somehow, despite all the guest musicians on The Crowded Train, Farran's composition using just this instrument is the spunkiest on the disc.

-- Will K. Shilling