Life’s A Ride-Donna The Buffalo
By Joe Boncek
Life may be a ride according to Donna the Buffalo, but their new album is like a car crash with no survivors. I’m not joking. I listened to Life’s A Ride several times, and each time I grew more and more enraged. Why did I get so enraged? Let me explain.
The first thing I do every morning when I get up (well, I should really say every afternoon when I get up) is calculate how many hours I’ll have to listen to music. The past month I’ve been dealing with end of the semester projects, terrified about graduating college and fighting a losing battle with my sanity; suffice it to say I’ve needed music more than ever. Of course I’m playing mostly sad music, reflective of the state I’m in. Some days I’ll feel confused and I’ll listen to some Electric Masada. The one thing I refused to listen to was overtly happy, unrealistic, hippie-utopian, content-with-middle-of-the-road lifestyle music. Unfortunately I had to when I received Life’s A Ride. And to cancel out your thoughts of bias let me point out to you that I listened to it four times, each under different emotional situations and circumstances.
In their press release, Donna the Buffalo explain their history and the fact that they’re comfortable where they are in their career, which is a microcosm of friends, family and a small New England following. To me it sounded more like an explanation as to why their music is clichéd, dull and irritating. In other words, acceptance of their stunted growth. In the CD booklet there are numerous praises of their ability to fuse genres, i.e. zydeco, country, reggae. There is a damn good reason why those specific genres aren’t usually seen together: because it doesn’t sound cohesive. I find each of those genres pretty difficult to listen to in a singular way, putting them together is like having Ben Harper co-bill with Trey Anastasio (hehehe); it just isn’t right!!!
To give you a taste of my disdain let me quote the lyrics of the track “Blue Skies,”
“My, my, my. Everybody gets high off love, love, love.”
First off we’re living in tumultuous times where our country is split in two over our government, our military presence in the Middle East is expanding faster than Michael Jackson’s guilt, and the “jamband” community is still pouting selfishly and profusely over the demise of Phish. I don’t see everybody getting high off love; I’m seeing people getting high off of pharmaceuticals, various hallucinogens, other illicit concoctions and negative energy. I think Donna the Buffalo needs to leave their quaint upstate New York environment and visit the real world stat. Unless that is they plan on playing strictly raves where everybody thinks they’re high off love.
During the intro and sporadically through out the fifth song, “Everyday,” there is the voice of a child. But it’s not cute, it’s annoying. I enjoyed when Rob and Al from moe. recorded their children for “Wormwood,” it was creative and cute. When Donna the Buffalo use their kids (though it isn’t specified who the child is in the credits) I can’t help but picture a bunch of middle aged hippies dancing at a small outdoor show with their kids running around, twirling, falling down, with everyone smiling, acknowledging how cute they are. That image just isn’t right!
I have a few words of advice for Donna the Buffalo. First off, Kathy Zeigler (keyboards) lay off the sustained Hammond notes, you are not a minimalist and the sound that comes out of your organ isn’t very pleasant. Secondly, listen to Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks for information on how to fuse various genres tastefully.
I usually try to find at least some good in all of the music I listen to. I’m disappointed to have to tell you that I didn’t find one thing that interested me remotely on Life’s a Ride.
