Eureka California Releases New Album 'Crunch'

Crunch marks the 2nd Eureka California album in 18 months, eleven more songs you can't stop humming. They can't get arrested in NYC--well they can, but they're going to need someone to help post bail because they spent all their tour money on Dolly Parton cassettes back at the travel plaza.

In an age where everything's overplanned and under thought, underwhelming and overwrought, EC's spontaneity feels like a breath of fresh air. They walk the fine line between not giving a f and not giving a s and come down on the right side every time. Crunch moves with an easy, breezy confidence. Just when you think they're only tossing off, they turn around and toss off a powerpop classic like 'This Ain't No A-Side,' that can stand proudly alongside early Jam or Plimsouls.

On an album of two-minute bursts, 'Art Is Hard' is a 4-minute epic with lyrics stolen from other songs. 'I know one day someone will say the same things I have said / One day someone will say the same things you have said,' in the sound of someone banging their head against the wall, seriously fighting the need to be taken seriously. It ricochets between hilarity and pointlessness until culminating in the true brilliance of: "because it's never the being that you dream of only the becoming you want If this wasn't your life would you care what you got"

It's a game that Eureka California play like experts, and it's the ace up their sleeve. You think we're kidding, and we are--until we're not. Like a baseball pitcher who knows how to change speeds, EC works the corners of the plate, leaving the listener dizzy and off-balance, entertained but needing to go back and listen again. Did he say what I think he just said?

Torn between rocking out and giving up, their live show blurs the line between comedy and tragedy in a way that borders on performance art, a band who appreciates the dumb jokes as much as the funny ones, and yet on a good night they're one of the best bands you could ever hope to hear. When Jake Ward sings, 'Money money is everywhere but there's not a cent to spend so what do I care if I don't get my share?' you believe every rushed note and every defeated shrug in his voice.

In the tradition of bands like Mudhoney or The Replacements, they take nothing seriously, least of all themselves except when they do. But thankfully, they possess one of the best drummers on the planet in Marie A. Uhler , who gives the songs a force and energy that gets the hooks across.

Come for the show, stay for the songs. Eureka California will sabotage their dreams to hold onto their freedom. And in an age where everyone's got one eye on the blogs and the other on their bank account, they're exactly the kind of band we need right now.

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