Moes Haven: Press/Review

"Moes Haven echoes the stripped down work of The Mountain Goats in voice, style and lyricism, and at times demonstrates the Goats’ comic cynicism. In another respect, the band sounds like a more authentic, low-budget version of Jack Johnson. Poppy yet soulful, the songs seem to counter the world’s crushing complexity with an insistence on lighthearted simplicity. Let Farley and Scalzo play music and nothing can get them down."

"With their sense of humor and detail oriented lyrics they remind me of early Mountain Goats with a splash a twee pop. The album is definitely worth checking out with such songs as 'Canadian Fisheries,' 'Let’s Open a Deli!' and 'Peter Bogdanovich Can’t Stop Talking About Orson Welles.'"

"One glance at the absurd titles on the track list from Victory is Our (For Now) (like 'Let's Open a Deli!', 'Isn't This Spectacular, Kite Flying', and 'Peter Bogdanovich Can't Stop Talking About Orson Welles'), and you'll be intrigued by their sense of humor. The songs are creative, imaginative, and fun. At some point listening to this cd, it's guaranteed that you will crack a smile."

"Sure, recording a half hour of music every day for a year is a gimmick. But this studio-bound New Hampshire duo, which did exactly that in 2006, didn't forget to finish the job. They edited. Nearly eight days' worth of music (182.5 hours, if they are to be believed) became 16 low-budget, pop-inflected throwaways. That's not a damning statement. These casual, comic one-offs feel fresh and spontaneous and offer a shambling ride that lands between The Mountain Goats and slighter pop songsters like Ben Folds or Jack Johnson. The spirit - less cool, more fun - is caught on the last track: 'You think you're such a hip cat dude. Well I hate to be rude. I hate to be rude. But you'll never be as great as Steely Dan. And you'll never make an album as great as Wham!. Neither will I.'"

"I give up. Music is dead to me. I couldn’t set out to write a song a day for a year and compile the best into an album per month. But Moes Haven have. And are. And will be for at least two more albums. One of which will include a song that I challenged them to write for little old me. I’ll honestly be honored because I feel like I’ve spent an eternity working on the very few albums that I’ve put out over a decade or so of me playing music, whereas Moes Haven have already put out more albums this year than I probably will my entire life. And the trick is that they’re very rarely offering songs that are mere fodder. Indeed most of these songs beat the pants off any Grammy-nominated album—often showing their varied influence as it bounces from genre to genre (dude “X-Mas Evil” sounds like an off-Broadway showtune!!!), yet still somewhat seamlessly. Amazing guys, amazing. And after I heard this collection of tunes about horror movies, I can’t wait to hear what you’ll write me. Thanks for making me feel like the worst thing to happen to music since Kevin Federline."

"I have to admit when I started reviewing the monthly releases by Moes Haven as they embarked on an ambitious year-long journey in songwriting (a new song every day of the year, with each month compiling their best jams into one release), I had no faith that they’d complete it. I figured, 'give them till May, then they’ll quit.' But no, they didn’t. And even better, they aged well as 'December' brings some of their most hefty pop tunes yet. Sure many of their songs are rather short but name me another artist who could put out over three hundred two-minute songs that are actually worth listening to..."

Check out this extensive interview with Matt Farley!

"In terms of the sound of the music, fans of The Beatles and Ben Folds would dig this. Hell, fans of Slayer would like it too. It’s a musical parodic travelogue of the 1987 movie Ishtar, which I have never seen but now would like to. This album is the 11th album Moes Haven released in 2006, and I think that’s hilarious too. One album a month. Good for them, I can’t really explain what makes these guys funny, and cannot tell the story of the group in this review, but suggest you check out their website and check out if their humor appeals to you."

"What a couple of wackos. This two-member musical entity released 365 albums during the year 2006. True. So, of course they have to have an eight-day listening party, right? What else would one expect but a CD of musical invitations to every one of the invited guests? Yup—46 different songs. They’re weird as shit, some of them are so catchy it’s beyond belief, some of them are toss-offs, and a great deal of them will actually make you laugh out loud (assuming you’re one of the chosen who gets to hear this)."

The latest offering to be printed is a tribute to their hometown, “September: In Manchvegas.” It’s an amusing lounge pop CD that celebrates various locations and folks of note in Manchester with organ, bass and piano plunking and tinkling away in the background.. “The Red Arrow Diner” recounts Songwriter Matt Farley’s love of “Johnny’s chicken tenders” and mentions the pictures of Al Gore and Adam Sandler on the wall along with a suggestion that the diner add some musicians, namely, Moe’s Haven. Adam Sandler is a popular topic, including on “Adam Sandler Visits Manchvegas,” and where else can you get lines like the deadpan delivery of “I said, hey man /hey man / I work in the same town as Dean Ka-men. Manchvegas” There is some seriously funny stuff on this disc.

"As Moes Haven reaches the stretch run with only four more months of daily songwriting to go, they seem to have gained a second wind. The album opener is a great jaunt down the memory lane of forgotten pop with piano jingling with power pop vocals. Noting how long this has been going on I’m thoroughly surprised that they have anything left in the tank. Many songs are worthy of a songwriter’s attention—the details in even lo-fi pop songs like these are immaculate. Looking forward to the next release."

"Most would have given up by now but Moes Haven ambitiously and perhaps stubbornly continues writing a song a day, every day, for this entire year... Now six months in the making, Moes Haven still manages to pull together some decent tunes. Starting off in “June” is a seemingly drunken escapade captured on tape. Some of their other tunes are more melodic and driving with an occasional real bright spot."

"And you thought The Magnetic Fields and Sufjan Stephens were ambitious. These cats in Moe’s Haven are, according to their press kit, cranking out an album a day, and taking the best tracks from the month to make an album...although these songs were shot out in a day, they’ve got some substance. Songs like 'Nebraska Plain' explore the longing to leave the stability of the country behind for empty pursuits of city life. In 'Slanted Sun,' my favorite so far, is a playful vignette of an ideal day in nature."

"Yes Moes Haven you may. I’ll take a veggie burger on wheat with mayonnaise, mustard, lettuce, tomato, and American cheese. Moes Haven have been writing a song a day since the start of the year and compile the best into an album per month. This is May’s release and it’s a bit better than the last one I received from them. The lyrics are a bit more sassy with songs like “So What If You Sing Off-Key?” that verbally shake their fist at losers like me who try to sit high atop a perch saying what’s good and what’s bad. Good job guys, you’re having a lot of fun and it shows."

"The 365-day song experiment continues. On the April installment it seems as if the fellas behind Moes Haven are getting a bit tired. Either that or the album subtitle is just pure ironic genius. The songs feel shorter and more forced, the recording seemingly rushed. Not too bad but they’re only in the fourth month and are showing signs of creative exhaustion, what are we to expect by month ten?"

"This band has set out to record an album every day for an entire year. Ambitious? Yes. Does it deliver though? Often times yes it does...Slackers should be jealous for sure."

"The third installment in the compendium of massive amounts of music by Moes Haven, 'March: Of the Aliens' finds the boys talking crazy...Manic for sure, but riff with surprisingly good tunes for these song-a-day-holics."

"Talk about ambitious. After completing a 24-disc set that contained 24 hours of music, Matt Farley of Moes Haven set about to put out 365 albums in 2006. 'February' is a compilation of the best of those songs from that month. I was pretty certain that given the aggressive timelines (they record thirty minutes of music every day) the songs would be crap. But incredibly the songs are actually pretty good. Sure it’s definitely got it’s improvisational moments and might not have the best lyrics or anything but I was surprised at how many good hooks are present on this folk-pop album. Now do you think any mainstream rock star could do this? I doubt it."

"On Sir Paul, their goofiness comes through even better. A synth on track 1, 'Love and Detroit', chimes along with the music. 'She's Coming to Visit' features enjoyable shimmering guitar. The vocals are bluesy. The characters are ordinary people, and nice people too, with normal human problems. 'Country Romp' is the best song on the album, with tootling organ and lovely lyrics.
So if you want fun, off beat, and minimalist folk, these are the albums for you."

In general, concept albums just don’t work for me. This one’s different though, in more ways than one. First of all, the concept itself is very different. Picture, if you will, a social misfit, a guy who’s too shy and withdrawn to talk to the girl of his dreams, or pretty much anyone else; who doesn’t open his apartment door because he knows it’s the landlord and he owes a couple months’ back rent; who has listened to Gordon Lightfoot’s Gord’s Gold album so many times he doesn’t even hear it anymore, it’s just become part of the background noise of his life. Then imagine that he has built himself a fort out of blankets draped over his kitchen chairs and table, and has resolved to stay under there at least long enough to review all the regrets and missed opportunities of his pitiful life. “It’s sad, so very sad. But it’s funny, too, because the singer knows how pathetic he is.” That’s how the artist describes it in the liner notes, which consist of a letter to “Pete and Tom,” whoever they are, asking for advice on track sequence. What this amounts to is really a home recorded demo, with minimalist instrumentation and almost no production. But the songs are so beautiful and well-crafted that it’s fine just the way it is.

"Their goal this year is to record an album for every day of the year, each lasting about thirty minutes. This certainly begs the question as to whether someone should do something simply because they can."

"'Franks and Beans' expresses a love for that food product, and the desire to eat nothing else. There's a health warning buried in 'Chicken Pot Pie': you can't be sure what's under the crust, and only the brave will eat them."

"...they are at their best when they are having fun like on the tracks 'Papaphobia' (fear of the Pope) and 'Moppin' Concrete in Early May.' When they are in this mode I would place them somewhere in the realm of the almighty Adam & His Package. At their best they are a fun quirky treat, at their worst they are catchy and annoying. Overall pretty amazing."

"This year, fans can look forward to a variety of good and bad songs, which could be about anything from food to the band's fans..."

"The good news is that Moes Haven is not a jam band; it's a thoughtful, if raw, acoustic folk/pop duo whose lyrics don't sound rushed even when they are. If it were just a theoretical statement on the omnipresence and disposability of pop music, the album-a-day project would be a worthy one. Sirius should give Moes Haven its own channel."

"...if most of the bad tracks are half as fun to as those found on their previous albums, like 'The Entertainment Profession is Ruining Our Relationship,' 'Gord's Gold is All I Have in Life,' 'We May Never Meet Again (So Give me a Tracheotomy),' 'I Wanna Meet Scarlett Johansson in a Coffeeshop at Three' and '"Domestic Bliss is Nothing Compared to a Night in the Red Light District," Thought the Sailor,' it might be worth it."

"'Stay With Me' is a serious love song, downtempo musically and lyrically, and you hope the character in the song will get his girlfriend to stay, so he can cheer up.
"'Beautiful' is an indie rock jam, with lots of electric guitar, that is, well, beautiful...'Arizona's Flat' ends the album on a strange note, jagged indie folk that rolls along in fits and starts, with a lyric that is exactly what the title says it is, and a perfect way to finish."

"Their folk style and whimsical lyrics would much be appreciated by anyone familiar with the 70's."

"The mysteriously short 'Arizona's Flat' is one of my favorites from this collection. It's like abstract expressionist folk pop, with just enough beat to fool you into thinking it's going somewhere it doesn't really go."

"My favorite Moes Haven offerings are 'Stay with Me,' a tender romantic ballad, and 'Moppin’ Concrete in Early May,' a lively and humorous tune that had me dancing around the room.

"The first-class musicianship comes through loud and clear throughout the album."

"CE my bird really liked it. The perk is that she gets quiet every time it plays. For those of you who have parrots-you know how great that is!"

"...these subversive balladeers of dementia make it all work somehow. And in the end, you gotta love them for their sheer lunacy"

"Some sounded like the old 60's, coffee shop ballads. While others, reminded me of the underground radio sound of Joe Bryd and The Field Hippies."

"And putting the quirk in quirky were Kevin McGee and Matt Farley, performing for the first time together on a stage, anywhere, as The Spoiled Chef."

"They are one of those opening acts that people throw balled-up napkins and lemon slices at."

"Can't really decide, if they're indie lo-fi indie blues genius, or just acoustic suckle...Somehow. 'Recognize You', makes it all alright."

Check out this article about Moes Haven's unique marketing campaign.

We happened upon Molly Kiely's address on the web. She seemed cool, so we sent her a disc. Shortly thereafter, she put up this glowing review on her site. As a thank-you, we recorded "Miss Molly Kiely." We hope she likes it!

The lovely Kate Amara introduced us to The Chosen One's always entertaining website, stringcheese.net.

He wrote this review of MUSIC FOR THE FINAL MILLENNIUM and INTRODUCING MOES HAVEN.

The article is called WEARING NOTHING BUT CHEESE. Scroll down the page about 1/3 of the way to get to the article, which is listed under FEBRUARY 13, just below the large picture of a heart.

"The synthesizing is funky, the guitar playing pretty simple, but the rap-ish, sorta-singing and songwriting is full of images, messages, and mirages of thought."

"...it may be the deepest simple music you'll ever hear, fun for the whole family, and guaranteed not to bore."

After he wrote a nice article about us, we wrote a song about Tim Bete's article, "Baby Pirate." Listen to the song at this site. It also appears on the DISLOCATED SONGS album.