Records: Moe.'s Tin Cans and Car Tires

By Molly Ball

I went to a moe. concert a couple years ago, when the group had just released its second full-length album, Loaf. It was fun. The four somewhat grubby-looking band members jumped around a lot and got really into it, as did the swaying, stoned, somewhat grubby-looking fans, many of whom had come from across the land in beat-up VW vans with tie-dyed curtains.

There's no getting around it: moe. is a hippie band. Their members don't bathe or cut their hair too often. They wear sandals and embroidered shirts. Their shows involve lots of light effects and interminable instrumental jams.

Two albums later, not much has changed--and why would it? Tin Cans and Car Tires, moe.'s fourth album, is a little tighter and more polished than Headseed. But it's still chock-full of groovin' rhythms, long, spacey jams, and wailing, nonsensical choruses. Sure, it's fun to listen to--but moe. is still a mediocre hippie band, less innovative within their dirty little genre than, say, Phish. Meanwhile, moe.'s harmonies are formulaic, and they can't seem to escape lyrics like "I know it sucks but I still dig the earth." (And do you really think "I don't want to die/ Too fuckin' high" actually refers to the "Plane Crash" of the song's title?) Their long, spacey jams always revolve around the same trippy chord progressions. The band is not quite capable of creating and sustaining that frenzied pitch of energy that makes you want to drop everything and listen.

The album is great background music for writing a paper or a record review as you sit sober in your room, idly tapping a foot but not listening all that hard. I like moe. They're fun. I would pay to see them again, now that they have some new songs. But I wouldn't follow them around the country in a beat-up VW van with tie-dyed curtains.

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