Album Reviews

Buck Fever | Estradasphere

By Dan ⋅ August 7, 2008 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

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How do I even begin to explain a project so insanely diverse as Estradasphere? This band crosses and mixes more genres than any other I know. One song could start out with some of the most non-sensical, heaviest metal you’ve heard and smoothly transition to a classical jazz piece followed by Icelandic salsa. Ok, I made that last genre up. But it’s no exaggeration when I say Estradasphere is the most unique band I’ve yet posted on. To the common listener, this music may be immediately brushed off as silly or a joke, but to a musician or Obnoxious Listener who understands the purpose behind it… they just might see pure brilliance.

These guys clearly have an obsession with 8-bit video games. We’ve all heard video game covers before and probably think we’ve heard them all. But Estradasphere has the best re-arrangment of a video game track I’ve yet heard. Super Buck II is a big band jazz arrangement of the theme from Super Mario Bros. 2. It’s so good that everyone I’ve played it for knows they’ve heard it somewhere, but rarely can put their finger on it because it sounds like a legit song.

I know for sure this band is not for everyone. Honestly, I have to be in the right mood to listen to this album all the way through. However, this album is shows incredible compositional skill. If you thought it was impressive to hear Opeth go from death metal to an acoustic classical guitar arrangement, just wait until you’ve heard the clip in this post. The thing about Buck Fever (2001) is that you have no way of predicting what you’ll hear next. The concept behind this band was to collect some incredibly talented musicians from as many backgrounds as possible and just see what happens.

I don’t know how this many conflicting musical interests could stick together for so long without making it fun and even comical at times. You have to listen past the ridiculousness, but also along with that, remember that musicians are supposed to enjoy what they’re doing. So why can’t they have some fun along with it.  While all of their releases have pushed the limits of what we call genres, not all of them were as goofy and comical as many of the tracks on Buck Fever. And the tracks chosen for this post aren’t the goofiest on the album, as some tracks sporadically toss in the sound of Mario catching some coins or dialogue themed around hunting deer. There’s even a track with a small slice of the theme from 90210. All things aside, Estradasphere is made of some remarkable musicians and help lighten up the topic of Obnoxious Listening. They’re definitely worth some incidental attention, at the very least. Personally, I can’t get enough of the jazz rendition of Super Mario Bros. 2.

Estradasphere | mySpace | Wikipedia | facebook

Tags: experimental