Kung fu FARMSitude

Remember FARMS? Well the noise rock duo of Ben Larson and Andy Todryk (and proprietors of the house venue Red Mountain) recently left Eau Claire, and are pushing their solo projects of Merlin Monroe and Vacation Dad.

Andy's Vacation Dad has enjoyed some big success, starting with a Pitchfork nod a year ago, and continuing with music blog buzz on Altered Zones, No Fear of Pop, Impose Magazine, and "just about every other blog on the internet," Andy says. He's in L.A. right now setting up a new headquarters, but on the way ran into some trouble in Albuquerque. First, his van was broken into and everything from his gear and computer to clothes and money are gone. Then he was riding his bike around and, SMACK, a U-Haul hits him and speeds off. 

"We've just hit this crazy streak of bad luck, and we really need all our friends help to get through it," Andy wrote in an e-mail to us.

In an effort to reverse the tides, Andy's label of MJ MJ (two Michael Jordans) has started a Kickstarter fundraising campaign to get their gear back and release their sold-out album on vinyl. If you do, you'll be rewarded.

"We made this totally insane 31-track Save MJ MJ dual cassette compilation. There are 25 new exclusive tracks from a ton of awesome bands, and 6 oldies. You can stream it on our bandcamp."

So visit the site, check out the video, and contribute to this rising act with Eau Claire roots.