« Blogging from Las Vegas – Apple’s 'iPod Gerbil' Attacks! | Main | Retrohump Day - Roxy Music »

March 21, 2006

MS Pick - Liars - Drum's Not Dead

A while back I posted the track "the Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack", the heartwarming swansong from the new Liars album Drum's Not Dead. Not surprisingly, it still sounds great. But to single that one song out is to misrepresent the album as a whole. Hugs and smiles are the exception, as a rule Liars are in it for the paranoid and the mildly psychotic. To that end, they commissioned an entire Cold War era German recording facility to blow your mind. Yours, specifically.

On the day of the album's US release, I seek to make up for my previous out of context offering by priming you with some more characteristic slices from what is easily my record of the year so far.

Liars - "It Fit When I Was a Kid"

With a moniker like theirs, it's understandable that an album title assertion is not enough to convince you of the drum's well-being. Look no further for proof than the lead single. It waits only a few seconds to initiate a superfast beat that demands a new term combining tribal and industrial. Tribdustrial? Indubal? Above it glides the strangely pretty (and heavily treated) voice of lanky Ocker Angus Andrew, selling cosmic nonsense like he means it. He gives further conviction to the chorus, which transcribed, comes out roughly to:

"Aah/ Aaaaaaaah/ Ah Ah Uh Ah/ Ah Ah Uh Ah Uh/ Uh Uh Uh"

The tension between vocal and drum could easily sustain the track's entire runtime, but to their credit the dudes have more ideas and a shorter attention span than that. The beat deserts us halfway in, its place filled by a wash of organs and the occasional well timed crystal sound effect. When it returns, the lead vocal is augmented by a floating backing voice, repeating "Duh, Duh, Duh, Da" into infinity. Which, if you believe the lyrics, is marked by a bunch of chairs.

Liars - "the Wrong Coat For You Mt. Heart Attack"

At no time does this suggest to me a group of musicians playing together. Much has been said about the unique sonic conditions the German studios provided; a room for certain drum sounds, a room for guitar, a room for vocals, etc. This track conjures the image of the compound most effectively, as Angus' hushed vocal nervously stalks the dim lit hallways, with snippets of sound joining and receding as their room's are passed. Field recordings of rushing water here, oddly tuned guitar loop there, a toy piano refrain down the corridor. A marvel of Eno-like production precision to be sure, but I have no clue how it would be assembled live.

I don't have to wonder what the Liars covering Nirvana sounds like though. Answer: a little ragged, but more straightforward than you'd expect. What the band actually looks like playing said song is more open to speculation. Supposedly, former Liars album subject, the dreaded Brocken Witch, is said to inhabit this Parisian rock club. Three film students went in to check it out, and were never heard from again. All that's left is their footage, which was eerily already given titles in iMovie. That's a true story.

Liars - "Territorial Pissings" (Nirvana cover, Nouveau Casino, Paris - March 15th 2006)

Witch sightings, Nirvana covers, and questionable facial hair are sure to figure prominently into the boys' current world tour. Dates (but oddly no venues) provided by the band's offical website, and also me, after the jump.

Tags: Liars, Berlin, Eno, Nirvana, Awesomeness

Posted by Jeff Klingman at March 21, 2006 04:47 AM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.merryswankster.com/movabletype/mt-tb.cgi/215

Comments

Posted by: John Motley at March 27, 2006 03:20 PM

Posted by: Merry Swankster at March 28, 2006 03:26 PM

Post a comment

Name:

Email Address:

URL:
Remember Me? YesNo

Comments: