Liars
http://www.liarsliarsliars.com
styles: indie rock, post-rock, experimental rock, post-punk
others: Giddy Motors, A Certain Ratio, A.R. Kane, Campfire Songs
 Drum's
Not Dead
Mute, 2006
rating: 5/5
reviewer: dave gurney
I'm just going to come out and say it: Liars are the most thoughtful,
provocative, and ultimately important band currently in operation. I know that a
lot of folks will take issue with this statement, but they achieve something
that few challenging acts ever do. Liars exist so successfully in the realm of
underground/indie rock that they actually have attracted an audience that is
challenged by their incendiary take on music. The hubbub over They Were
Wrong, So We Drowned made record reviews and record store chatter a delight
to behold. It was a truly divisive release that had naysayers fervently decrying
the lack of musicality and supporters calling it the most important record of
the year. Now that's what I call rock 'n' roll.
Obviously I fell into the "most important record" camp on the last release, and
I have to admit that I'm there again with Drum's Not Dead. While its
predecessor may be even less approachable, this new entry still has plenty of
noise feasts for those who are looking. Immediately following the blissful
meditation of "Be Quiet Mt. Heart Attack," "Let's Not Wrestle Mt. Heart Attack"
starts with a muted war cry and a rumbling double tom-tom attack that eventually
builds to cataclysmic proportions. However, there is a more songcentric quality
to the entire effort, with very little cacophony existing without some
counterpoint of melody. In fact, for those who have only heard They Were
Wrong, this album may seem surprisingly tame at first, but beneath the
veneer is a wealth of delicately constructed songs with many layers to offer.
"It Fit When I Was a Kid" functions as the first single and deservedly so. In
its four minutes, it perfectly captures the careful balancing act that Liars are
pulling off over the course of the entire album. Over a restrained bass and tom
bed, the vocals move menacingly, "I jumped a neighbor's fence at dawn/ Danced
my way across your lawn/ Used a diamond on the glass/ Slithered slowly through
the dark." The tone is absolutely creepy. An organ line enters, at first
amplifying the sinister quality, but soon the vocals move to a higher register
and the song takes on a fragile beauty. This dichotomy of ugly/beauty exists
throughout the album. There are entire tracks, particularly the opener "Be Quiet
Mt. Heart Attack" and the closer "The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack," that
sparkle as jewels of aural opulence, and there are others, like "Let's Not
Wrestle Mt. Heart Attack," that are decidedly dark.
This back-and-forth tension is appropriate given the overarching concept
(although Liars don't want this to be understood as a concept album) of the
struggle between the opposing forces of open creative energy and stultifying
self-doubt, which they call respectively "Drum" and "Mt. Heart Attack." Okay, so
obviously there is a willful abstruseness to these names, but the idea is potent
and entirely apt, making for a hell of a treatise on the creative process. Only
three albums into their existence, this level of introspection into the trouble
of artistry is quite simply impressive. So come now fans of insidious and wily
(yet cerebral) rock, Liars have delivered just what you need...even if you don't
realize it yet.
1. Be Quiet Mt. Heart Attack
2. Let's Not Wrestle Mt. Heart Attack
3. A Visit From Drum
4. Drum Gets a Glimpse
5. It Fit When I Was a Kid
6. The Wrong Coat For You Mt. Heart Attack
7. Hold You, Drum
8. It's All Blooming Now Mt. Heart Attack
9. Drum and The Uncomfortable Can
10. You, Drum
11. To Hold You, Drum
12. The Other Side Of Mt. Heart Attack
 They
Were Wrong, So We Drowned
Mute, 2004
rating: 4.5/5
reviewer: amneziak
When Liars hit the music scene in 2001, the name of their album and song titles
weren't the only thing that seemed a little peculiar to everyone. This was a
band that had chewed up the mass of their influences and spit them out in an
entirely new fashion. With only one record, they created a buzz that even they
couldn't get rid of if they wanted to. Upon arrival of their unique debut
release, They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top,
critics and fans alike were fast to realize Liars was stylistically similar to a
lot of the other NYC-based bands revitalizing the late '70s/early '80s post-punk
dance scene. Even so, while they were immediately pigeonholed into this
category, they were able to add an edgy, almost avant-garde boldness that the
others were simply not exploring.
The same can also be said for They Were Wrong, So We Drowned. The only
thing here that's similar to their debut is that the song titles and album name
are still very unique (both albums start with the word "they"). With that aside,
the primary thing you'll discover once you listen to this album is that things
have drastically changed, for the better. The envelope has been moved in an
entirely new direction, and the band wouldn't have it any other way. Liars take
great pride in breaking out of the genre-defining boxes they're thrown in. In
the same way Radiohead took an impeccable album like OK Computer and
stepped into unfamiliar territory with Kid A, Liars have sidestepped the
majority of their familiar styles and broken free towards new explorations. Now,
I won't go so far as to say They Were Wrong sounds like Kid A, but
it definitely gives me the same feelings I had the first time I heard that
album.
There's a detached coldness that emanates in They Were Wrong. Perhaps
it's due to the fact that a type of German witchcraft, known as Walpurgisnacht,
inspired the album. Whatever the reason, the album is very dense, imaginative,
and executed with chaotic precision. "Broken Witch" begins with disconnected
electronics and a drum machine that has you immediately finding this record more
electronic than its predecessors. In many cases, the drums have been played
live, recorded, and then manipulated to assist in this concept. "There's Always
Room on the Broom" is a distorted beauty with its heavy microphone feedback and
high-pitched vocals. The best track, "We Fenced Other Houses with the Bones of
Our Own," is easily the most sinuous moment of the album and simply impossible
not to compare to the same approach Radiohead took on Kid A. The
instrumental "Read the Book That Wrote Itself" is a collection of eerie keyboard
sounds with ritualistic drumming and pencil writing. As with They Threw Us
All In a Trench, the longest song, "Flow My Tears the Spider Said" is saved
until the end of the album. Although I really tried to stay away from this
comparison, I can't help but think it's strikingly similar in some ways to The
Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds." It's then slowly faded away to the
sounds of birds and minimal instrumentation.
They Were Wrong, So We Drowned is an incredibly tight album, and it's
surely going to be one of the year's first greatly admired albums. Each song is
independent to the others, yet collectively this album is very cohesive. Since
the songs all bare similarities in visual terms, I guess you could say it's a
concept album of sorts. If breaking free from their own mold is this band's
forte, then I imagine we are going to hear quite an array of sounds in future
releases. One thing you'll always be assured of is that Liars show up to give a
great and lasting impression whenever they enter the studio. They prove once
again that even with their rotation of musicians, they are capable of taking the
scene by the hair and utilizing their talents in every way possible to remain
one of the most exciting bands around.
1. Broken Witch
2. Steam Rose From the Lifeless Cloak
3. There's Always Room on the Broom
4. If You're A Wizard, Then Why Do You Hear Glasses
5. We Fenced Other Houses with the Bones of Our Own
6. They Don't Want Your Corn, The Want Your Kids
7. Read the Book That Wrote Itself
8. Hold and It Will Happen Anyway
9. The Took 14 for the Rest of Our Lives
10. Flow My Tears the Spider Said
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