Review 1 of 2

PlayCrackTheSky writes:

5of 5 Stars

This is one of my favorite albums of all time. The first 12 videos on the DVD known as "Drums Not Bread" are also fantastic. The Liars are delicious...

Jun 29, 2008 18:11:06

Review 2 of 2

PatrickSperry writes:

2of 5 Stars

Critics all around, hordes of indie kids, obscurant wannabes, fans, and generally low-astute listeners may have been fooled by The Liars most recent release, but I will NOT be blinded by their latest attempt to shakedown the average listener into believing that they are true artists, as well as the next Radiohead or Sonic Youth. The Liars must think people who like good music are pretty fucking stupid, and they must be right too, because even people whose taste I respect told me all about how great this piece of jet trash is. Maybe it’s because the Liars are smart. Yeah, that’s probably it. They’d have to be to convince so many legions of kids that this is one of the most brilliant releases of 2006 (This hit the top ten in many, many best of lists).

The album actually begins quite promising, with its opener, “Be Quiet Mt.Heart attack!” and the following song, “Let’s Not Wrestle Mt.Heart attack.” This is the absolute peak of the record. It hardly gets off the ground for Christ’s sake! From that point on, it’s all down hill (no puns intended). The reason why I had to listen to this album 600 times was just because it’s very boring music. No, it never grew on me and it’s clear at this point that it won’t. It’s too weak to be a grower. When the record was over the first words that went through my head were “Wait, what the hell?” I was even expecting some hidden track to make up for its un-climatic ending. But it’s not like the album never does accomplish true beauty or catharsis, which was no doubt the intention.

The concept of this album is supposedly something to do with two forces: Mount Heart Attack, which is a symbolic noun representing self-doubt and stress. The second, being simply Drum, which is the archetype of creative energy. This is certainly some deep shit. When I first made this discovery I was nearly blown out of my chair in bewilderment; “how the HELL do three kids come up with cosmic shit like this?” A concept like this does not deserve weak music, which this is. It is clear that the band got a hold of Tool’s footnotes.
To me, this sounds like they had more fun making this record than anything (and probably put more effort into making the accompanying dvd). I can envision the boys now, sitting around the living room, discussing the latest issue of Adbusters (as well as the latest episode of sealab), Puffing away on some strong reefer, and discussing the whole idea that going to Berlin is what makes music brilliant. Sad to think that when The Liars hit Berlin they probably realized something very crucial: The Liars aren’t Bowie and they don’t know Brian Eno. So much for what was supposed to be a sonic landscape illustrating a mountain, boys.

I’m not being too hard on this album. I don’t feel this way because I find Angus Andrew’s voice to be a Thom Yorke mimic. I don’t even like Radiohead all that much. This album is far from a masterstroke, and the bands’ scope has a much smaller circumference than what you are led to believe, and many have been led astray. But, fortunately for them, that’s at least one thing The Liars learned how to do in 2006 with this album.

PATRICK SPERRY

Feb 26, 2007 21:06:18