Search - Liars :: They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top

Raw, Menacing, Skewed, Energetic

Phil Avetxori | 01/03/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Indie rock is too durn nice these days. Time was when the Jesus Lizard, Girls Against Boys, Ed Hall (local Austin faves), and pretty much the entire rosters of the AmRep and Touch and Go labels spewed out caustic guitar slop with BITE (not to mention bad intentions). I dug early Pavement as much as the next irony overdose, but the legions that took their tunefulness into saccharine territory throughout the nineties too often didn't have the good sense to back their angst with noise and punch. I soon tuned out the faux-cleverness and self-pity, and my horizons soon receded into the infinite. So as you can imagine, it takes a little extra "oomph" for a rock band to grab my attention these days, and the Liars serve up a satisfying mix of jump-up-and-swing-your-guitar-neck energy, textured noise, and crusty innovation.
Gang of Four.
There, I got that ubiquitous comparison out of the way. Sure, there's more than a little "Entertainment!" in "They Threw Us", but these guys are much more raw and lo-fi. At the same time, they're also more high-tech: reglur ol' drums are augmented by cheap-butt drum machine. The rhythms are bouncy, but any other nods to electronica are embodied in the loop-y aesthetic of the music. Guitar and bass play repetetive minor-key figures, often falling just a smidgen behind or ahead of the boxed beats (but just enough to give the music a resolutely rock thrust.) The singer has the post-Mark E Smith/John Lydon snarl down, and when ewverything gets pushed into the red, well kids, we're in post-punk psychopath country.
In the Tradition, but far from derivative, the best thing about the Liars is the fact that there's nothing cowering or tentative about their music. Sure, it's a tad sloppy and apathetic at times, but those qualities are always hitched to a turbo-charged "something else" that refuses to let up. If you want blood, you got it."

It Hurts But Im Ok

Alec Empire | here | 01/14/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you've ever wondered what would happen if you put gang of four, the faint, can, and a dash of drive like jehu into a cement mixer, this is your chance to find out.
It's amazing that with such an obvious GOF influence, this band still comes off sounding completely fresh. Liars are one of a small number of bands that over the last few years has helped remind me that rock's got plenty of room to grow. descriptive words:aggressive, churning, bored/infuriated. For those of you who scoff at interpol's inability to recreate joy division's sense of extreme urgency, this is your band. I read in an interview that their modus operandi is to figure out what people love about their music, and eliminate those aspects from their next batch of songs. If this is true, they'll have to start from scratch for their next effort, because there are too many great things about this album to count."

This is PURE CHAOS, so shake your booty already!

Brad Nelson | Las Vegas, NV | 01/23/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It's wide open for you, and quietly awaiting your entrance, as four imaginary boys pound on their chests and on their guitar strings, not particularly caring if you're listening, but if you're there, screw you anyhow. The guitar chords will continue to scratch and sing to their own divided melodies no matter what you do, so you might as well accept the Liars for who and what they are: liars. They will always be this way, and they've had enough of you for dissenting. Just turn on their damn music and boogie down.Certainly, it's not the highest art (or perhaps it is, and the wool has merely been pulled over our eyes), the Liars succeed in the way that Coleman's "Free Jazz" succeeded: by creating complete and utter chaos around the listeners ears. What seem to be cohesive riffs soon turn into some other form of utter nothingness, and you are merely comforted perhaps by a few electronic skitters, or by a voice, telling you, as always, to WAKE UP. They've got their finger on the pulse of America, and who would let go?Smart-arsed and ready to blow your mind, the Liars have crafted a fine work. Despite its seemingly amelodic intentions, there manages to be fine examples of melody in songs such as "We live NE of Compton" and "Grown men dont fall in the river, just like that." And then, of course, there are songs you can endlessly dance to, such as "Mr your on fire Mr." They even manage to find a moment of quiet daring on "Why Midnight walked but didn't ring her bell," though, clocking in at 59 seconds, it can only be considered a "moment."And then there's "this dust makes that mud"... which is primarily the defining point in the record, either making you a Liars fan or a detractor. The song itself runs on for a good eight minutes, and suddenly, the Liars decide to leave the studio for a while (perhaps for some coffee... who knows?) and leave the tape (and the 4-second loop) running for 22 more minutes. Call it overlong, call it masturbatory, call it testing their limits. All I know is, if I stop in the middle of the damn loop and switch CDs, I feel strangely incomplete. And that's how they want you to feel. Or they don't care, and it's really a joke. All that matters is whether you "get it" or not.I don't get it, but somehow I love it anyhow. Because even if it is a joke, it is a joke made with somewhat rebellious intentions, and far be it for me to love music on its rebellious nature, but that's what I find myself doing with this album. It remains the perfect soundtrack of chaos and destruction, a breaking down of borders. It's been done before, but who said we didn't need it again?"