Search - U.S. Maple :: Talker

Little Pavement Girls BEWARE!!!

Patricia L. Coreris | Pacifica, CA United States | 04/23/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"One either loves or hates this album. Listen and you'll hear Talker speak in one of the most refreshing voices of the last 10 years. With this album, US Maple experiments with lack of rhythm and structure. The build up on Bumps and Guys only leads to a wonderfully unexpected anticlimax. the listener in never sure where these guys are going. Head nodding is an impossibility. I have seen these songs performed live in front of an unappreciative crowd who either, dare i sound pretentious, didn't get it at all, or were simply there to hear something else-something which turned out to be boring as heaven! Any band that can make litte Pavement girls cower at my feet with their hands clentched over their ears is well worth checking out."

Grows on You...

mateodelaprudencia | 07/26/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I saw US Maple live in Minneapolis about two years ago and the show still remains with me. Their songs are not "noodling" but are, in fact, precisely executed and conceived. Many songs on this album were reproduced brilliantly on stage. These guys are the real, abstract art-rock deal. They are deftly skilled on their instruments. Their music is at a stage similar to a watchmaker with a fully dismantled watch: every individual element is distinctly removed and remote, but somehow fit into a larger idea. The space in this music, and what it evokes still fascinates me, and I've picked up many great guitar licks from listening to Talker. There are far more pretentious Chicago art-rock bands doing much less interesting stuff (90 Day Man comes to mind). Arguments utilizing the "esoteric rock addicts -- have to be different" tag on this music is casting off an essentially confrontational and energizing set of musical ideas that will only become more appreciated over time. The strong reaction US Maple elicit from listeners, either live or on recording, can only, in my opinion, be categorized as a choosing of sides in thewar over what the aesthetic of underground rock music should be. U.S. Maple rock. Bottom line. They are a slowed down, spread out, dilution of the medium. To deconstruct the medium only serves to create a broader understanding of its individual parts. The music may not be pleasant, but not all art is pleasant."

For those Unknowing relax.

mateodelaprudencia | 07/03/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In the words of Bill Murry in "Stripes", "When US Maple is gone you'll say I've been listening to them for years and I think their great." OK, so I replaced Tito Puente with US Maple but the point is given. The great thing about US Maple is they are destrying pop music while still staying within the pop music structure (loosely that is). The first time you listen to the record it does sound like they don't know what they are doing, but the more you listen the more you realize that are breaks and refrains and verse, and you'll be tapping along with it. If you can't understand what they are trying to do and can't appriecate what they are doing then you have spent to much time listening to 4/4 music. This is more "punk rock" than anything out in the last 10 years. If you wonder why bands like Pavement, Jesus Lizard, Brianiac, and Delta 72 asked these ex-members of Shorty and the Mercury Players to go on tour with them then you really need to go back and just listen to your Pixes records and think your into something different."