Liars | ||
| Allmusic Biography : A restlessly experimental act that never makes the same album twice, during the 2000s and 2010s, Liars evolved from arty dance-punks into a project that transcended genres with every transformation. As they moved from place to place and sound to sound, they swung between vulnerability and aggression on each album and sometimes within the course of a single song. Their time in Berlin ranged from the insular percussion experiments of 2006s Drums Not Dead to the postmodern biker rock of 2007s Liars. During their stint in Los Angeles, they celebrated the citys misfits on 2010s alternately claustrophobic and stark Sisterworld and explored emotional confusion with delicate electronics and dream pop on 2012s WIXIW. No matter how their sound changed, their music exuded a sense of mystery and searching that was only heightened on 2017s TFCF, Liars first album with singer/songwriter/and multi-instrumentalist Angus Andrew as the projects sole member. Liars roots stretch back to late 90s Los Angeles, where Andrew, an Australian photography student at Cal Arts, met songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Aaron Hemphill, a former microbiology student working at a local record store. The pair began working on 4-track recordings soon after, then moved to New York City. It was there that they responded to a musicians wanted ad placed by bassist Pat Noecker, whod previously played with Urethra Franklin and Neuromancer, and drummer Ron Albertson, a former member of Mercy Rule. By November 2000, the band was officially christened Liars. Working with Beastie Boys and Lee "Scratch" Perry producer/engineer Steve Revitte, they recorded their debut album They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top in just two days. Upon its October 2001 release via Gern Blandsten, the albums energetic dance-punk helped make a name for the band in New Yorks burgeoning early-2000s indie rock scene. The band signed to Mute Records, which released the EP Fins to Make Us More Fish-Like in July 2002 and reissued They Threw Us All in a Trench that September. After the release of the demos EP We No Longer Knew Who We Were, Noecker and Albertson left the band. The remaining half of Liars recruited Andrews former Cal Arts classmate Julian Gross as drummer. The band debuted as a trio with Atheists, Reconsider, a split EP with Oneida that appeared in December 2002 on Arena Rock Recording Co. The EPs experimental collages hinted at the more challenging direction Liars took on their second album and first for Mute, 2004s They Were Wrong, So We Drowned. Recorded in a cabin in the forests of New Jersey with friend and co-producer Dave Sitek, it was inspired by experimental electronic music and German legends about witchcraft. Liars then moved to Berlin and began work on their third album in an East German broadcast center. Their percussion experiments formed the backbone of 2006s Drums Not Dead, a concept album revolving around creativity and doubt accompanied by short films by the band and other filmmakers. On the following years self-titled album, Liars took a more stripped-down approach with more structured songwriting and a harder-edged sound. Liars relocated to L.A. and took inspiration from the citys loners and outsiders for 2010s Sisterworld, which mixed high-concept atmospherics with blistering outbursts and featured contributions from Jon Brion collaborator Tom Biller. That year, Liars also joined Becks Record Club project and covered INXS 1987 album Kick. To record their next album, the band wrote material in a cabin north of L.A. and worked with Mute founder Daniel Miller in their private studio. The result was 2012s WIXIW (pronounced "wish you"), an introspective, relationship-focused set of songs draped in soft electronics that drew comparisons to their previous tourmates Radiohead. The band did another about-face on the brash, industrial-tinged Mess, which arrived in March 2014. After that albums release, Gross left the band due to health issues that made touring and performing difficult, and Hemphill departed Liars amicably at the beginning of 2017. Andrew, the projects sole remaining member, relocated to a remote part of his native Australia, where he wrote songs that incorporated field recordings, acoustic guitar, and lyrics inspired by Hemphills departure and the death of his father. Those songs became TFCF (short for "Theme from Crying Fountain"), which arrived in August 2017. Following the remix EP VFCF (Variations from Crying Fountain) in early 2018, that July saw the release of Liars score to director Jeremy Phillips coming-of-age film 1/1, which Andrew and Hemphill recorded in 2014 shortly after creating Mess. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 13 Title: They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top Released: 2001-10-30 Tracks: 9 Duration: 51:42 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Grown Men Dont Fall in the River, Just Like That (03:03) 2 Mr. Your on Fire Mr. (02:27) 3 Loose Nuts on the Veladrome (02:19) 4 The Garden Was Crowded and Outside (02:44) 5 Tumbling Walls Buried Me in the Debris (04:04) 6 Nothing Is Ever Lost or Can Be Lost My Science Friend (03:03) 7 We Live NE of Compton (03:01) 8 Why Midnight Walked but Didnt Ring Her Bell (00:51) 9 This Dust Makes That Mud (30:07) |
| They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top : Allmusic album Review : The debut LP from Brooklyns Liars is a churning collection of jerky punk rock, funk grooves, and computerized mayhem that oddly enough comes off quite charming. With sufficiently angular guitars, British-tinged vocals, and a truly pummeling bass presence, the group rocks with phenomenal energy and absolutely no restraint. The half-hour-long closer, "The Dust That Makes the Mud," collapses into a puzzlingly repetitive, sample-ridden hip-hop beat that ends things on a bizarre note, but the lead-up is pure rock & roll, complete with the attitude and aggression that makes for a great listen. Liars have a surprisingly unique approach that distinguishes them from other groups in their willingness to experiment with different tones, volumes, and styles, all of which make They Threw Us in a Trench and Stuck a Monument On an astounding debut. Catchy group vocals are all over the disc, and just about every chorus is instantly memorable yet still somewhat pummeling. The use of digital sounds and beats only adds to the unique properties of the record, giving it a feel somewhat akin to later Les Savy Fav records, only with a much more punk-fueled sound. Liars are something special, and when a young band puts out a record like this it is hard not to pay attention. Where theyll go from here is impossible to guess, but with a band this hyperactively creative, that seems to be the point. | ||
 | Album: 2 of 13 Title: Atheists, Reconsider Released: 2002 Tracks: 6 Duration: 25:52 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Rose and Licorice (03:47) 2 Privilege (01:46) 3 All in All a Careful Party (03:15) 4 Fantastic Morgue (02:45) 5 Every Day Is a Child With Teeth (06:46) 6 Dorothy Taps the Toe of the Tinman (07:31) |
 | Album: 3 of 13 Title: We No Longer Knew Who We Were Released: 2002-09-08 Tracks: 3 Duration: 07:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 We Got Cold Coughed and Forgot Things (02:44) 2 You Know I Hate Stupid Phones (02:00) 3 Every Two Hours With a Ducks Fan (02:15) |
 | Album: 4 of 13 Title: Fins to Make Us More Fish-like Released: 2002-11-04 Tracks: 3 Duration: 14:30 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Grown Men Dont Fall in the River, Just Like That (05:48) 2 Everyday Is a Child With Teeth (02:54) 3 Pillars Were Hollow and Filled With Candy So We Tore Them Down (05:48) |
 | Album: 5 of 13 Title: They Were Wrong, So We Drowned Released: 2004-02-24 Tracks: 10 Duration: 40:36 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Broken Witch (06:08) 2 Steam Rose From the Lifeless Cloak (02:49) 3 There’s Always Room on the Broom (03:04) 4 If You’re a Wizard Then Why Do You Wear Glasses? (02:11) 5 We Fenced Other Gardens With the Bones of Our Own (05:27) 6 They Don’t Want Your Corn - They Want Your Kids (02:38) 7 Read the Book That Wrote Itself (03:09) 8 Hold Hands and It Will Happen Anyway (04:50) 9 They Took 14 for the Rest of Our Lives (04:08) 10 Flow My Tears the Spider Said (06:07) |
| They Were Wrong, So We Drowned : Allmusic album Review : Not content to be just the most challenging of the crop of groups reworking dance-punk, Liars -- now consisting of founding members Angus Andrew and Aaron Hemphill and new recruit Julian Gross -- redefine their radical aims on They Were Wrong, So We Drowned. Taking inspiration from the tape-loop experiments of This Heat and the finely chopped electronica of Matmos, the Liars also draw upon the legends surrounding Walpurgisnacht, the date in German folklore when witches fly to the Brocken mountain and perform rituals that coincide with springs victory over winter. The result is an album that, from its witch-hunt alluding title to its songs, is a riveting exploration of the dangerously seductive power of fear. Making full use of the political potency of its metaphor, They Were Wrong, So We Drowned depicts the struggle between a village of Christians and the women they believe to be a coven of witches, alternating their sides of the story track by track. According to Walpurgisnacht legend, one of the main remedies against the nights evil spirits is noise; after sunset, the boys of the villages near the mountains make as much noise as possible to drive away the witches and demons that emerge after being trapped in the earth during the winter months. Liars take this part of the legend to heart: They Were Wrong, So We Drowned is sculpted from layers of digital and organic noise that create a suffocating sense of dread. "Broken Witch" starts the album with ominous drones and stuttering drums that eventually fall into a grinding, nearly industrial rhythm. Its a deeply unsettling song, and not just because the shouted refrain "blood, blood, blood" is one of its few immediate hooks. But as challenging as the track is, its only Liars opening salvo: as it unfolds, They Were Wrong, So We Drowned gets progressively darker, denser, and stranger. The first time through, its mix of crushing noise and eerie negative space is equally exhilarating and bewildering, and in many ways, the album is thoroughly disorienting: its juxtapositions of modern sounds and processes, centuries-old legends, and ageless emotions create a thought-provoking cognitive dissonance. Likewise, the albums electro-noise-prog hybrid is as much of a departure from They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top as that albums smart, angular rock was from most of the work of Liars contemporaries. Aside from both having titles that tell stories from the viewpoints of the dead and defeated, the main similarity between They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top and They Were Wrong, So We Drowned comes from "This Dust Makes That Mud," the lengthy, lock groove-like track that closes the debut album and seems to have colored the intensity of the follow-up. The tribal drums that make up the albums pulse on the musique concrète-inspired "Read the Book That Wrote Itself" and the abrasive dance-punk of "Theres Always Room on the Broom" have a lot to do with its relentless thrust, but the sounds surrounding the percussion are far from primitive. Co-producer David Sitek shows why he is a forward-thinking sound-shaper repeatedly on They Were Wrong, So We Drowned, particularly on "Hold Hands and It Will Happen Anyway," which pairs the prettiest melody on the album with savage guitars and more of those pagan drums. This song, along with "They Dont Want Your Corn - They Want Your Kids" and "They Took 14 for the Rest of Our Lives," injects dance-punk with some of the sense of danger that punk once had. By the time "Flow My Tears the Spider Said" turns from a brooding sea shanty into a desert island of chirping birds and mysterious clanking noises, They Were Wrong, So We Drowned proves itself to be more like a force of nature than a proper album. By not just defying but denying the expectations about what their music should be like, Liars have created one of the most fascinating, confrontational albums of the 2000s. | ||
 | Album: 6 of 13 Title: It Fit When I Was a Kid Released: 2005 Tracks: 4 Duration: 14:52 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 It Fit When I Was a Kid (04:04) 2 The Frozen Glacier of Mastadon Blood (03:14) 3 Bingo! Count Draculuck (03:19) 4 Dont Techno for an Answer (04:15) |
 | Album: 7 of 13 Title: Drums Not Dead Released: 2006-02-20 Tracks: 12 Duration: 47:43 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Be Quiet Mt. Heart Attack! (03:30) 2 Lets Not Wrestle Mt. Heart Attack (04:33) 3 A Visit From Drum (04:21) 4 Drum Gets a Glimpse (04:16) 5 It Fit When I Was a Kid (04:04) 6 The Wrong Coat for You Mt. Heart Attack (04:01) 7 Hold You, Drum (04:44) 8 Its All Blooming Now Mt. Heart Attack (03:11) 9 Drum and the Uncomfortable Can (04:57) 10 You, Drum (01:17) 11 To Hold You, Drum (04:06) 12 The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack (04:43) |
| Drum's Not Dead : Allmusic album Review : Continuing to explore the noise rock/prog rock fusion they pioneered with They Were Wrong, So We Drowned, Liars return with another concept album, Drums Not Dead. The idea behind this album is even more abstract than They Were Wrongs conflation of witch trials and pagan rituals: Drums Not Dead revolves around the yin-yang relationship of two forces in the creative process, personified as Mt. Heart Attack (who represents stress and self-doubt) and Drum (the embodiment of creative energy and productivity). While this is an intriguing concept, unfortunately the actual music doesnt always live up to it. Drums Not Dead borrows pages from the urban-pagan, atmospherically noisy playbooks of both Black Dice and Animal Collective, although the album isnt as evocative as the former bands work nor as cuddly-weird as the latters. Nothing here is nearly as abrasive, or immediate, as "Theres Always Room on the Broom" -- throughout the album, Liars stay away from their comfort zone of dynamic noise-rock. This "quiet is the new loud" philosophy is admirable, but too often, Drums Not Dead sounds oddly blurred and subdued. Interestingly enough for an album that uses mountains as a motif, its terrain is actually more like a valley, starting and ending with powerful tracks and dipping sharply in the middle. Drums Not Dead begins with "Be Quiet Mt. Heart Attack," which is not only the albums best track, but one of the finest things Liars have ever done. With dark, shimmering guitars that recall EVOL-era Sonic Youth and minimal but monumental drumming, its full of beauty and brooding that is immediately exploded by the growling drones and heavy, tribal polythrhythms of "Lets Not Wrestle Mt. Heart Attack," which conjures up images of fiery, twirling drumsticks and sinister rites. Its tempting to say that Drums Not Dead gets its point across in just the first two tracks, but that would ignore how well "To Hold You, Drum" mixes noise and whispery negative space and sets up the albums surprisingly sweet, hopeful resolution, "The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack," which also ranks among the bands finest work. They Were Wrong, So We Drowned might have been too densely packed with ideas and sounds, but Drums Not Dead errs in the opposite direction: too many tracks feel like variations on the albums themes that dont really go anywhere. Though there are many moments of primal energy (the eerie, hypnotic taunting of "Hold You Drum," "Drum and the Uncomfortable Can"s climactic doom) and beauty (the flowing water and brooding melody on "The Wrong Coat for You Mt. Heart Attack," "A Visit from Drum"s expansive guitars and emotional vulnerability), they never quite jell into something that goes beyond being momentarily impressive. Drums Not Dead is undeniably interesting, but somehow unsatisfying; arguably the best thing about it is how it shows Liars are willing to keep pushing themselves into unknown creative territory, even if the results arent always consistently great. | ||
 | Album: 8 of 13 Title: Liars Released: 2007-08-20 Tracks: 11 Duration: 39:06 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Plaster Casts of Everything (03:56) 2 Houseclouds (03:21) 3 Leather Prowler (04:25) 4 Sailing to Byzantium (04:02) 5 What Would They Know (03:11) 6 Cycle Time (02:16) 7 Freak Out (02:30) 8 Pure Unevil (03:52) 9 Clear Island (02:38) 10 The Dumb in the Rain (04:21) 11 Protection (04:30) |
| Liars : Allmusic album Review : After making densely packed, high-concept albums like They Were Wrong, So We Drowned and Drums Not Dead, the most experimental thing Liars could do was make their version of a pop album. Liars strips away most of the concepts and some of the ornate sonics of the bands previous two albums, leaving a simpler, smaller-scale album with as much impact as their more ambitious work. Each song here is focused -- only a handful stretch past four minutes long -- but Liars wanders wherever it wants to, touching on noise, prog, hard rock, punk, industrial, and other styles the band has flirted with in the past, as well as a few uncharted ones. The album begins with "Plaster Casts of Everything," a flame-throwing rock behemoth that sounds even heavier compared to the largely atmospheric sound of Drums Not Dead. While its just as furious as anything from They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top, it isnt a return to how they did rock before. Likewise, "Cycle Time"s art-damaged biker metal and "Clear Island"s snotty, dystopian electro garage rock are unmistakably Liars -- loud, weird, oddly tribal -- but dont sound rehashed. They feel fresh, and so does the bands new attention to songcraft and structure. Those two words sound like they should hinder the bands momentum, but actually, they refine it. This is especially apparent on "Freak Out," which turns brilliantly dumb drums, rumbling guitars, and a melody sweet enough to be a soda-pop jingle into the catchiest song the band has done since "Theres Always Room on the Broom." "Freak Out"s mix of art, noise, and pop recalls mid- to late-80s Sonic Youth, an influence that also popped up on Drums Not Dead and that Liars explore more fully on this album. The cavernous, dissonant "What Would They Know" and "Pure Unevil"s nose-diving guitars owe a debt to EVOL and Bad Moon Rising, but never feel derivative. Liars also uses Drums Not Deads sonic depth sparingly and artfully, as on "Leather Prowler"s ominously muffled layers of organic and digital decay, and expands on that albums vulnerability with "Protection," which manages to sound nostalgic and uneasy at the same time. In between Liars ferocious rock and more expansive tracks, the band finds time to go in still other intriguing directions. "Houseclouds" is all funky falsettos, rattlesnake beats, and undulating keyboards, and could pass for a mischievous collaboration between Beck and Radiohead; "Sailing to Byzantium" detours into late night dub-prog. In a lesser bands hands, this kaleidoscopic approach could be a muddled mess, but it makes for Liars most entertaining album yet. Its a good thing the band waited until this album to make it their namesake: Liars may very well be the best representation they can do. | ||
 | Album: 9 of 13 Title: Sisterworld Released: 2010-03-08 Tracks: 11 Duration: 42:17 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Scissor (03:39) 2 No Barrier Fun (02:57) 3 Here Comes All the People (03:27) 4 Drip (04:15) 5 Scarecrows on a Killer Slant (04:14) 6 I Still Can See an Outside World (03:14) 7 Proud Evolution (05:03) 8 Drop Dead (03:36) 9 The Overachievers (03:15) 10 Goodnight Everything (04:32) 11 Too Much, Too Much (03:59) |
| Sisterworld : Allmusic album Review : After taking a break from concepts with their self-titled album, Liars return to themed songs with Sisterworld, an album about the alternate spaces people create to survive in Los Angeles -- and they’re just as weird, thought-provoking, scary, funny, and ambitious as ever. This is the first time the band has recorded in the U.S. since They Were Wrong, So We Drowned, working in several studios across L.A. It’s a homecoming for Liars in more ways than one. The band formed officially in Brooklyn, but Angus Andrew and Aaron Hemphill were art students in the City of Angels, and Sisterworld’s eclectic sprawl suggests that L.A. is the band’s spiritual home. Likewise, Liars revisit some previous sounds and ideas, but go deeper into them. More importantly, they reassert themselves as masters of uneasy listening: Sisterworld is a messed-up place, with the feeling of rampant urban decay and too many people, too many cars, and too many buildings rubbing up against each other. Liars use their whole spectrum of fear and paranoia, mixing their fiery and dreamy sides in unpredictable ways. “Scissor” begins the album with mournful choral vocals, piano, and bassoon, then snaps into violent rock; as Andrew sings of finding an injured woman and taking her to a parking lot, it’s unclear whether he’s hurting her or saving her. This confusion is key to Sisterworld. Unlike the more clearly defined targets in the band’s previous conceptual albums, Liars visit increasingly abstract territory here. “Here Comes All the People”’s vertiginous melody and swarming whispers reek of claustrophobia, while “Drip”’s fixation with disease and sinking sub-bass suggests being attacked from within. Sisterworld’s louder songs are just as complicated. “Scarecrows on a Killer Slant” throbs with self-righteous hatred, led by a monstrous synth bass and guitars sick with distortion as Andrew shouts “How can they be saved from the way they live everyday!?” “The Overachievers” is that song’s flipside, a snarky rant about bio-car driving hipsters who let their lives slide away with surfing and smoking weed; its the album’s funniest, and maybe most incisive, track. Elsewhere, the band puts a perversely pop spin on Sisterworld’s pervasive dread with “No Barrier Fun”; adds brassy heft to its despair with “Goodnight Everything”; and exits these alternate spaces with “Too Much, Too Much,” the album’s most reassuring track (despite its mention of demons). Though the concept and the band’s handling of it are impressive, listeners don’t have to be aware of it to appreciate the almost tangible moods Liars create on each song. Despite its explosive moments, Sisterworld is a surprisingly subtle album, one designed to make you think twice about the worlds behind the faces you pass on the street. | ||
 | Album: 10 of 13 Title: WIXIW Released: 2012-06-04 Tracks: 11 Duration: 43:07 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 The Exact Colour of Doubt (04:07) 2 Octagon (04:38) 3 No.1 Against the Rush (05:10) 4 A Ring on Every Finger (03:18) 5 Ill Valley Prodigies (02:03) 6 Wixiw (06:12) 7 His and Mine Sensations (04:40) 8 Flood to Flood (03:30) 9 Who Is the Hunter (03:47) 10 Brats (03:02) 11 Annual Moon Words (02:37) |
| WIXIW : Allmusic album Review : Anyone familiar with Liars knows that each album feels like a reintroduction to the band, and WIXIW (pronounced "wish you") is no exception. On their sixth album, the trio bring the electronic undercurrents that have been lurking in their sound since They Were Wrong, So We Drowned to the fore, but in a softly hypnotic fashion thats all the more surprising and striking given the sheer volume of the bands previous two albums, the gnarly rock of Liars, and the dense sprawl of their confrontational L.A. opus Sisterworld. Even WIXIWs lone rocker, "Brats," has a touch of disco shimmy to its beats while synths buzz and zap like a laser show. At the time of its release, WIXIWs electronic leanings drew comparisons to In Rainbows-era Radiohead, and in some ways Liars sometimes felt like the American-Australian equivalent to Thom Yorke and company in their willingness to defy boundaries and expectations. While there are certainly similarities to Radioheads approach here, most obviously on the eerie, floating "His and Mine Sensations" and the bleary, blurry menace of "Octagon," this is distinctively and definitively a Liars album. "Flood to Flood"s taunting refrain "teach me how to be a person/I refuse to be a person" is another prime example of the defiant streak thats always present in their music, while "A Ring on Every Finger" digs deeper into the percolating grooves theyve explored since Drums Not Deads "It Fit When I Was a Kid" and Liars "Houseclouds." Indeed, WIXIWs insularity often recalls the whispery parts of Drums Not Dead, another album where the band proved that they do quiet just as thrillingly as they do loud, perhaps even more so. Nowhere is this clearer than on the single "No. 1 Against the Rush," which is drawn taut with rippling keyboards and bass, creates dread with negative space instead of distortion, and still manages to be one of Liars most accessible songs. A few carefully chosen motifs, such as the acoustic guitar and found sounds on "Ill Valley Prodigies" and the synth flutes on "Who Is the Hunter," draw listeners further inward in a seductive, almost feminine manner. Perhaps WIXIWs biggest surprise is just how pretty it is, particularly on the luring opener "The Exact Colour of Doubt," where Angus Andrews singing is nearly as lovely as the sea of strings and electronics engulfing him, and on the albums title track, where shoegazey drones mirror and deepen the songs confusing blur of emotions. While WIXIW might be a shade less ambitious than some of their previous albums, its still fascinating to hear Liars wield beauty and delicacy just as formidably as theyve used force and noise in the past. | ||
 | Album: 11 of 13 Title: Mess Released: 2014-01-13 Tracks: 11 Duration: 55:16 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Mask Maker (04:07) 2 Vox Tuned D.E.D. (04:31) 3 Im No Gold (06:10) 4 Pro Anti Anti (04:19) 5 Cant Hear Well (03:26) 6 Mess On a Mission (04:05) 7 Darkslide (03:51) 8 Boyzone (04:41) 9 Dress Walker (04:03) 10 Perpetual Village (08:59) 11 Left Speaker Blown (06:59) |
| Mess : Allmusic album Review : More than many other bands, Liars are guided by an overall aesthetic rather than dedication to any particular sound. The tension and contrast between their wicked sense of humor and their wounded introspection is at the heart of their music, but the ways they choose to express this change from album to album. On WIXIW, Liars cocooned their vulnerable songs in subtle electronic textures -- with the notable exception of "Brats" laser-guided disco-punk, which feels like a rough template for the warped dance music excursions they undertake on Mess. Dense synths and hammered beats on songs like "Im No Gold" and "Pro Anti Anti" evoke packed dancefloors and nod to industrial music; Trent Reznor would be proud to call "Perpetual Village"s slithering, almost slimy textures and free-floating dread his own. The glee Liars have in turning dance music on its head recalls the dark mischief that ran free on their self-titled album and Sisterworld, particularly on the opening track, "Mask Maker." Opening with a guttural voice demanding "Eat my face off/Take my face off/Give me your face!" before kicking into a sleekly sinister rhythm, its equally terrifying and hilarious. Underneath the synths, Mess songs feel familiar (but not overly so): "Mess on a Mission" gives one of the best examples of the bands taut, snotty art-punk a glossy chrome plating. Meanwhile, the rare quiet moments have just as much impact as "Brats" did on WIXIW, with the tender "Cant Hear Well" and expansive album closer "Left Speaker Blown" drifting off into the uncertain territory Liars make strangely welcoming. As on the bands other albums, Mess dramatic transformation works in large part because of the personality, and versatility, in Angus Andrews vocals. The way he slurs "Boyzone"s titular word into "poison" and his cartoonishly doomy turn on "Vox Tuned D.E.D." add distinctive character(s) that give the albums forays depth. Given that Mess originated from Liars messing around in the studio, its a more spontaneous, accessible set of songs than theyve delivered in some time. Even if its not quite as striking an achievement as WIXIW, its a lot of fun and shows, once again, that Liars are unquestionably themselves no matter how much they push their boundaries. | ||
 | Album: 12 of 13 Title: TFCF Released: 2017-08-25 Tracks: 11 Duration: 37:45 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 The Grand Delusional (03:35) 2 Cliché Suite (03:36) 3 Staring at Zero (02:34) 4 No Help Pamphlet (03:26) 5 Face to Face With My Face (04:25) 6 Emblems of Another Story (04:48) 7 No Tree No Branch (03:31) 8 Cred Woes (03:46) 9 Coins in My Caged Fist (03:19) 10 Ripe Ripe Rot (02:36) 11 Crying Fountain (02:05) |
| TFCF : Allmusic album Review : Liars constant changes came to a peak when Aaron Hemphill departed the band in 2016, leaving Angus Andrew as its sole member. In some ways, TFCF (short for Theme from Crying Fountain) couldve been a solo album, but its more than that: its a solitary album. Andrew relocated to a remote part of Australia, and he captures the mood of living there as vividly as he did on Liars Los Angeles-inspired albums Sisterworld and Mess; indeed, the field recordings of his new home add so much character, they may as well be new bandmembers. Solitude allowed Andrew room to ruminate and experiment, and the sonic leaps he makes on TFCF might have taken several albums to accomplish with a fuller band. These sparse, atmospheric songs re-orient themselves constantly: "The Grand Delusional" begins as an eerie campfire song complete with the sounds of the bush, then a woozy drum pattern takes it in a completely different direction. "Coins in My Caged Fist" juxtaposes inscrutable lyrics with emotionally naked ones ("All in all the pattern is lost … you turned on me"), while "Face to Face with My Face" is a claustrophobic hall of mirrors that recalls the suffocating strangeness of Drums Not Dead. More often, however, Andrew spends TFCF discovering sounds that previous incarnations of Liars somehow never explored, whether its the oddly majestic psychedelic flamenco of "Cliché Suite" or the brittle piano pop of "No Tree No Branch," one of a streak of surprisingly catchy songs on the albums second half. Amidst all the change, Andrew holds onto some quintessential Liars qualities. "Cred Woes" is the next evolution of the projects snarky art-punk, with Andrew fretting over aging out of the culture wars as a "My Sharona"-like riff briefly stomps through the track, while "Staring at Zero" conjures the bands dead-of-night malevolence. Unexpectedly, many of TFCFs best moments explore Liars ability to go from menacing to affecting in an instant. The sense of loss, both past and impending, is palpable on fractured ballads like "Emblems of Another Story" and "No Help Pamphlet," which ends with a slowed-down whisper of "Im thinking of you all the time" thats equally unsettling and bittersweet. The album takes a mournful turn as it ends, with the desolate "Crying Fountain" suggesting that theres more than just disturbing humor to the album covers image of Andrew as a jilted bride. Above all, its TFCFs haunting mood that unites its fragments into something true to the outsider perspective at the heart of all of Liars music. | ||
 | Album: 13 of 13 Title: 1/1 (original Motion Picture Soundtrack) Released: 2018-07-17 Tracks: 15 Duration: 43:36 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 No Now Not Your Face (02:53) 2 Cottagevej (02:00) 3 Caused By the Glitch (01:33) 4 Helsingor Lane (04:19) 5 Lesson In Threes (01:47) 6 Telepathic Interrogation (01:57) 7 Gesta Danorum (02:12) 8 Caused By the Pitch (03:06) 9 The Jelling Ship (02:06) 10 Shitraver (03:29) 11 Drastic Tactic (02:30) 12 Liquorice (03:42) 13 Nøkke (02:37) 14 The Finger Plan (02:44) 15 Beyond (06:41) |