In Review: Liars - "They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument On Top"

Reminds Me Of:
A dash of The Strokes, a pinch of Red Hot Chili Pepper's (late 80's version), a teaspoon of Radiohead, set to mulch.

High On:
* The manic delievery of nearly every note.
* The subtle electronics which, in addition to earning a Radiohead comparison, make for a much more interesting listen.
* The undeniable groove found on most of the album... it's art-rock you can shake your ass to.
* The sheer creepiness of closing track "This Dirt Makes That Mud".
* The undisputed creativity of the titles: in addition to the 13-word album title, Liars also throw in Goddamnable song titles like "Tumbling Walls Buried Me In The Debris With ESG" and "Nothing Is Ever Lost Or Can Be Lost My Science Friend". However, my personal favorite is "Grown Men Don't Fall In The River, Just Like That".

Low On:
* The album's length: sure, it's over 50 minutes long, but 22 of those minutes are taken up with a singular, continuous (though, admittedly, kind of catchy and hypnotizing) loop that stretches the length of "This Dirt Makes That Mud" to just a shade over a half hour, and well over half the album. Take that loop away, and you've got eight proper songs in about 30 minutes.

The Bottom Line:
Though Liars take certain cues from the current trend-setters in music, their addition of a simple distinguishing element (that being electronics) and an unabashed commitment to creating funk/punk with high artistic merit, in the end they emerge, in this writers' opinion, head and shoulders among the rest of the pack. While The Strokes and White Stripes are earning all the headlines, Liars are content to dwell in the indie shadows, knowing that they've bested both of them with a raw and frantic masterpiece of a record.

9 EXCELLENT
Original Release Date: October 30, 2001 • Mute