Liars - Mess

God damn, these guys are cool.  We've followed them for a lot of years.  "Mr. You're on Fire Mr." from They Threw Us All in a Trench... burned down many of the places we've lived.  This album also lead us to another band, Emerald Sapphire and Gold, while EP Fins to Make Us More Fish-Like offered us "Every Day is a Child with Teeth" and deeper love for lyrical inversions, e.g. "dance like a girl/ pee like a boy/ dance like a boy/ pee like a girl."  Mess is back at it with these two forms.  The combustibility is here and the lyrical inversions kick start the album, "Take my pants off/ use my socks/ eat my face off/ take my face/ give me your face..."  Your wish is our command.

We began our obsession with Liars while going through a phase.  We were trying to define for ourselves this term "math rock."  The math rock genre has a lot of facets that lead us to the Liars, but doesn't quite define them.  However, we will try to create a circle that encompasses a few bands we found similar at the time.  The Ex-Models' Zoo Psychology helps fill the circle with their raw energy, especially the medley "Intro"/"Pink Noise" with that consistent note like a touch-tone phone left off the hook, and medley "The Password is Pelican"/"Three Weeks" which bridges one of the greatest tension-release moments we've ever experienced.  Bloc Party, in particular their song "Banquet," also helps fill the circle with their pure angular dance energy.  We'll let you fill in the rest.

But the album is a lot of fun, and we want to demonstrate it for you.  Here is an interactive exercise.  Start these two clips simultaneously.  Mute the second one.  Then simply replay the second clip until the song ends.  We're sure that after the third replay of the second clip, you'll see what we're getting at.  Enjoy.

karat y chop