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Liars

Liars

  • AMG Review of Liars

    Amg
    Heather Phares
    All Music Guide

    After making densely packed, high-concept albums like They Were Wrong, So We Drowned and Drum's 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 band's 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 Drum's Not Dead. While it's just as furious as anything from They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top, it isn't 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 don't sound rehashed. They feel fresh, and so does the band's new attention to songcraft and structure. Those two words sound like they should hinder the band's 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 "There's 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 Drum's 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 Drum's Not Dead's sonic depth sparingly and artfully, as on "Leather Prowler"'s ominously muffled layers of organic and digital decay, and expands on that album's 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 band's hands, this kaleidoscopic approach could be a muddled mess, but it makes for Liars' most entertaining album yet. It's 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.

#38
over 2 years ago
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Liars - Liars.even for people who didn't really like this album a whole lot, there's almost always the disclaimer of "i like 'plaster casts of everything'" usually followed by "'but the rest didnt grab me" but 'that one' track is great.... yes it is.I like the liars. i think i might like their image a bit more. they take great photos, their dvd for "drums not dead" was pretty great, and they do...

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Liars by Liars, a Puffmagic Review
over 2 years ago
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LiarsLiarsMuteThere’s always some guy in the music scene who likes the bands that no one else can stand. They hover around used record shops that deal in godforsaken albums that consist of 65 minutes of a guy hitting a steel garden shed with a baseball bat. These ‘hipsters’ call it ‘avant-garde’ when it’s really just a bunch of dudes smashing garden gnomes with farm implements while do

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Liars: Stepping sideways
over 2 years ago
Blog post image preview

So, the rumours can quietly be dispelled: Liars' eponymous new album is, indeed, "laid-back", "song-oriented", and whatever they meant to say in the press release, but it is, in a sense, a less radical departure from their usual style than "Drum's Not Dead" was. The biggest shock comes from the album's stomping opener, "Plastic Casts of Everything", and its unmistakably "rawk" riff. The hint a...

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Liars Announce Headlining US Tour With No Age In 2008
about 1 year ago

Liars rocked an extensive tour in support of their fourth album and most recent release, Liars, and opening for Interpol. That just doesn't seem good enough for a band of Liars calibre and I think they agree, because they have just announced a proper headlining tour of the US for 2008. The fun starts in San Francisco (where so many fun things begin) on January 25th and migrates eastward and b...

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Liars Tour With Interpol + Interview With Angus
over 2 years ago
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I have been diligently checking the old LiarsLiarsLiars website everyday for moths now, in hope of some tidbit of news about what's next. I know they're working on an album, I know they are working on a new website, and I was assuming that they would be touring at least a little this year. Well, all I got checking the website was noticing that the homepage changed into a super cool graphic w...

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New Liars EP For FREE, New Video, Interview, London Show
over 2 years ago
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Liars fans - listen up! Adventures In The Beetroot Field have a new EP recorded by the Liars during the sessions for their LP Liars. You can download the LP for FREE on the AITBF website. Also, if you are in the London area, you might want to mark 8 December on your calendar. The peeps at Beetroot Field are hosting an all-star party including sets by Liars, Skepta, Otto Von Shirach, Lightsp...

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Liars Add Guitarist, Film Video With Patrick Daughters!
over 2 years ago

Like the comforting sound of a babbling brook, the Liars have a continuous stream of news for their fans these days. Their new improved website makes it easier than ever to keep up with, but I am making it one click easier and reproducing the latest and greatest for you to enjoy right here! Here is the current roundup from www.liarsliarsliars.com:Super friend Patrick Daughters has crafted a r...

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Liars, Harper, Supermayer, Aesop Rock +More Streaming Albums
over 2 years ago
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Would you like to hear the new Liars album in its entirety before you buy it? How about Michael Mayer's and Superpitcher's Save the World: Or Aesop Rock's None Shall Pass, Ben Harper's Lifeline, or Northern State's Can I Keep This Pen? Of course you do! Even if you've heard them before, here is a chance to stream them while you work, play, dance, or meditate... Each of these albums are stre...

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Liars Video For "Plaster Casts of Everything"
over 2 years ago

I think that my computer suffers from time warps or something. Take for example my earlier post about the new Liars projects. I went to youTube, searched to see if the Patrick Daughter-directed new video for "Plaster Casts of Everything" was available. I came up with nothing, so I gave you the Patrick Daughters-directed, Julian Liars-propped Shins video instead. Very cool video, no regrets....

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Liars by Liars, a Puffmagic Review
over 2 years ago
Blog post image preview

LiarsLiarsMuteThere’s always some guy in the music scene who likes the bands that no one else can stand. They hover around used record shops that deal in godforsaken albums that consist of 65 minutes of a guy hitting a steel garden shed with a baseball bat. These ‘hipsters’ call it ‘avant-garde’ when it’s really just a bunch of dudes smashing garden gnomes with farm implements while do

More >
Vice Interviews Liars + Video For Plaster Casts
over 2 years ago

Not a day goes by this week without new info from the Liars. Today, Vice magazine published a short interview with Julian and Angus, asking them about the ideas on their albums and what influences how they work on new material. If you're a Liars afficianado, don't miss out. Vice magazine interview with the LiarsAnd if you missed my post yesterday, than you may not have seen the new Liars vid...

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New Liars Single From Upcoming Album
over 2 years ago
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The Liars released an exclusive track to pitchf*#k today from their upcoming album Liars. The song is "Plaster Casts of Everything" and brings the fire and rock back into Liars albums. Angus, Aaron, and Julian bring driving punk drumming, a relentless wall of guitar and distortion, and Angus' tribal screaming onto this new single which sounds nothing like their previous album Drum's Not Dead....

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Stream New Liars' Track, "Plaster Casts Of Everything"
over 2 years ago
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Here's a track off the new Liars' album, Liars, which will be released on August 28.Liars. Photo by Joe Dilworth.

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Liars Frontman: "I’d never felt like a songwriter ‘til this album"
over 2 years ago
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The New York based rock trio, Liars announced details of their upcoming release ??Liars?? (Mute), via a spokesperson for the band.The Liars were initially dubbed a dance-punk band, but have continually redefined themselves, "while retaining a consistent interest in rhythm and sound texture." In the new album, the band "foregone theory for a more practical approach, one based on traditional song...

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Liars announce...
over 2 years ago
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Liars announce new album ‘LIARS’ out August 28, 2007What do you expect from Liars?Noise? Concept? Both?Their new LP delivers neither.

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Liars: Stepping sideways
over 2 years ago
Blog post image preview

So, the rumours can quietly be dispelled: Liars' eponymous new album is, indeed, "laid-back", "song-oriented", and whatever they meant to say in the press release, but it is, in a sense, a less radical departure from their usual style than "Drum's Not Dead" was. The biggest shock comes from the album's stomping opener, "Plastic Casts of Everything", and its unmistakably "rawk" riff. The hint a...

More >
#38
over 2 years ago
Blog post image preview

Liars - Liars.even for people who didn't really like this album a whole lot, there's almost always the disclaimer of "i like 'plaster casts of everything'" usually followed by "'but the rest didnt grab me" but 'that one' track is great.... yes it is.I like the liars. i think i might like their image a bit more. they take great photos, their dvd for "drums not dead" was pretty great, and they do...

More >
experiment 9: plaster casts of everything
9 months ago

bleating, he clichés, brays guffaws to those whowould hang on to his every warning stringwould walk on seashells to grabandbepart—groan a warning,mother, grab at sentimentlikeyoucan't do any better. grab at anyone elsetofeelclosethe hopeless distraction, we got nothing-saved lives sinking a rocknroll raveup.

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